American Hero – By Atari

One of 2 unreleased Game Films for the Jag CD, American Hero, is especially infamous in the Jaguar community for its legendary “titty bar” scene! The idea of these game films was that you would basically be watching a movie where at key points you could decide what the main character did next, thus changing the story. Atari filmed different scenes for each scenario, some of which meant you died and the film ended early! This game film actually stars a guy who played George Bush Jr. in a movie of his life and you can certainly see the resemblance. There is actually quite a bit of game to play here and you will certainly have a great deal of fun with it, and I don’t mean just sitting in the strip club! American Hero is a great example of what could have been for the console and deserves a place in every serious collector’s collection.

8/10

 Arkanna – By Stormworks Interactive

This release is an early demo of the game Arkanna, a graphic adventure by Stormworks Interactive in association with Edge Design. Set in a mystical world with an esoteric theme, Arkanna, would have been a game very much in the style of the classic Myst. In this early prototype you are able to take a small look around some of the world and see the impressive pre-rendered graphics used to create the landscape. There really isn’t much more to it than that. There are a few different versions out there with the most complete one allowing you walk in 2 different directions but weirdly doesn’t let you go back. The landscape looks really nice and the pre-rendered graphics update quite quickly. Had this game been taken further it would have been interesting to see what they came up with. As it stands its worth downloading just to take a look out of curiosity but I can’t really give it a rating with this much to go on

N/A

 Asteroids – By Sinister Developments

This unofficial Jag CD version of Asteroids was coded by the same people behind the wonderful ST version and was really done just as a demo to get to grips with the machine. However it has since been made available as a free burnable CD image, which you can download from a number of internet sites, or is playable via BJL and Skunkboard on a standard machine. Don’t expect much here though as its not really finished. You still have the same classic gameplay that involves clearing the screen of the spinning space rocks with wrap-around and hyperspace but there is no sound, no real presentation and no choice of game modes. There are also a few bugs in the gameplay too which might frustrate you. Graphics wise they choose to upgrade the visuals and make them more realistic looking rather than go with the vectors of the arcade game and their original ST version. They do look quite nice but I think it would have been cool to be given the choice. Still it’s not bad for a free game and it’s just a shame they never finished it off.

5/10

 Atomic – By Jagware

A conversion of an old ST Public Domain game called Atomix this is an interesting little puzzle game that combines features of 2 other games by Jagware, Diam Jag and Do The Same. You are presented with a screen full of blocks and atoms. The idea is to move the atoms so they fit together to form a molecule as shown on the right of the screen. When you move an atom it will keep going in that direction until it hits something which makes thinks more difficult than they first sound! You will really need to plan the best way to complete each level. This makes Atomic much harder and strategical than many other puzzle games. The graphics are very simple indeed here but there is some nice sound and music to help you along. Many people will find Atomic far too frustrating but those out there looking for a real brain teaser will get a kick out of this.

5/10

 Baldies – By Creative Edge

Baldies is an enormous strategy game for the Jaguar CD that can best be described as a mix between Lemmings and Powermonger. You control a tribe of Baldies who must try to first survive and secondly defeat their enemy, the Hairies. When you start off you can assign your little men jobs; Scientist (they invent stuff), Builders (they well, build stuff!), Soldiers (fight!) and workers who build up your energy and make man love together to create more Baldies when they are put in houses together. Loads of great weapons can be created like mines, mantraps, cannons and electrodes. These can be delivered by flying scientists to any location on the map and each weapon can be improved upon too. There is so much to do on this game from building houses and castles to using you energy to create and remove land. The levels get bigger and harder and vary from lush green meadows to icy wastelands. There isn't much here to warrant it being on a CD however apart from a full Baldies cartoon as an FMV intro. The same boring music plays throughout the game and the graphics are certainly nothing special. Its also worth noting you don't need a memory track cart for this game either as each level has a password too. If you love these type of games them you will adore Baldies, I know I do.

8/10

 Battle Morph – By Atari

This game is a sequel to the Jaguar’s pack-in game Cybermorph and it was only right that it became one of the launch titles for the CD system. Using the exact same formula it takes full advantage of the CD’s extra capacity to better the original game in every single way. The mission styles are very similar and still involve you collecting pods but now take place in the skies and under the water! There are also some very impressive tunnel sequences on some levels and the stages themselves are generally much bigger. Skylar is still here but she is far less annoying than the first game and you can now just drown her out with the wonderful soundtrack. The graphics have also had a big overhaul with much better draw distance, frame rate and texture mapping added to the shaded polygons of the original game. Being on CD they have of course added some pointless FMV sequences but a much less pointless and in fact essential save feature for those with a memory track cartridge. I could wax lyrical about this game all day long but when it comes down to it what we have here is not only the best game on the Jaguar CD but a reason to buy one and not just one of the finest games on the console but one of the best of its generation.

10/10

 Beebris– By Reboot

One of 2 Tetris clones for the Jaguar CD this is definitely the more professional product out of the 2 but is certainly not the better game. This was originally a game for the Atari ST that has been ported over to the Jaguar and tweaked a bit for the hardware. As I already said it’s basically just a Tetris clone but where this one differs slightly is that it adds some new shapes of block. However this is not a good thing as the new blocks are awkward to fit anywhere and just end up really annoying you. This is not the only bad thing here though unfortunately. There is a ST demo disk style scrolling thing that flies around at the bottom of the screen and becomes really distracting and also when you drop a block the screen jumps. The controls are also really sluggish and all in all the game ends up being pretty useless, not even the nice music can save it. It might be free but it’s also crap and there are much better puzzle games out there for the Jag CD.

3/10

 Black Ice White Noise – By Atari

Without doubt this is the most talked about prototype game released for the Jaguar yet. While very incomplete what exists of this hugely ambitious project is incredibly impressive. Many people have actually compared this game to the 3D versions of Grand Theft Auto and in many ways you can see why. You walk around a vast city jumping in cabs to reach different locations and interacting with both people you meet and various objects. Because its so vast and only some parts have been implemented its worth looking online for the guide to this game to get the most out of it. Don’t buy this expecting to be able to play a brilliant game but do buy this if you want to see an incredibly impressive piece of coding and then cry when you realise what a superb game it could have become.

8/10

 Blackout! – By Stormworks Interactive

The first thing I noticed about this new homebrew game for the Jaguar was the outstanding music, I have only heard 4 of the music tracks so far but they were all excellent. In fact I would say this game has some of the best music of any Jaguar game out there! The second thing that struck me is how slick the presentation is, from the moment it boots up it seems just like a commercial release. From the menu screens to the credits and title screen it just all seems incredibly professional, a million times better than we have seen in other recent releases. Once into the game its self I like the way it has its own unique graphical style but I suppose I should talk about the gameplay! Blackout is a version of the old LCD game Lights Out, some people may even remember it as the pack-in title for the failed Game.com handheld by Tiger. Basically you have a grid of squares and some of theses are lit up. The idea is to turn them all off within a limited number of moves. The problem is that the lights are wired in sequences so when you turn one off others may come on. The trick is to try and learn the sequence quickly and turn them all off in as little moves as possible. Bonus points are awarded for finishing the round quickly and for moves remaining. And we all know that points mean prizes! Well ok power-ups in this case like one that freezes the time for you and another one that is rather explosive! All in all I found Blackout to be a really fun game and a great addition to the homebrew library of the Jaguar. The difficulty curve is just right and it has that unique one more go quality. If you are able to track this game down on CD, like I did, or on cartridge (it was released on both in limited numbers) then I recommend adding it to your collection.

8/10

 Blue Lightning – By Atari

Despite the lack of a “2” this is a sequel to Epyx's classic Lynx game Blue Lightning, itself a clone of Sega's classic arcade shooter Afterburner. The basic premise of this game for those who don't know is to fly a plane into enemy territory and shoot down other planes using your guns and missiles. Just like Sega's game you can attain "lock-ons" which give you perfect missile accuracy as long as they don't get out of it. In Blue Lightning, unlike Afterburner, you also get ground targets too some of which also try to shoot you down! And another added feature over the arcade inspiration is that this game has more varied mission types such as courier, seek and destroy or protection. Firstly I wish the programmers had shown some attention to detail (excuse the pun) as after seeing the graphical wonder of the Lynx version this Jag version looks terrible with poor sprites and messy looking colours. It does have some nice FMV sequences though as pointless as they are. Another good feature of this version is the music, it is awesome with loads of really loud rock tracks that really suit the action, you will have it turned up so loud you won't notice the effects or speech. Thanks to the memory track you can save your progress and this is good considering the amount of missions in this version of the game. The missions are varied and there are loads of different planes, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. Overall this is a pretty enjoyable game with loads of action, just a shame it looks like a dog, you won't believe it’s by the same guys as Battlemorph!

7/10

 Brain Dead 13 – By Readysoft

this Brought to us by the same people as Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace this game uses the same animated cartoon style. Like those games nobody can fault the graphics but when those games were also known for having very little gameplay you might be starting to wonder. The plot of this game follows Lance, a young computer expert, who is called to fix a computer at a scary, dilapidated castle. After repairing a large super-computer, Lance learns of a diabolical plan to take over the world. He quickly finds himself in all sorts of trouble being chased around the castle by Fritz, a psychotic servant of Dr. Nero Neurosis who is the main villain of the story and takes the form of a disembodied brain. The player must guide Lance through the castle in order to defeat Dr. Neurosis and escape with his life. In BD13 rather than just pressing the right button at the right time you are presented with sets of crossroads, this leaves the route for finding the Brain Chamber up to the player and makes the game much more varied. This said, much like in Dragon's Lair, the player still has to react quickly. If the player fails to do so, either Fritz or something in the room will kill Lance. The game is as abundant in humour as it is in gory deaths and certainly manages to be a lot more entertaining than both Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. The graphics are pretty much faultless, the sound is pretty much the same and adds to the overall movie like experience. While the gameplay is better than previous efforts its still quite limited so don’t expect to be coming back to this much after you have completed it. If you are a fan of these FMV games then you are going to love Braindead 13, if you are not then you might want to give this a miss, especially at the high price it demands.

6/10

 Brett Hull NHL Hockey – By Ringler Studios

Also known as Jaguar Hockey to avoid copyright infringement this is the full original CD version of the game that is also available on cartridge. It’s basically the same game but there are a few differences; the first is the inclusion of Cinepak FM sequences that use real NHL footage, secondly it has less (yes I know!) commentary and can be saved to memory track. It also has some obscene loading times and tends to crash a lot. Because of this I think people are much better off going and buying the pretty much complete cartridge version of this prototype game. If you are a serious collector then it might be nice to pick this up just to see the small differences, video or just as a nice addition to the collection / completion purposes. It also only had a limited run via the Jaguar Sector II website so is not as easy as the cart version to get hold of either.

7/10

 Caves Of Fear – By Atari

One of 2 unreleased Game Films for the Jag CD, American Hero is the other, it was first thought this was actually part of the other game by the people who discovered it before they realised it was in fact a separate project. The idea of these game films was that you would basically be watching a movie where at key points you could decide what the main character did next, thus changing the story. Atari filmed different scenes for each scenario, some of which meant you died and the film ended early! In Caves Of Fear you start off trapped in a dark room and need to escape quickly! Unfortunately this game is much shorter than American Hero and clearly didn’t get to far before it was canned. I was always hoping that more footage would be discovered and the game would be completed because it’s certainly a very interesting project. I am still at a complete loss though over why it’s actually called “Caves Of Fear”. Worth picking up even if it’s just to see how impressive this early proto is.

7/10