Protector

Protector by Songbird Productions and Bethesda Softworks
Players: 1-2
Genre: Bi-directional shooter
Levels: 40+
Difficulty levels: 4
DOR: Thanksgiving, 1999
Since the release of Worms back in May of 1998, the amount of new software for the Jaguar had been zero. There were still new games in the works, but thanks to Hasbro, things dragged on, and many of the already small Jag community left, believing Worms was our last game. As of this Thanksgiving, that all changed with the shipping of Protector for those of us lucky enough to order it. After we'd been told it was shipping, there it was in our mail boxes, within a couple of days. I honestly expected to wait longer. And now, we've got it. Protector is IMHO, one of the best games in my Jag collection right now.

"You are the sole protector of Haven-7!"
The storyline is as follows: A swarm of ravenous alien ships has arrived in our solar system, and all-out war has resulted. Fourtunately, we were not unprepared, but it will be a long and sordid fight.

Meanwhile, the poor inhabitants of the orbiting planetoid known as Haven-7 are left on their own, with only one ship spared for their defense. You must repel the invaders and protect the inhabitants of Haven-7!

"Player 1, Get Ready!"

First off, I have to congratulate Carl on delivering like he siad he would. Not to mention, it's a very professional looking product, box, manual and all. I was much more impressed with things such as the manual and label than I was with Telegames' shoddy manuals(I'm not ungrateful for what they did, but Carl, having much less money than they did proved a much more time and effort should've been put into the Telegames manuals and labels). Except for the lack of the Atari logo(except for on the back of the cart!), it's like getting a professional release. The manual is great, and the box looks cool as well. Now for the game...

The opening screen you get with your Jaguar is basically skipped(this is due to the technique used to bypass encryption), so it jumps right in. I like that, since you don't have to wait. The opening track is an upbeat bassy tune, and the screens you see are pretty well done. You can enter an options screen and chose the number of players, pad config, or difficulty.

When you start, it greets you with a great sounding deep voice, and you may recognize things from the screen shots that all of us has looked at a hundred times. But when you play, you realize that the screens just don't do justice. The parallax scrolling is very smooth, and the terrains look really cool, and will change every three levels. If you're a shooter fan, you'll love this. If it moves, you can blast it! And I have to say, those explosions are very cool. I like the pixel-shattering effect mostly, which is really great when you fly through a swarm of enemies, and blast everything in sight.

As you know, Protector is a Defender-style game. But, you may end up liking this more than D2k or Defender Plus. For one thing, you can be hit three times before you die, instead of just being killed instantly by anything that's flying around. I also like how you focus much more on the screen instead of the radar. The sprites used are small, but are really well animated. Look shiny in fact. I was reminded of Trevor McFur, except this is a ton better. In some cases, it would've been nice for a little more color(mostly on the static screens, like the shop) but it's only a minor thing. Oh yeah the shop. Yet another cool feature of the game. After you've cleared every level, there's a shop to buy a new ship, rapid fire, shields, or smart bombs. You can collect money during the levels(look like silver or gold w/ red colored orbs) to buy this stuff with. Also during the game, you may run into green orbs, which are power-ups. The first time you get a power-up it activates hyperspace, which works a little like the stargates in Defender Plus, except for the fact that you activate it. It'll then randomly send you to a place where you'll reappear. The hyperspace effect looks WAY awesome, which is hard to describe. Your second power-up restores your energy(your hits; only restores if you need it), the third give you rapid fire, and the fourth enables PROTECTOR mode, which means Landers(one of the generic enemies) can't pick up your humanoids. Things like this make it a very fun game to play.

Protector isn't exactly a piece of cake however. I've gotten as far as level 10, where you have to fight an awesome looking boss(looks like it came form TM:), but it gets difficult about Wave 6. Also, every few levels or so, there's a meteor shower, where huge rocks will fall form the sky and break-up, bouncing all over. You can't destroy the meteor's, just dogde them, or you can activate your sheilds, which makes you invincible for a few seconds.

There are plenty of enemies to fight. They can get on your nerves, but it's way cool to blast them. I've only met one boss so far though, so I'm not sure what the others are like - yet.

Protector also does a good job in the sound department. Your humanoids will scream for help when a lander starts to carry them up, and when you shoot them they either scream, or yell for a medic! They're kinda small though, smaller than the ones in Choplifter for the old Atari's, but that's also a minor thing. Also, there's some cool bassy tunes to listen to that are great for blasting music, heh, heh, heh...

Bottom line: It's a very addictive game. You feel like you're playing T2k or something like it, you just want to keep playing over and over. The replay value is great! If you haven't ordered Protector yet, do yourself a favor and get it before supplies run out. You'll be happy you did...
The Ratings-

Graphics- A- - Overall, it's a great 2D game. The enemies are fully animated, and are also rendered very well.

Sound/Music- A- - I enjoyed all the sounds and the music. The voice is pretty good, a lot of bass in there.

Control- A++ - I was very happy with the control. The ship seems to slide just perfectly, not to much, and not to little.

Fun Factor- A++ - Among the most addicting games I have. It took a while to put it down because it's so freakin' fun!

Again, thanks to Carl and all those involved in getting another game that helps our Jags to roar once again. Can't wait for more releases!

By Adam Pratt 1