Painter

LinkoVitch is addicted to Sinister Developments' new Jaguar game

My first encounter with Jag Painter was when I BJL-modded my development Jag, the BJL ROM contains a few small games, some are more playable than others, Painter was easily the most playable for me (well that and Tetris, but I am not reviewing Jagtris now am I!). I had obviously seen Painter on the 8-bits all those years ago, but never really gave it more than a cursory glance, but time goes on and questing for my past childhood again (I think I am now on my sixth or seventh childhood now!) I gave it some play... and very good it was, too! No music or sound but this is most likely due to the limited space in the Jaguar boot ROM.

Anyway, fast-forward to August 2003 and Sinister release of the full game for JagFree CD (I knew buying Protector SE at Jagfest UK would be well worth it!). I bought my copy directly from Sinister for $25 + $4 P&P so probably around £18 - 20 I think, bargain!

The package arrived and as is standard when you are awaiting your latest purchase, it arrives on the day when you literally get home from work and have to dash out ten minutes later! Not that this stopped me tearing open the package as I dashed upstairs to try out my new purchase. I was very pleased to see that Sinister Developments had gone for a DVD case for the packaging, looks a lot better than a regular jewel case and I think protects the disc more, it also fits alongside recent PC titles, too! The cover artwork is not the best in the world but does hold true to the old Atari Jaguar box layout standard (screen-shot on the front bottom left, logo bottom right) so it fits in well, I hope all future CD releases are presented in this way. The CD itself is a CD-R with full colour label stuck on and very good quality printing.

On with the game!
When you boot up your Jag CD (complete with your chosen bypass method) you are greeted with a simple loading screen, not the most attractive screen but functional, a few seconds later and you're in. The title screen has changed a little from the BJL version, there is now a MOD tune and also 3D balls arranged into the shape of a 3D Fuji which happily floats around behind the game options. There is no saving of data with Painter so a level password system is implemented with easy-to-remember passwords (which is great for me!).

The game itself sticks true to the original, you have a grid around which you must travel, as you travel along the lines of the grid the colour of the line changes, or is "painted" (now I wonder where the name Painter comes from...). When you paint all the lines surrounding an enclosed area, it becomes filled, repeat this for each area and you are done with that level. Easy huh?! Not quite. Joining you on your merry travel around the maze are at least one blue monster, who is hell bent on eating your poor defenceless painter. So you must traverse the whole grid painting while dodging these nutters, oh and there's a time limit as well. To aid you in your evading of these blue beasties you can cut holes in the grid, which neither you or the monster can cross, be careful, dropped in the wrong place and they will stuff you up, too! Sounding more tricky yet?

As you progress through the levels they become increasingly complex, then to increase your sweaty-palmed fun, we get invisible boxes! Yes that's right, the box is there and must be filled, only you can't see the damned thing, well you do at the start of the level, and then it promptly disappears, so you have to trust your memory (at this point I am screwed!). To further add to your fun, later on your persistent blue friend gets help, so you are now chased by two of them, now they can cause some real problems by cornering you (I bet Michelangelo never had this much trouble!).

Throughout the game you are treated to some excellent tunes and sound effects. The music certainly gets the blood thumping and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the game. Controlling the game is simplicity itself, push a direction and away you go, hit [B] and a hole appears (up to the limit of three).

Overall I would highly recommend this game, it's a must-have, be warned if you have a short temper, get a stock of replacement pads as you will probably be needing them! The game is not perfect and has a few shortfalls, such as no memory save even if there is a chip present, but this is just a minor niggle. A few minor bugs let the game down, too, such as the CD continues to spin after the game has loaded, but nothing is perfect, and this doesn't detract from the excellent game. It really is a case of "just one more go", or "I'll just beat this level and then I'm off to bed".  So get on the web, and buy yourself a copy, make sure you have a bypass cart or modified CD unit to play it, but get it! Top marks to Sinister Developments (I believe there are some hidden goodies in there, too, but you'll have to buy it and find them yourself!).

MyAtari magazine - Review #1, October 2003