I have read a lot of mixed reviews about Cybermorph...as the Jaguar's pack-in game, it is probably the most common used Jaguar game you can possibly find. I remember reading somewhere that in 1994, Atari manufactured a low cost version of Cybermorph to reduce the money needed to produce the damn thing, cutting the cartridge size from two megs to one. Obviously, some content was taken out, such as an animation at the title, and many of Skylar's often sarcastic remarks...it just so happens this is the version I now own. And you know what? This is a decent, although completely unimpressive, game. Read on.

[GRAPHICS]

I'll just get this out in the open before I go on... the visuals in Cybermorph are shat. They are still playable, but it just... well, it looks so damn horrible. There is an unacceptable amount of pop-up (it's almost like being in a fog with 20 foot visibility), meaning that mountains just sort of appear out of nowhere in particular, and the ground appears as if it is being constructed out of thin air as you fly overhead.

Everything in Cybermorph is made out of shaded polygons: you, the enemies, the landscape, the buildings, the pods (weapons and items are an exception, since they are rendered sprites). You'd think that with the total lack of detail and terrible pop-up the game would move sickeningly smooth with a lightning-fast frame rate. But that's the danger of assuming.

At least the T-Griffin does look pretty cool - and as it travels over the almost painful colours of the terrain, you can see that it's actually light-sourced. Quite neat, but it's not enough.

Why Atari chose this as the 'show-off' game included with every system sold is beyond me. Perhaps Atari at the time thought that since it was a cartridge-based game that had a playable polygon graphics engine, Joe and Jane Consumer Whore would never be able to look at their Super Nintendo, Genesis, or TurboGrafx the same again and buy the Jaguar simply for the fact that "polygons = greatness." ...(Starfox must have scared them shitless)

...then again, considering the line-up of launch games for the Atari Jaguar, perhaps Cybermorph wasn't a terrible choice. Cybermorph, Raiden, Dino Dudes, and Trevor McFur... hahaha, yeah, Cybermorph was the best choice out of those in terms of a "Daaaaamn!!! 64-Bit Power, baby!" effect.

In my personal opinion.. Atari should have either waited until Tempest 2000 was complete, or make THAT the pack-in game once it was released to take the place of Cybermorph. Then, when Alien vs. Predator was released, offer two different system packs, each including either Tempest 2000 or Alien vs. Predator.

Ah well.

..haha, anyways, I got a little off-topic. The bottom line? The graphics are mediocre at best.

[SOUND FX/MUSIC]

Cybermorph does not score all too well in this category, mainly because of the lack of any sort of music during play, and also because the sound effects are not very clear... nowhere near the 'CD Quality Sound' the Cybermorph adds promised.

This is the kind of game that needs music...an exploration shooter such as this would greatly benefit from some sort of electronica soundtrack, perhaps less-energetic versions of Tempest 2000's absolutely asskicking songs.

As it is, the sound effects aren't bad, with the constant blaring of shots firering and things exploding (not to mention the happy little beep you're treated to when you collect a pod), but like I said, they're fairly low quality. Since I have the later version of Cybermorph, Skylar's comments have been cut down to a bare minimum. Mainly all that she says is, "Where did you learn to fly?" for just about everything.

..haha, Atari really were a bunch of cheapskates. I mean, who else releases an 'economy model' of a game?

[GAMEPLAY]

I like the idea behind Cybermorph...fly around a large assortment of tacky planets, shooting enemies bent on your destruction, collecting various amounts of yellow pods either laying out in the open or encased in restraints, and generally pissing off the Pernitia empire. Your ship changes, too, to help you on your way! ...or so it claims. All that really happens is that the configuration of your craft, the T-Griffin, changes depending on the speed you travel, but these shape changes do not affect the game at all.

Cybermorph would take a great deal of time to beat from start to finish. You only get a few lives, and you're expected to clear all the planets of their pods, using only those few lives. No continues, no sir - only passwords! Good ol' passwords...(speaking of passwords, enter the code '6009' at the stage select screen to get to the bonus planets, and even before that, go to the option screen and press 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9 at once)...(but be warned, the planets in the 6009 stage are pretty damn strange - go to the one in the lower right corner and get the hell out of there)

The whole search-fer-da-pod concept has potential .. it's not too simplistic to become completely boring (it comes close), yet it's the same kind of basic premise found in many old school classic games where the formula of the game never changes, so either you love it or you hate it, since it's all you get.

Anyway, one of the problems with the gameplay of Cybermorph is the sluggish control. Navigating the planets isn't as easy as it should be...accurate turning can be a problem. When flying through .."canyons", you will often crash into the canyon walls while trying to make a slight turn, stopping your ship completely, resulting in Skylar cracking the remark, "Where did you learn to fly?".

One thing I found a problem with was simply flying around. You can't get very high off the ground...which doesn't make much sense, unless the T-Griffin is tethered to an ancor or something.

ANOTHER fault that I discovered while playing was the collisions...if you even so much as tap a building, your T-Griffin will explode, costing you a life, and some enemies, such as the worms, kill you on contact in much the same way. There are a moderate amount of weapons to choose from, many enemies to shoot down with them, and quite a variety of planets to visit. Overall, the gameplay is mixed...somewhere above average.