[ Retro Scan of the Week ] War + Mech = “Kinda Cool”
June 18th, 2007 by Benj Edwards
You should probably know by now that I love the Atari Jaguar. Or at least I did (Read #14) when it came out. I was a huge Atari nut back then. Iron Soldier, the game featured in this bold, well-illustrated ad, remains one of the few truly fun games released for the Jaguar. I only acquired it recently (well, recently as in 2001) but I’ve had a blast with it, even if the missions do feel like three-hour aimless wanderlusts of wanton destruction. I’ll never forget the feeling of punching skyscrapers with my giant robot’s stubby fist for the first time.
Did anybody else out there have this game? What did you think about it?
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June 18th, 2007 at 11:58 am
“even if the missions do feel like three-hour aimless wanderlusts of wanton destruction”
You say that as if it’s a BAD thing…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
“…aimless wanderlusts of wanton destruction…”
Sounds like Mechwarrior to me.
Never owned a Jaguar, I’d already plunked for a TurboGrafx-16 – HuCards, anyone?
June 19th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
MechWarrior 2 PWNZ this game.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
“MechWarrior 2 PWNZ this game.â€
With a critique like that, the assumption must be made that you have not played both games enough to produce a credible comparison.
I will assume that you have played MechWarrior 2 (MW).
-Iron Soldiers (IS) has several key differences that may help it fend off the PWNED status.
-IS was arguably the best offering from the Atari Jaguar. (This is not saying much… but hey, it’s good to be the king)
-It had an effective AI that did more than just begin an attack at a preprogrammed point. MW seemed to throw fairly dumb enemies at you. Enemy difficulty came in their volume and armament rather than skill or tactics.
-You can punch buildings to bits in IS.
-The weapons were unique.
-Its animation was very smooth.
-The music was good for consoles of the era.
-Missions were long and involved.
-IS took great advantage of the Jaguar’s underutilized controller.
-IS was a generation or two old when MW was released.
-POV missile camera was fun.
Iron Soldier was good, MechWarrior 2 was also good. If I had to compare Iron Soldier to a PC game of the same generation, it would have to be EarthSiege.