Ultra Vortek by Beyond Games and Atari

Overview:

I was lucky enough to check this game out about 4 months before it was released. Beyond Games is close to where I live, so I was in the right place at the right time. This game was cleaned up quite a bit from the time I played it to the actual release. After I had played it, I read a few reviews on it. I was mad. This game should have never been bashed the way it was. Here's MY review.

The game is very well rounded overall. Great digitized graphics that scream detail. I heard that the artist at Beyond Games shaded every pixel on each character and background! Most of the backgrounds are animated, some as you do certain moves. 65,000 astounding colors really pop out at you in this one. The eyeball in-between the life bars tracks you around as you play, which is a very nice effect. The characters are digitized, stop motion animated, or computer rendered. The animation is very fast and smooth as compared to say MK3.

Sound effects are of the average. Thumps are done well and there is some cool voice overs during gameplay. The music is techno-thrash, and I enjoy it. There are a wide variety of tracks, and are a little on the short side. Cool non-the-less. It really sets it apart from say Kasumi Ninja because you get the feeling that this is a hard-core game, not a wimpy one. The announcer's voice is very low and really rocks.

Gameplay is fast and furious (turbo on).There are no real combos unfortunately. Each character has his or her share of standard moves as well as specials. Each character has at least four specials and some have up to eight or nine. These special moves are very cool, look extremely nice, and some are innovative in ways. The gore really flows in this game. Then there are the annihilations. Each character has two standard annihilations and then there are poopalities, background, and scenery type fatals. There are three modes of difficulty for repeated play, Secret characters and more.

This game is a good show-off type game, because of the overall flare and quality in all areas. Very well done. I've played tons of times and have yet to have the game crash on me. Job well done!

Graphics-10

How can you get arcade quality graphics at home? Get a Jag and this game. A lot of time was obviously spend on this beautiful looking game. They didn't take any shortcuts. Very shiny and awesome looking.

Sound/music-9 1/2

The music rocks. Fits the game well to say the least. The S f/x are very good, but yet they could have been better. I always love voice-overs in gameplay.

Control-10

These guys have done an excellent job of working with the Jaguar controller. Even the standard works well, although the Pro works out smoother. Lots of moves for 3 bottons.

Power-9 1/2

High quality graphics, sound, animation, and speed. Very high res and colorful. Great static screens compliments of Lightwave 3D. Very cool.

Fun factor-10

My favorite 2D fighter. I've compared it to MK3. As far as actual gameplay goes, UV kicks it's "A", as well as in the speed category. I love it!