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SpaceWar 2000
by BRAD PRILLWITZ

    Space War 2000 is a good, but not quite finished 3D space shooter for the 64-Bit Atari Jaguar. Although not complete, it does succeed as an update to the original game.
    The opening sequence has a swirl of psychedelic colors in the background, followed by an image of the programmers head, with three eyes! The third eye on his forehead blinks, and he smiles as though he is proud of this game!
    The start-up screen has several options, some of them may not work. For instance I could not get the Weapon Shop to work. When you select this option, a box slowly swirls as it gets bigger. It kind of looks like an old arcade cabinet:)

SwirlHappy ProgrammerHands
    You have the option of changing your radar range as well as options like Droids and Asteroids, my favorite being the Blasteroids option. When you do chose to start your game, a pair of human hands opens up and your ship slowly flies out and into the swirly VLM-like background.
    The music is OK; sounds to me like something from an 8-Bit system. A repeating background tune that may get old after hearing it too much. Of course you can turn this off using the zero button on the keypad.
    The one player version has different difficulty settings. The easy setting was to easy. Destroy one enemy ship, then you go back to the screen with the smiling 3-eyed head, where your score is displayed. As you progress into higher levels, you will have more than one enemy ship to destroy. The radar is 2D, but does help, once you learn to use it correctly. You can change the range of the radar using the "8" button on the keypad. You can also change the speed of your ship using the "1" and "3" buttons.
    Of course the two-player mode is much more fun. Once you learn to master the radar, you can track your enemy, or try to get away from them. The cloak option ("*" on your keypad) is fun when someone is closing in on you about to blow you away! I don't think you can use weapons while cloaked but, but it definitely helps to elude the enemy.
    After a few two player rounds, we noticed droids popping up once in awhile. When I shot the first droid, I mistook it for the other player/enemy. The droid was much easier to kill than a live human enemy. Of course you can choose the cooperative option, and join together to destroy the droids.
Left ViewForward ViewRight View

Weapons

    SW2K just doesn't seem to have as much depth as a game like Star Raiders orBattlesphere, then again, not many games do. It is a good arcade/action game that may be a little to slow, or even easy with one player. Overall, I do like Space War 2000. The graphics are very good, and having multiple views; cockpit, side, rear and third person (behind your ship), makes the game that much better. The game will lock up occasionally, but then again you already know the game is not finished and your primary objective is not to finish, but rather to have a good time blowing up enemy ships:)
Space War 2000 is highly recommended to all Jaguar fans!

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