Varuna’s Forces – By Accent Media

This unreleased prototype was actually planned for a number of systems, Jaguar CD included, but never released for any of them! This game is most famous for being the one that “has that bloke out of Green Mile in it” and is even listed on Michael Clarke Duncan’s IMDB page. This Jag CD package comes on 2 separate discs, one of which contains the movie like intro and the other an early prototype of the actual game. I myself made a DVD style cover for this too a few years back as it just comes in a couple of jewel cases. The game itself would have been much like Alien Vs. Predator, a strategy style FPS with alternative missions for each character. As far as the actual gameplay in this demo all we have is an engine where you can walk about a bit and imagine what it could have become. Although there isn’t much to it what is here is very impressive and at least there is plenty to watch and look at across the 2 CD’s. What’s better is that it doesn’t cost very much to buy either and is readily available so if you are into these prototype releases and demos this is well worth picking up.

6/10

 Vid Grid – By Atari

Originally given away free with the system it has to be said that Vid Grid has probably wasted more of my time than any other Jag CD game over the years. This game combines those plastic sliding puzzle games we all had as kids with MTV and works to great effect. There are 9 different music videos here (plus 1 secret one) from a variety of different rock artists such as Gun N Roses, Metallica, Peter Gabriel and Ozzy Osbourne. One the video starts you have to move the squares around so they are in the right places and then you can either watch the rest of the video or move onto the next one. As the levels progress the videos split into more pieces and even do things like flip pieces and double split. What makes this harder than the plastic puzzles is that the video is forever changing so concentration is paramount! The Cinepak FMV in Vid Grid is superb and takes up around ¾ of the screen, the sound is obviously very high quality. Without doubt the most addictive puzzler in the Jaguar library even non rock fans like me will get a kick out of this!

9/10

 World Tour Racing – By Telegames

Programmed by Teque London this game was originally supposed to be released by Atari but after their demise was picked up by long time Atari stalwarts Telegames. One of the most famous games on the Jaguar, for all the wrong reasons, is Checkered Flag and this is another Formula 1 game using 3D graphics. Thankfully WTR seems to get pretty much everything right that CF did wrong. As well as being able to take part in a full F1 season racing around various tracks across the world you can also play a split-screen 2-player mode! There are also a number of ways you can customise the game to suit your needs. Once in game there are a nice selection of different camera angles you can use and a nice fast frame rate. WTR also impresses in the graphics department as it has a great polygon engine that uses a mix of shading and texture mapping to great effect. Being on CD there are also lots of FMV cut scenes and a superb soundtrack to accompany each race. Far better than the very average Checkered Flag this game is just beaten into first place as the Jag’s best racer by Super Burnout but is yet another great reason to own the CD add-on and a must have title for owners of it.

9/10