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Phase Zero


The Atari Jaguar Guy

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Quite a few of us, actually, and whether it's worth getting is entirely subjective. The game isn't 100% complete, but it's mostly there, and serves as a decent technical showcase of what the Jag can do in the hands of a good developer.

 

 

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You can buy it on my Songbird website and it includes a professionally printed box. The first four levels are complete -- 3D terrain, combat, sound effects, enemies, and objectives are all there. After that there are some unfinished levels, so it is definitely a beta game and not a full game.

 

I licensed the game from the original developers many years ago with the hopes of them also finding the source code so I could properly finish the remaining levels. Unfortunately they never found the source.

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Oh, Phase Zero...!  Whenever I think about Jag's best showcased power, it always comes to mind Skyhammer, AVP, Rayman, etc, somehow I rarely remember PZ, but it's one of those games that really showcases Jag's power.

 

I know it's not polys, voxel is a completely different animal, but who cares! The end product is what matters, and personaly I 100% believe this game is more impressive than a ton of Saturn, Ps1 and N64 games (and for a N64 fanboy like me to say that, you know I really mean it).

 

PZ is one of those games that had it been lauched as a packing game, Jag's history would have been entirely different. We would be on the Jag's 7th generation by now. Imagine seeing those graphics in 93 when the SNES was bragging about mode 7 flat planes... :D :D :D :D

 

EDIT:

You know how many times people miss opportunities throughout history, as in "scr#wing big time".

 

If Atari really knew how to handle things, they should have seen PZ's development and said "stop the press, full stop! From now on, how many different ways can we explore an re-use this voxel thing without people noticing it's the exact same core game underneath??" 

 

I mean, Nintendo was brilliant with its mode 7, but if you look close enough, it's the same gimmick with a ton of different coats of paint.

 

Atari should have played to the Jag's strengths and explored the voxel engine to no end, much more impressive results than crude polygonal engines.

 

But as you know, people are experts in scr#wing things up throughout history... :D :D :( 

Edited by marcio_napoli
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22 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

How does Phase Zero compare to Air Cars?  It seems somewhat similar, driving over landscapes on a hover vehicle shooting lasers at other hover vehicles.

Same idea and game design yes, but PZ has the prettier enviroments, made of "voxels". All objects are sprites though, and IMO they look a bit off.

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54 minutes ago, agradeneu said:

Same idea and game design yes, but PZ has the prettier enviroments, made of "voxels". All objects are sprites though, and IMO they look a bit off.

Kind of... Hyper Image Productions actually used their own interpretation of the heighmap technique seen in titles like CyberRace. Speaking of that (and i'm not trying to stroke up my own ego here, just a fun tidbit), i talked to Paul Good months ago about his work on Phase Zero and he told me that the work i did about the game's article on Wikipedia is almost accurate and thanked me for doing so, which was really cool since i did it because i was interested in the game and i played the beta build already. It could have been a good title for the Jaguar but alas, it was not to be unfortunately...

PpaulgoodZ.png

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