Page 13 - OSG Presents Video Game Trader Magazine #14

Mad Bodies I think I speak for everyone when I say, ―...what?‖ It makes the storylines for Ninja
Golf and Kung Food seem positively coherent.
For the Atari Jaguar
―The Graphics Man‖ is Terance Williams. His FORCE Design shingle got put up in
By and Distributed by FORCE Design 1998. A freelance artist, his early stuff was graphic design for everything from
(www.MadBodies.com). business cards to video games. So he decided to make his own game (MadBodies
was originally going to be a Jaguar CD game, but that idea got abandoned around
It's a new game for the Atari Jaguar! 2004). He and his team are also working on another Jaguar came called
It's done after six years of work! ―MightyFrog.‖ The graphics, trailer, and backstory on the web page paint the pic-
ture of a Q*bert clone of some kind with projectile weapons thrown in for fits and
Wait a minute. This took six years? giggles. The milestones indicate the game in nearly done, but the page hasn't been
updated in over a year. I'm figuring Williams to be project lead for MadBodies,
The Jag is one of those game systems I since he's involved in just about all aspects of the production except for testing. So,
would love to see more development the set-up is that the fate of reality is at stake, so the mighty heroes enter a game
for. I actually liked the controllers and tournament to defeat ―The Graphics Man.‖. Okay, a bit flimsy, but I'll go with it.
the extra functionality of the keypad.
However, most people looking to really Or at least, I do until I actually fire up the game. The game itself seems to have
show off their homebrewing skills will go almost zilch to do with the set-up. For all the hype about a game tournament and
with the Sega Dreamcast. After all, it's such, the game proper is a little like Breakout or Jinks (or Arkanoid with the laser
cheaper to burn a CD than manufacture cannon power-up enabled). You have a flat paddle at the bottom of the screen,
a cart. So I understand the economics. Especially after all of the bad luck develop- slides left and right. There is a target square above you that you can adjust the
ers have been having with the Jaguar, like Hasbro saying homebrewers can freely height on – horizontally, it tracks with your paddle. Pressing the B button make you
program for the Jaguar but they didn't know what the encryption key was or where fire into the square and the square only – it doesn't appear to affect anything en
to find it. The Jaguar just can't catch a break. I mean, come on. There were more route, so thinking you can use this to ―sweep‖ enemies off the screen is not gonna
homebrew games devved for the Atari 5200 or 7800 than the Jag, and those sys- happen. You can take multiple hits, your paddle has a ―jump‖ feature (ah, yes,
tems are no picnic to work on. Video Olympics. Good times, good times...) and can ―dash‖ to give your paddle
some speed since you don't have a dial control.
So, the ―Oh! You're still here?‖ of classic gaming gets itself a new title. The people
making MadBodies are clearly having a ball. Too bad they don't let the rest of us in So you get an asteroid or something bouncing around the screen. You must keep it
on it. You think I'm kidding? The story set-up appears to be a series of inside on the screen, bouncing it off your paddle – missing it counts as a miss and dam-
jokes. And I quote: ages your ship. Or, you can simply blast whatever it is. In my gameplay, the aster-
oid didn't replicate and I was free from having to worry about it until the next round,
“A new form of evil has emerged. In order to rule the universe, The Graphics Man unless I just didn't notice what the end result of that was. You also get a fireball
has fused the world's reality within his ebonic mind, and it's up to you to stop him! dropping down the screen that you have to avoid and clumps of enemies shooting
With your help, ETHunter, Clay, Skip, Thunderbird and Wes are out to stop the at you that you can shoot down with your target cursor. At least, that's what I think
devastating madness known as The Graphics Man! How are they to defeat such you're supposed to do.
an insurmountable evil? By entering the Dark Knight Games tournament, co-
hosted by Dave Vapourware, that's how!” I know that all sounds vague, but that's kind of the nature of the whole project.
Most of the time, I felt like the guy in Metal Gear Awesome, going, ―Yeah, I don't
“Not long ago, ETHunter, Clay, Skip and Thunderbird trash-talked the innocent new know what to do.‖ I didn't know if I was supposed to blast things or not, since you
Jaguar developer, The Graphics Man. They insulted him on everything from the are never given any indication that you are doing something right. The instruction
grammar he used in messages on Jaguar Interactive II, to personal attacks about manual mentions there's lots of hidden surprises in the game. I will gladly do with-
his intellect. And out of all people, Wes decided to join in on the fun. After that, out surprises in exchange for some clarity about my objectives. I can't really tell
The Graphics Man vowed to make them all stars, just to destroy them in the end. you how I advanced through levels, whether by time limit or by destroying X num-
And by using his mind-altering abilities, he changes the world's reality to rule all!”
ber of enemies or what. You can get an equally satisfying experience pressing the
buttons at random and declaring you've beaten the game.
The music isn't bad. The title screen music is actually pretty good, and I wouldn't
mind having it on my music player. I honestly don't remember much about the in-
game music, as my brain was trying to make sense of what I was supposed to be
doing (and pretty much failing miserably at it).
I want to reserve some complaints about the control scheme. I think the game
would have worked better if you could set it up like 'Nam 75, where your shooter
and the target are independent of each other. Your soldier could move left and
right along the bottom to dodge attacks, and then he stood still while you move the
target around to handle the enemies. As it is, sliding your paddle to where you can
get off a shot puts you directly in harm's way and makes the game more frustrating.
I just don't get MadBodies. I don't get what I'm supposed to do, I don't get how I'm
supposed to do it, and I like to think I'm a pretty clever guy. Between the ill-advised
control scheme and vagueness of the instructions, what is meant to be goofy fun
has you wondering why you dug your Jaguar out of storage for this. The web site
mentions it ain't MadBodies ―until someone gets mad.‖ Sorry, but it made me sad
instead.

www.VideoGameTrader.com • Winter 2009/2010 • Issue #14 • Video Game Trader Magazine • 13