Raiden by Imagitec Design

Type:Vertical shooter

Players:1 or 2 simultaneously

Levels:8

ProController:No

Story:
Mother Earth has fallen to deranged aliens. Now, as pilot of the Raiden Supersonic Attack Fighter, you must rip through the enemy lines and mount a daring counterattack...in Raiden, the ultimate arcade game conversion. Showcasing the Atari Jaguar's 64-bit capabilities, Raiden enhances the vertical-shooter excitement of an all-time arcade favorite with brilliant sounds and exceptional speed and motion.

Overview:
As the 2nd or 3rd Jaguar game to make it out, Raiden may have been what alot of others based their opinion of the Jaguar on. The game is a straightforward vertical shooter thats has a great deal of fun involved. This game is based on the classic arcade, and the Jaguar is actually better than it's predesessor. The Jaguar version has immunity to flicker and slowdown unlike the arcade version of the past.

The graphics are plain. Fairly detailed and colorful, but nothing above the average here. When you drop bombs, there is a nice explosion, and when you blow something up, there are little craters in the ground. There are a few layers of parallax which is nice (I heard that the PSX version was badly lacking in parallax) and adds a slight extra. Animation is also just OK, like all of the other graphic effects.

The tunes are by Imagitec Design (T2K, D2K, Pitfall, Zool 2, I-War, Dino Dudes, and Raiden). This was their first experience with the Jag hardware, so the quality of the tunes isn't up to par with the masterpieces that were to follow. The tunes are cool and upbeat nontheless. I really like the constantly changing bass, very fitting to this type of game.

The sound effects are lacking. There just isn't anything too spectacular. Totally average.

The control is right on. Turning and dodging stuff is smooth because your ship turns at the perfect rate. The botton layout is good as well.

The overall fun in the game is very good. Blasting away is totally fun in the 2 player mode. You collect cool gun power-ups which can become very effective at annihilating the enemy. There needed to be more levels. After the 8 are over, you just repeat, and that doesn't make you feel like playing anymore.

Graphics-7 1/2

If compared to the arcade, the score is up in the 90's if not 100. This doesn't create any special effects besides the few layers of parallax.

Sound/Music-8 1/2

The tunes are very well done, although not the quality we've come to expect from the Jag. The sound effects are average.

Control-10

A great arcade dupe. The control is well done, and couldn't suit the game any better.

Power-6

The ultra smooth scrooling and immunity of slowdown and flicker is awesome, but I was expecting more.

Fun factor-9

The first time through or with a bud is the best. The lack of levels will bore you though.....but it's always cool to play with a bud!