Video Game Critic review of Blue Lightning, gave it a D+

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, youxia said:

Yeah...they absolutely hit it out of the park with AvP. Me and my friends were die-hard PC/Amiga fans at the time, but when we saw the previews we all (secretly) wanted it too.

Didn't they just? 

 

Having Hewland International feature the early demo (before the A I routines were added) feature it on Gamrsmaster TV show, was an absolute masterstroke. 

 

 

I'd never seen anything like it, especially on a console, had to have the Jaguar the moment i saw it, just to play this. 

 

 

If only Atari had commissioned more titles like this, things that weren't available on any upcoming platform like the 3DO and just grabbed your attention and put your jaw to the floor,rathing offering something similar to what Sega were offering with their magic mushroom. 

[Barone]

41 minutes ago, Austin said:

To rant a little, I see this lack of consistency all the time with other reviewers, especially in the YouTube sphere. Random titles get thrown under the bus simply because the reviewer was having a bad day, they didn't play it long enough or they are trying to act edgy just to stir the pot. On the flip side, I've seen the opposite where reviewers tend to rate things positively all the time, to where when they actually have negative takes, they don't line up with other reviews they have done. I've seen others spend half a review bashing a game's issues, only to give it a 100% rating because it's their favorite game of all time. Then in another review they do nothing but sing praises for the title, only to give it 80% for no apparent reason.

 

That lack of consistency damages the trust I have in any given reviewer and it's a big reason why I've gotten away from caring much about reviews, be it in written or video form. Thankfully I'm pretty good at forming my own opinion of any given game (and I generally implore others to do the same, as it's part of the fun of the hobby), so spending time perusing reviews is mostly a thing of the past for me. For the reviewers I do still follow, they generally do not adhere to any sort of rating system. They state the facts, talk about how they felt, speak about the ups and whatever downs there may have been, acknowledge when something probably won't be for everyone, describe any other nitpicks, give a recommendation or not (or somewhere in between), then leave the rest up to the reader/viewer. Game reviews are more fun when they are nuanced anyway, and that's something VGC's reviews are not (and never have been).

This.
Well, in Sega-16 I have advocated the idea that removing the score system would be much better than having one. The strongest argument I got from Ken (Sega-16's owner) to support having the system is that we would lose the traffic that comes from score aggregators such as those from Mobygames and Gamefaqs. 
So, I'd assume that VGC is probably pushing for that as well; especially 'cause his reviews are usually very superficial and don't really tell you anything informative about the gameplay, winning conditions, etc. 

As Austin said, I usually ignore reviews and, especially, flashy youtube reviewers. Youtubers more often than not are just seeking for attention and polarization that will result in more comments to up their videos rankings, etc.  
There's also just good old sheer ignorance and ultimate laziness, which seem to plague most of them. There are far more misleading reviews than good ones out there, so if you want to really learn about games I'd advise you to play them, watch longplays, or engage into communities like this, form an opinion by yourself and really avoid any major game reviews website or Youtube channel; with some very rare exceptions. 

Some examples of outstanding reviews off the top of my head:
- Sega-16's 10/10 Super Thunder Blade: https://www.sega-16.com/2005/08/super-thunderblade/
- Youtube reviews praising Paprium as better than Streets of Rage 2.
- MetalJesusRocks' Jaguar console review based off a grand total of 7 games where both the system and the games were borrowed from a sponsor for a few days? (AvP's 30 seconds coverage: "AvP is very Doom-like", "I'm not convinced it can really do 3D graphics" based on Checkered Flag...): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH2oyAaocX0

 

[+jgkspsx]

I enjoy VGC reviews, particularly for the 2600, as they are concise and easy to read by the handful. They are more often right than wrong but sometimes when he doesn’t understand a game the results are embarrassing. Oh well, nobody’s human.

[roots.genoa]

1 hour ago, jgkspsx said:

Oh well, nobody’s human.

Wait, what?

[+LS650]

1 hour ago, Barone said:

MetalJesusRocks' Jaguar console review ... "I'm not convinced it can really do 3D graphics" based on Checkered Flag...

He might be onto something.

[+jgkspsx]

33 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Wait, what?

It’s a Yogi Berraism. If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be. Nobody goes THERE anymore, it’s way too crowded! But then again, he never said half the things he said.

[Paul Westphal]

I give Blue Lightening a solid C. I give the VGC the same rating.

 

I'm pretty sure he does not spend much time on the games as he should.

 

That being said, I enjoy his site for a quick visit now and then.

[sirlynxalot]

23 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

lololol not remotely  

 

 

 

vs

 

I would really like to try Blue Lightning, but performance wise it does not compare well at all.

 

Looking at them side by side afterburner certainly has the speed and more frantic action which is appealing, but blue lightning has gigantic sprites such as for the rock walls and ground targets, which I think is pretty cool and seemingly an upgrade. The cdda rock soundtrack is decent in blue lightning as well and I bet a casual player of the 90s might have preferred it to afterburners music. 

 

Unfortunately we're talking about improvements that blue lightning has to a game that first came out in 1987. It certainly does not compare favorably to all the stuff that was being shown for the PlayStation or sega Saturn around 1994 and 1995. 

 

[Barone]

Blue Lightning's framerate is just way too low in comparison, part of the illusion is lost since you simply don't have enough scrolling speed. Sprites are bigger but also more sparsely presented.
The other main issue is the camera/view angle which doesn't change at all despite your aircraft's moves, this makes the game feel even more stiff than it actually is and thus it surely doesn't deliver the same "sensation" that After Burner provides.

I really doubt Blue Lightning is maxing out the Jaguar capabilities though.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Barone

[+jgkspsx]

3 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

Looking at them side by side afterburner certainly has the speed and more frantic action which is appealing, but blue lightning has gigantic sprites such as for the rock walls and ground targets,

Afterburner has those too, fast forward. I will say the world feels much larger in Blue Lightning whereas in Afterburner you’re effectively on a single axis.

[Cobra Kai]

On 1/9/2022 at 1:51 AM, Greg2600 said:

VGC is not an in depth reviewer.  He plays the games more or less for the first time, and writes a brief review.  He doesn't play games for inordinate amount of time, and honestly, as I've said many times, he is largely an "emulation" reviewer.  i.e. when emu's first came out, who didn't immediately pour through every game they heard of but never saw, on a system, given games no more than 10-15 minutes a time?  Well that's kind of where he comes from.  First impressions mean quite a bit, and if he senses problems including poor controls, he gives bad grades.  He also allows for everyone to comment on his reviews on this forum, and at times, if the user vote is such, he will go back and re-review.

I think he tries to get real software when possible. Years ago, I made a trade with him. His reviews of 7800 Kung Fu Master and Touchdown Football were from 'my games'. I've been following his website since I first became a netizen with a WebTV. He's a good guy and I only rarely strongly disagree with his reviews. I think sometimes he doesn't understand the concepts of particular games and gives them a terrible review and score. Warbirds and Slime World being good examples. 

 

jag Blue Lightning, however, is a terrible game. Embarrassing, really, for a title that should have been showing off that $250 piece of hardware you just purchased.

[Greg2600]

1 hour ago, Cobra Kai said:

I think he tries to get real software when possible. Years ago, I made a trade with him. His reviews of 7800 Kung Fu Master and Touchdown Football were from 'my games'. I've been following his website since I first became a netizen with a WebTV. He's a good guy and I only rarely strongly disagree with his reviews. I think sometimes he doesn't understand the concepts of particular games and gives them a terrible review and score. Warbirds and Slime World being good examples. 

 

jag Blue Lightning, however, is a terrible game. Embarrassing, really, for a title that should have been showing off that $250 piece of hardware you just purchased.

Agree.  In fact, when he first started his site (originally www.thevideogamecritic.com before the domain was hacked/stolen from him) I used to use it for emulator/rom downloads.  Back then I had dialup at home, through my university account, but it really stunk.  So I preferred to research a game a bit before committing the next hour to download that rom!  Ha ha.  Granted sites like Mobygames were far more in depth.  Later on, I used the critic when physically game hunting.  His brief reviews were often pretty on the spot for someone like me who would likewise pop a game in and try it.  If I didn't like it in a few minutes usually wasn't for me, and back then I didn't collect old carts of games I wouldn't play.  I mean, there was a time when if a game didn't "hit it off" with players quickly, they would lose interest and forego it.  Especially if you were renting them first like in the 80s and 90s.

[Lostdragon]

? Well... 

 

Politely approaching one of the team who worked on the game, but hasn't been seen commenting on it, asking if they would like to offer any personal insights into what happened with the game, provided to be a massive mistake. 

 

Probably the rudest response back ever. 

 

Talk of 'You People...' for a start. 

 

Erm, we were the people that bought the games that you worked on, games which paid your wages, sheesh... 

[Barone]

This person probably hates being reminded that he's/she's one of the creators of this game.

Can't blame him/her for that TBH.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Barone

[Cobra Kai]

1 hour ago, Lostdragon said:

? Well... 

 

Politely approaching one of the team who worked on the game, but hasn't been seen commenting on it, asking if they would like to offer any personal insights into what happened with the game, provided to be a massive mistake. 

 

Probably the rudest response back ever. 

 

Talk of 'You People...' for a start. 

 

Erm, we were the people that bought the games that you worked on, games which paid your wages, sheesh... 

Sounds like you asked David Lynch about Dune 1984

[JagChris]

Not a good sign when Battlemorph gets mentioned with Dune '84 ?

 

But it doesn't bode well when someone comes off like that. I do blame him. That's just a bad personality for someone who helped create a game beloved by a community so much. What kind of harassment could he have gotten? What's 'you people '? Maybe Carl been poking at him for the source code? 

 

@Lostdragon would you care to share the rest of what he said? What was 'you people' followed by?

Edited January 16, 2022 by JagChris

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, Cobra Kai said:

Sounds like you asked David Lynch about Dune 1984

I would of been better off reaching out to him ?

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, JagChris said:

Not a good sign when Battlemorph gets mentioned with Dune '84 ?

 

But it doesn't code well when someone comes off like that. I do blame him. That's just a bad personality for someone who helped create a game beloved by this community so much. What kind of harassment could he have gotten? What's 'you people '? Maybe Carl been poking at him for the source code? 

 

@Lostdragon would you care to share the rest of what he said? What was 'you people' followed by?

It was a brief exchange after his initial response, I considered politely suggesting if he felt so strongly about people expressing an interest in his work, even when it's some of the worst on the host platforms, he contacts the site that has a link to his FB profile, on his profile there and amends his  public FB profile section which puts his contact details at the top (that'd be common sense,right? or just add a simple disclaimer asking not to be contacted about his time in the games industry..) 

 

What I really wanted to ask about, was indeed the You People comment.. 

 

That was plain arrogant and uncalled for. 

 

He was simply being given an opportunity to share some insights, if he so wished. 

 

 

I'm a firm believer in reaching out to everyone involved in a games creation, not just the big names, the industry icons. 

 

He wasn't asked for source code, unused assets, design documents, nothing but a few quotes on how he felt the development had gone and why. 

 

Good grief, you'd think after the absolute mauling it got from Atari Corp staff and Games Reviewers, he'd appreciate the fact the game had it's fans, people wanted to chat with him about it. 

 

 

Rude

Arrogant 

Obnoxious 

 

Individual. 

 

 

Little wonder I have never seen him interviewed about anything he's worked on in his time in the industry. 

 

Closes the door somewhat on chances of more coming to light about the games troubled development ?

Edited January 16, 2022 by Lostdragon

[agradeneu]

1 hour ago, JagChris said:

Not a good sign when Battlemorph gets mentioned with Dune '84 ?

 

But it doesn't bode well when someone comes off like that. I do blame him. That's just a bad personality for someone who helped create a game beloved by a community so much. What kind of harassment could he have gotten? What's 'you people '? Maybe Carl been poking at him for the source code? 

 

@Lostdragon would you care to share the rest of what he said? What was 'you people' followed by?

I thought this thread was about Blue Lightning...whatever ?

[JagChris]

Personality signals like that as I get older I tune into. In my experience a response like that is tied to a personality that probably didn't give much of a damn during development. I could be wrong but more often than not it seems to turn out that way.

 

I read an interview with the Powerslave Saturn coder. Before this I thought he had done this with a bit of pride in his craft and some curiosity. But then I got to the part where he was told by management to put in the dynamic lighting and he says something to the effect of he did it grudgingly. In my mind I knew then it was likely nothing more than a job to him. And the Saturn could crank out even more.

 

 

[JagChris]

3 minutes ago, agradeneu said:

I thought this thread was about Blue Lightning...whatever ?

 yes you are correct. My bad. 

 

Maybe @Lostdragon should have opened his correspondence with:

 

Hi! 

 

I'd like to talk to you about your work on Battlemorph one of the most beloved games in the retro Jag community.

 

That might have softened him up. And then slide into talking about everything else later. 

 

Dragon, remember to butter the toast a little first in the future.

[Lostdragon]

1 minute ago, JagChris said:

Personality signals like that as I get older I tune into. In my experience a response like that is tied to a personality that probably didn't give much of a damn during development. I could be wrong but more often than not it seems to turn out that way.

 

I read an interview with the Powerslave Saturn coder. Before this I thought he had done this with a bit of pride in his craft and some curiosity. But then I got to the part where he was told by management to put in the dynamic lighting and he says something to the effect of he did it grudgingly. In my mind I knew then it was likely nothing more than a job to him. And the Saturn could crank out even more.

 

 

It would of been nice to get even a brief overview from another ikey ndividual involved in creating Blue Lightning for the Jaguar CD.

 

We have heard from some of the  people responsible for the graphics, some of the company founders, but there's always potential for others from the team to contribute how their role's played out. 

 

Did they even want to be put on it, did they have ideas that couldn't be implemented or were simply thrown out/over ruled by the powers that be? 

 

Was it simply a case of him being paid for his role and that pay wasn't tied to any review score status? 

 

I doubt anybody sets out to create a terrible game, but unless people are willing to share their experiences, we will never truly understand  exactly what went so wrong. 

 

 

[Lostdragon]

3 minutes ago, JagChris said:

 yes you are correct. My bad. 

 

Maybe @Lostdragon should have opened his correspondence with:

 

Hi! 

 

I'd like to talk to you about your work on Battlemorph one of the most beloved games in the retro Jag community.

 

That might have softened him up. And then slide into talking about everything else later. 

 

Dragon, remember to butter the toast a little first in the future.

I've tried that sort of approach in the past, the Lobotomy interview I did on behalf of Unseen64 and I took critiscm for being biased because I praised what the team achieved on the hardware and how respected the game still is to this day. 

 

 

So now I just stay neutral, only mention which specific titles i am asking after. 

 

I simply stated I was interested in his work on Blue Lightning whilst at ATD  in particular, made no reference to the game being panned by critics or having fans in the Jaguar Community to this day..

 

Guess he didn't like the cornbread either ?

 

 

[+Stephen]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:27 AM, sirlynxalot said:

  On 1/10/2022 at 9:30 AM, jgkspsx said:

lololol not remotely  

 

 

 

vs

 

I would really like to try Blue Lightning, but performance wise it does not compare well at all.

Wow - never really saw anything from the 32X library.  I bought my Jag in early 94 and still have it but yikes!  No wonder it got the treatment from the general public and media it did.  I never understood it back then.  I never much cared for Blue Lightning - even less now seeing those videos.  A jet fighting game where the horizon never deviates from perfectly level.  Fantastic!