Ultra Vortek

The Good
The success of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat in the 1990s, prompted dozens of copy cat imitations hoping to share in the fame and fortune. Ultra Vortek is just one such example of a game hoping to cash in on the popularity of fighting games.

As copycats go, the graphics and music are OK. I suspect that the Jaguar can do better, but what has been done here is not bad. It's just not going to win any points for the "64-bit" Atari Jaguar.

Several characters compete in an ultra violent tournament, like Mortal Kombat, and if you just look at what games were published for the Jaguar in the 1990s, this is indeed one of the best fighting games for the the ill-fated home console system.

The Bad
The game's graphics and music are OK, but they will not offer much competition for the Mortal Kombat or the Street Fighter franchises.

Remember, that the Atari Jaguar was marketed as a powerful, 64-bit video game system. Games like Ultra Vortek didn't feel like they were testing the full hardware capabilities consumers expected.

Beyond the "just OK" visual and audio effects, the Jaguar probably had one of the WORST controllers ever designed for a home console system.

The game's poor control is probably not all due to the design of the Jaguar controller, but in a fighting game, the control mechanics are fundamental. Here they are difficult to perform consistently.

Even if you master the control challenges, these fighters seem to have fewer possible combos, offensive and defensive moves then say, Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter.

The Bottom Line
Ultra Vortex is probably one of the best fighting games to be released for the Atari Jaguar, but that praise only grants its an average, OK rating when you compare it to the more popular fighting games of the 1990s.