Game Boy :: Genesis :: NES :: Sega CD :: SNES :: TurboGrafx-16 :: Complete System Listings

SpaceWar 2000 review

Game: SpaceWar 2000
Platform: Jaguar
Genre: Simulation (Sci-Fi)
Developer: Unknown

Reader review by LS650

May 24, 2007

A few years ago the folks at B&C Computers (www.myatari.com) discovered a prototype ROM for an unreleased Atari Jaguar game. The game is SpaceWar 2000; B&C have produced a limited number of copies of this cart.

I think the game is a crude but playable prototype, and is perhaps 50-60% of the way towards a commercial game. Take the dogfighting part of 8-bit Atari Star Raiders (with no galactic chart, starbases, etc), improve the graphics substantially, and you pretty much have SW2K.

I've read that SW2K uses the graphics 'engine' from the HoverStrike cart, but I have no problems with the graphics. Since the view shows only a few ships and asteroids at a time, it can use fully textured 3D polygon ships and asteroids and still have a much higher framerate than HoverStrike. The sun and missile fire are done with scaling sprites. The framerate is fairly high and very smooth. I wish there was more variety to the graphics - there are no planets and there seem to be only about three different types of enemy spaceships.

The control of your spaceship is fairly intuitive and logical. I have a Procontroller and the extra buttons do make it a little easier to get side and back views. If you have one of the regular controllers, the game is still very playable.

The menu system for changing game options is very buggy. The programmers borrowed the 'Meltovision' effects from the Tempest 2000 menu screens, but it just looks jarring and ugly here. Yuck. I'd rather they just stuck with plain menus - but this is just an early demo anyhow.

I've found that SW2K crashes a LOT when trying to pick options in the menus, so I'd suggest that you pick your options right away on power-up and stick with it. I like to set the enemies to be ''way too fast'' with a closed universe, blasteroids, and a sun.

During actual gameplay the game seems more stable, but it has locked up occasionally, I'd say about once every 20 minutes of gameplay.

I've seen some folks say they find the radar confusing. It is very similar to the "long distance" scanner in the original Star Raiders. Personally I find it easy to understand.

Overall I would say it is a welcome addition to my Jaguar collection. If Atari had finished this game it might have been a big hit, but just as it is it makes for a fun, cockpit-view shoot-em-up for the Jaguar.

Rating: 7/10

More Reviews by LS650
	Blue Lightning (Jaguar CD) Recently I joined a very elite club: the group of Atari Jaguar CD owners. The Jag CD add-on was released very late in the Jaguar's brief lifespan, so there wer...
	Val D'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding (Jaguar) The Atari Jaguar has several racing games available: among them are Atari Karts, Power Drive Rally, Super Burnout, and of course the infamous Checkered Flag. Bu...
	Syndicate (Jaguar) In the early 1990s the British developer Bullfrog created some very popular simulation games such as 'Populous' and 'Theme Park'. In these games you assume the ...

Feedback

If you enjoyed this SpaceWar 2000 review, you're encouraged to leave feedback and talk about it with members of the site's community. You don't even need an HonestGamers account to get involved in the discussion. Please remember to keep your comments respectful and on-topic or they may be deleted by a moderator. Thank you for your understanding!

comments powered by Disqus

© 1998-2013 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. SpaceWar 2000 is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to SpaceWar 2000, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.