Iron Soldier 2 review #3

Dramatically enhanced 3-D graphics create a virtual battlefield with war waged in all 360 degrees. Outfit your Iron Soldier with combinations of 12 weapons systems and begin your fight.

With full motion video, driving soundtrack, and realistic SFX in stereo or surround sound, this product will set new standards for your gaming experience.

Iron Soldier 2 is a game that Jaguar owners can be proud of. This game isn't just one that we think of as "the left-overs". I mean... sure, it's great that Air Cars will be coming out in a while. It's a new game, and I won't complain about it, but IS2 is something completely different. This game should never have been held as scrap at Atari Corp. If they were smart, they would have released this game while they were still alive. Maybe that, in turn, would have helped Atari stay alive. Who knows? Telegames obviously had the right idea when they picked up this baby. It's the cream of the crop when it comes to Jaguar games.

Iron Soldier 2 keeps the same formula of the first game, but adds in a lot of new things that were "left to be desired" from the original.

The original IS had some very nice polygonal graphics, although many complained about the lack of texture mapping. This has been remedied in IS2. You'll notice, there is T-mapping on most of the buildings. There are new/more textures on the enemies. There are T-maps on the ground and the water. There are T-maps on your IS' Manipulator and Chain Cutter. The texture mapping on the helicopters looks even better than the original. The tanks look even better; you can see a great deal of detail, right down to the "M-21" on the back. The Greave planes that hover above you and drop bombs now have incredible texture maps on them! They're covered with symbols and designs. The trapezoids and polygonal cubes in the explosions are even 1/2 texture mapped. Sure, the texture maps aren't the highest resolution on the planet. I'd rather it be smooth and nice looking than Hover Strike CD-looking and choppy. The programmers should be commended for keeping a lid on the eye candy to allow for the same smooth framerate of the original. In short, they didn't take it too far. They kept a great balance between the gameplay elements and the graphical features.

Another graphical feature that usually accompanies the CD format is Full Motion Video. When you fire up this game, be prepared to sit back and watch a sweet, smooth, intense, 3 minute cinema sequence that'll knock your socks off. Aside from this intro cinema, the FMV is kept to a minimum. This is good.

Other graphical improvements include the weapon select screen. The original had light sourced, polygonal weapons that spun around. This one has rendered/shiny weapons that spin gracefully with the sweetest of light sourcing. Backdrops in the levels are much more varied than the original's. Cool scenes of cities on fire and sunlight piercing the clouds increase the believability of the atmospheric settings. The explosions have been improved. Instead of the symmetrical cubes of the original IS, this version features more odd shaped chunks of debris. There is more variety in the skyscrapers, fuel tanks and other buildings.

Audio-wise, the package is sweetened up, thanks to the CD format once again. Music is fantastic. Anyone who'd played the original IS, you'd probably agree that the music that went along suited the game's theme quite well. Well, this time, we've got the same IS industrial style with some guitar frills and some techno style synths! There is even voicing in some of the tunes. You can listen to 10 tracks of audio off of your CD. Each track has been fine tuned and is anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes in length. I can't say enough about how the music heightens the drama of the gameplay. When the action gets intense, the music seems to follow right along.

The sound effects are really something to get excited about. This time around, they're in complete Dolby Surround! For any who's got a nice Dolby Surround receiver, this is a real treat. You can hear the faintest hum of a tank behind you in your rear speakers. As a helicopter whizzes around your head, the sound goes along perfectly. When a Wyvern Jetfighter rushes past you, it creates a loud distortion noise... it's incredible. If you don't have a surround setup, you can also choose stereo Sfx.

New effects in the game include: humming tank and truck engines, air rushing through the Greave's turbine engine, the thumping of the helicopters propeller (had to turn the music off in the original to get this), the distorted fly-by noise, the sound of the shotgun being cocked, and your footsteps aren't as loud as the original's. Overall, they improved what was needed to be improved upon and kept most of the old stuff that didn't need to be changed.

What's so fun about IS2? Knowing that you're low on life... there's a pack of helicopters trailing you... you can see some fuel tanks ahead, so you head for 'em in hope of finding a repair... a tank comes into view from behind a warehouse. You quickly step on him and anything else that crosses your path. Shooting the fuel tanks as you get closer, you know you're almost dead. Fortunately for you, there's life inside. You pick it up, quickly select your automatic grenade launcher, turn around, send a couple dozen grenades flying and watch some of the best explosions ever created. Then you get back to your mission objective! In IS, you pilot a huge, strong but slow-moving mech. This means you can't quickly make any gut- instinct tactics. You're gonna have to use a bit of strategy. Hide in- between skyscrapers and use your radar to your best advantage.

There are 20 missions on the CD. The levels objectives are nicely varied, and I'm surprised that they came up with some new ideas aside from the original's. There are the usual destroy the target missions. There are escort missions where you protect supply trucks while they attempt to get out of town. This includes finding roadblocks in their path and clearing them out. There are levels where you collect items. There are levels where you protect buildings. There are levels where you have to find car bombs that re placed around the level and take them out before they explode! That's what makes IS2 such a great game. It has so much variety.

There are 4 new weapons in IS2 which give it a total of 12. The new ones include: the Sherry 00 Gauge Shotgun, the Corinne Automatic Grenade Launcher, Ferret Homing Missiles, and the Carlisle 75MM Heavy Machine Gun. In the original, after the Gatling Gun was obtained, the Assault Rifle was basically useless. Now you can equip a Shotgun. Equip a Machine Gun on your hand and remove the Gatling Gun; you can use that space for some Homing Missiles. Maybe now you don't have to go with a Rail Cannon. You can just equip your Machine Gun. It's long-range and precise. Scrap the Rocket Launcher and mount your Grenade Launcher. It's fast, long range and you can shoot an unbelievable amount of grenades. The new weapons add new possibilities. The choice of weapons isn't so automatic for the player anymore.

There is also a handful of new enemies. There is a Jetfighter who flies high overhead, swoops down and launches 3-5 rockets at you! There are new transport planes that drop down tanks with parachutes attached. There are new, fast tanks. These guys are loaded with a rocket launcher and shoot a handful of rockets and then take off. There are new walker enemies. These little guys are quick! When you see one, you better destroy it in a hurry or have a grenade launcher mounted. There is also a new top secret weapon... the Cold Iron Gunner.

There are now teleporters on some of the later levels. This is used for getting to different islands around the levels. Some levels actually remind me of I-War with the maze-like teleport system. There are also traps that open up when you get close and really mess you up. Although nothing too major, there are some new ideas to be found here. There is even a code to play as the Walker!

The control is the same as the original with the exception of the Cruise Missile. The cruise missile now automatically levels out and has tighter control. The control will be tough for beginners to grasp. It's fully 3D, and there are multiple button functions that may take some practice. After you've caught on, the control becomes second nature to you. There's really nothing bad to say about it.

Usually there is some loading that goes along with CD games. How does IS2 stack up to the rest of the Jag CD games in this category? Can you say Battle Morph?? It loads 15-16 seconds at startup, and 5-6 seconds when you head into a level. I almost left the loading part out of my review... because it's not a major factor in the game.

My only minor gripe is that there aren't more levels. We are dealing with a CD here right? Ohh well. At least the difficulty has been boosted up to give gamers a greater challenge (can you say level 19? I knew you could). All in all, IS2 is the best Jaguar game ever released IMHO. If you have a Jag CD, get it! If you don't have a Jag CD, IS2 is just another great reason to get one.

Graphics -	*****	Arguably the best polygonal/texture mapped graphics seen on the Jaguar to date.
Audio -	*****	The music is awesome. The sound effects along with the surround sound support are awesome. No complaints at all.
Control -	*****	Excellent control setup. Leaves nothing to be desired. They hit everything right on the button.
Gameplay -	*****	The variety in the mission objectives mimics some of the old ones, and adds even more. The new weapon selection will prove to deliver more possibilities in the gameplay.
Overall -	*****	My favorite Jaguar game by a wide margin. Destruction, fear, power, excitement and fun all wrapped up into one game.

Iron Soldier II

Atari Jaguar