Patreon button  Steam curated reviews  Discord button  Facebook button  Twitter button 
3DS | PC | PS4 | PS5 | SWITCH | VITA | XB1 | XSX | All

Protector (Jaguar) artwork

Protector (Jaguar) review


"Please note this is a review of the original release of Protector, and not the more recent Protector Special Edition. "

Please note this is a review of the original release of Protector, and not the more recent Protector Special Edition.

Right off the bat I was impressed with the quality of the manual, the cart label and especially the cardboard box. I compared the PROTECTOR box side-by-side with a couple of other mint Jaguar boxes. Except for the missing UPC code on the bottom and the fact that the Songbird cart seems to be on a slightly thinner paper stock, I'm hard-pressed to see much difference in quality or look. The box is easily up to any commercial standards that you might expect, and looks slicker than a lot of professional company packages. Frankly I almost thought it was overkill: instead of a cardboard and glossy brochure, I'd have rather had a nice controller overlay. Still, that's a minor comment - certainly the packaging looks terrific considering Songbird is a "one man" production. The plastic shell and label look excellent and could easily pass for an "official" Atari product.

When you power up the cart, the red Jaguar logo and rotating cube are bypassed.

Instead you get a black screen with some music, followed by the Songbird Productions logo and a "title page" for PROTECTOR. I thought this title page looked a little flat and plain, and doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the cart in terms of graphics quality.

There are a couple of unique screens in PROTECTOR for the top scores, the controller configuration, purchasing extra equipment, etc.

PROTECTOR itself is a very good 'clone' of the old Williams arcade classic DEFENDER; you fly left and right over a scrolling landscape and blast baddies as they try to kidnap humans on the landscape surface. The movement of the various alien ships (landers, mutants) is pretty similar to the original game. There are a few minor additions to the game: at the end of every fourth wave you have to survive a meteor shower, and you can collect "power-up" prizes from the remains of some of the enemies after they are destroyed. These power-ups can then be used between rounds to purchase additional shields, smart bombs, etc.

The controller input is very well-done and has just the right level of sensitivity. PROTECTOR's graphics are very well-done, although for the most part don't really "show off" the Jaguar's "eye-candy" abilities like say Tempest 2000 or Atari Karts do. The scrolling backgrounds, foregrounds, sprite movements, etc. are all very smooth and high frame rate with little or no flicker.

The explosions look particularly good: when a ship explodes it sprays out a flower of white sparks that looks very sharp. In the height of battle the screen can be full of enemies , exploding orange fireballs, and white sparks, yet there's very little slow-down. The intensity of blast-em gameplay reminded me at times of T2K.

Some more good points are the music and sound effects. Normally I wouldn't bother to comment on these, but in PROTECTOR the background music and sound effects are well-suited to the game, and definitely set the mood. If you've ever played Alien vs Predator you know how subtle but well-done sound can really enhance a game.

Now for a couple of slight nit-picks. There's nothing about PROTECTOR I don't like, but there are a couple of things I'd have done differently if I were creating this game.

One is that the colourful outer space backdrop and foregrounds don't change very often. I've only made it about 5 waves (out of 40 I think) into the game, and so far the backdrop hasn't changed at all. PROTECTOR's foreground landscape seems to change every two waves. I'd like to have seen more variety, say a change after every wave. This way there would have been a more immediate pay-off or 'reward' for completing a wave: "Hey, I've never seen that before..."

My other nit is with the difficulty level: I've played the game on both easy and medium difficulties, and I can't really tell the difference. Medium seems to me to be about right, but the easy level stills seems just as hard. I think the easy level should be more easier, or perhaps have an extra, simpler 'Wimp' level.

Overall I'm very pleased with PROTECTOR, and would rate it as one of the better games for the Jaguar. I don't think it's quite at the level of Tempest 2000 or DOOM, but it is pretty close - say an 8 out of 10.





LS650's avatar
Community review by LS650 (May 24, 2007)

Bruce is a big fan of 80s and 90s console games, and hasn't bought any new consoles since 2000. He can often be found enjoying games in more obscure systems such as the Jaguar, the Vectrex, and the Virtual Boy.

More Reviews by LS650 [+]
Blue Lightning (Jaguar CD) artwork
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 were relatively few titles released for it. Apparently only 20,000 CD units were manufactured, but those people who did buy one new received four pack-in discs: a...
Val D'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding (Jaguar) artwork
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. But I would argue that the best racing game, and one of my favorite games for the Jaguar, is one that might surprise you: Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding.
Syndicate (Jaguar) artwork
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 role of an omnipotent being who overlooks a world. While looking down upon this world's map, you can control various actions of small beings wandering around.

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Protector review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!

You must be signed into an HonestGamers user account to leave feedback on this review.

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998 - 2024 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. Protector is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Protector, 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. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.