Battlesphere

"One of the Jaguar's shining moments."

As I’ve moved through the different Jaguar games, I have to say that Battlesphere is probably one of the best games that you can get for the Jaguar that has an amazing multi-player interface. With bright, flaring visuals, impressive sound, complex yet functional control and a game play interface that is rivaled by very few games on the Jaguar, Battlesphere is at the top of the heap. Considering that the Jaguar really didn’t have a chance with the rest of the console wars, you’ll find that games such as this really make you wonder just where Atari would have been if more of these games had been available.

The story is actually one that you would find in something along the lines of a Battle Tech book in which you are one of seven different races in the distant future. A tournament has been called to see just which one of the seven races is the dominant species while the rest are left to float for eternity in space. The Battle Sphere tournament is set in a sector that was once a military test site and the best of the best from each race have put away their differences for this one tournament, bringing the best technology and weapons to the table. The race that wins is given control of the rest of the galaxy.

-The Game Play-

From the start of the game, you have plenty of options that you can run through in the three-dimensional screens in order to change the game difficulty and other various aspects. From there, you can pick one of the seven different races, each of which have their own attributes and ship abilities that are different from the other races. You’ll find that there really isn’t much here that you can do other than experiment with the race that does you the most good during the tournament. When you’ve gotten the race that you want and you’ve found the ship that fits you the best, then you’re ready to enter the tournament and start kicking ass.

Once you have gotten into the game, the computer intelligence is nearly overwhelming in the way that the ships come at you and the way that you have to follow and maneuver your way through the field. You’re not just taking on one but usually two ships at a time and you have to be able to blast through different obstacles that get in your way. The coolest feature that the game has to offer in this respect though, is the two-player option that gives you and a friend the ability to pilot the ship and play gunner. Where one has to be quick with the control, the other has to be dead on with the laser cannons, making for a forced teamwork feature.

The multiplayer game is where the action really is in which the game can be networked for up to sixteen different people. Although the practicality of this is nearly non-existent, you can get six or seven people playing in the same house as long as you have the linking cables and six or seven televisions in either the same room or scattered throughout the house. I’ve seen the option to play the game with up to sixteen people, but I have yet to find a set of people who have actually played the game in this fashion. However, if you can get that many people going all at once, the possibilities of what you can and cannot do in a tournament are nearly limitless!

The control takes a little getting used to however and the slips that you get for the control pad is where you have to make your adjustments. You’ll find that playing as the pilot requires you to move the ship at just the right time, though playing as the gunner gives you a higher range of movement with a free-roaming firing reticule. The control slip gives you the different functions that you’re allowed to work with on the pad and you’ll find that there isn’t much that you have to learn once you’ve gotten the basics down. The only other feature that you have to work with are the physics of what the game has to offer in the way that the ship moves and the way that you can control it during thrusting.

-The Visuals-

Probably some of the most visually appealing images that you can find in the Jaguar library outside of the Alien vs. Predator game, you’ll see that there are a ton of different animations that come blazing across the screen with little or no break up. Each ship that you work with during the game has a different pilot interior and you’ll notice the difference in them. To top all of that off, the explosions that you see and the battlegrounds that you roam through are large, expansive and extremely detailed. Even the ships that you use and come across are based off of different styles of ships that you might have seen in space war movies such as Star Wars and Star Trek!

-The Audio-

The audio that you find in Battlesphere run along the lines of Tempest 2000 in which the music is constantly upbeat and really throws you into the midst of the battle. Further along in the game, you’ll find that the tempo of the music changes depending on what you have going on during the battle, which will give you a better feeling of action. The sound effects are also first rate in which you have laser blasts that sizzle the air and the explosions throughout the stages will rock the speakers. For all intents and purposes, you have the makings of one hell of an action soundtrack that I almost can’t find in another Jaguar title.

-The Verdict-

When it comes to game on the Jaguar, this title ranks up there in the top three right behind Aliens vs. Predator and Tempest 2000. If you’re looking for an action game that has plenty of space battles, explosions, killer music and amazing multiplayer features, then you need not look any further. Considering that there aren’t too many games on the Jaguar that go to these lengths, you’ll find that Battlesphere is one of the best that the system has to offer. If you can find a copy and you can get a couple of people together to play, it really is well worth the money.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/30/02, Updated 09/30/02