Question - what's the difference between Jaguar and Lotus Turbo Challenge 2? Answer - not a lot.
To say Jaguar XJ220 has been warmly received by the computer press is a bit of an understatement. In fact some computer mags have gone so far as to give the game a four-page review and percentages bordering on the ridiculous.
I mean a four page review on a driving game? It's just not physically possible, believe you me I'm having trouble filling one page. What on earth do you say about a driving game. Well? Look for the purpose of time-wasting, I'll have a go.
Look, it's a driving game and, err you drive. If you move left on the joystick you move (gasp) left, oh forget it - I just can't do it. Look are you thick or something? It's just a driving game, now go away and don't hassle me.
Oops my temper took over, I'm sorry, it won't happen again. Right what can I say now? Ummm.
Jaguar is good. In fact it's very good, but it's far too similar to Lotus 2. The graphics and sound are better than Lotus 2 which is fairly obvious seeing as though Lotus 2 was released a year ago - you know technology advancements and the like.
There is a major difference between the two games and that is that Jaguar XJ220 has a track editor, thus allowing you to construct tracks from scratch or modify any of the 36 available.
This is a fairly neat idea, but in the end it's just another gimmick.
Talking of gimmicks, remember the in-car stereo in Lotus? Well, it's back in Jaguar and for one reason only it's tons better.
That one reason is Thrash Pig - probably the noisiest, rocking tune since, well since ever really. As soon as you hear those wonderful opening notes, it's time for a most frenzy.
All the other tunes are a bit bobbins to say the least. A new nice little feature is the car radio with the option to tune into your favourite station. Let's put it this way - it raises a smile for at least three seconds and then the novelty wears off.
One small teeny weeny problem with Jaguar XJ220 is the Jaguar XJ220. It has a maximum speed of 213 mph. This little baby can do 0-100 mph in eight seconds. Now because of all this speed you'd think that the game was pretty fast... wrong!
In Jaguar XJ220 you just don't get any feeling of speed. For instance I was taking sharp corners at 200 mph and it just felt as though I was doing 40 mph.
The handling on the Jag is so good that the game is really easy to play. You race against Porsches and Ferraris and you fly past them as if they weren't there.
You get to race in 12 different countries and each country has three tracks in it. The first track is a breeze and you are guaranteed to come first. The second is slightly harder with more difficult corners and you probably come first or second, but - and this is a big,big but - the third track is really hard. It normally puts you in some freak weather conditions like snow, fog, night etc and chance are you'll find it difficult into the top five.
Overall Jaguar is good, but not that good. It has almost the same features as Lotus 2, like the pits and the in-car stereo, etc. The graphics are excellent and sound is very good, especially Thrash Pig.
The problem is not that it's not as playable or addictive as Lotus. But Jaguar has far more tracks and it is a lot harder to complete. If you like car games then you'll love Jaguar XJ 220, but don't waste your money if you've already got Lotus 2.