Blue Lightning (1995 video game)


Blue Lightning is a combat flight simulation video game developed by Attention to Detail and published by Atari Corporation exclusively for the Atari Jaguar CD on September 21, 1995. It is a remake of Epyx's 1989 Atari Lynx title of the same name and was, alongside Vid Grid, one of the pack-in games for the peripheral when it launched.
Assuming the role of a rookie aircraft pilot from the Blue Lightning squadron, players take control of multiple military aircraft on various missions in order to stop General Drako, who betrayed the United Nations and slowly gained control of many armed forces through corruption to expand his organized crime empire on all over the world. Originally advertised as a sequel to the Atari Lynx original, Blue Lightning had a troubled development cycle and went through various changes before release.
Similarly with Cybermorph, an early game for the Jaguar created by its main developer, Blue Lightning received divisive reviews when it launched. While it received praise for its soundtrack, many reviewers felt divided in regards to the gameplay and graphics. Critics also compared the game with both the original Lynx game and After Burner, which received a conversion for the Sega 32X months prior.

Gameplay

Blue Lightning is an arcade-style combat flight simulation game that is played from a third-person perspective, similar to the Atari Lynx original and After Burner, where players take the role of a fighter pilot with the main objective of completing a group of missions across multiple locations in order to defeat General Drako and his army from controlling the world. While it retains the 2D graphics from the original game, they are now featured with digitized backgrounds and pre-rendered sprites.
When starting the game, players can select any save slot on the "Pilot Select" screen in order to keep their progress through the game and customize it by choosing their preferred portrait picture, enter their name and select any of the three levels of difficulty available. If a Memory Track cartridge is present, progress and high-scores will be automatically saved after completing a location, otherwise players can play through the game without saving. By pressing Option on the main menu screen, players can access to the options screen and change the default settings such as disabling cutscenes and language.
Once the player is ready, they are tasked on completing training missions in order to be prepared for the main missions of the game, which are named "Tour of Duty". After completing the training missions, players can now select any of the seven Tour areas freely, in addition to being awarded with three extra fighter aircraft, instead of having only one as with the original game and these planes also act as lives and if all of them are crashed or destroyed, the game is over though extra planes can be obtained by either reaching a certain score or completing the missions. Before starting the mission, a briefing screen is shown which explains the situation in the selected Tour location and lists the objective for each of the four missions on the selected area, as well as selecting and set up their fighter plane, with each plane having their own advantages and disadvantages. There are five types of assignments to be found through the game, such as escort, aerial and ground missions. Though players can finish the game normally, only the fake ending is shown and in order to see the real ending, a cheat code must be entered at the options screen.

Plot

General Drako was a notable man who worked for the United Nations by using the organization's military personnel to keep peace around the world. However, Drako slowly gained control and power of the military organizations, corrupting them on his favor to the point that members from the Blue Lightning squadron joined Drako's corrupted ranks in exchange for power and wealth, stretching his organized crime network across the globe by the time his betrayal was unveiled. Leaders from the U.N. were surprised from this and actions had to be taken before it was too late, with remaining loyal forces of the organization eager for a chance to stop Drako and his forces. As a result, the organization turns its head to the Blue Lightning squadron and they assign a rookie pilot of the force in order to put an end to Drako and his criminal group. After taking on multiple assignments, the pilot is sent to the Arctic where most of Drako's army resides, but Drako himself escapes after the destruction of his base. When the pilot arrives to the squadron's base after completion of the mission, the remaining forces of Drako approaches to the base for a surprise assault with attack aircraft and as a result, the pilot is sent once more to complete the task in order to pinpoint his secret base. Once his location is revealed, the pilot is sent to the secret base where Drako and his forces are escaping. After managing to get close with Drako and his aircraft, the pilot defeats him, saving the world in the process and later honored for his merits.

Development

The game was originally announced in early 1994 as Blue Lightning 2, a sequel to the original Blue Lightning on the Atari Lynx and became one of the first titles announced for the then-upcoming Jaguar CD add-on. During Autumn ECTS '94 it was revealed that Attention to Detail, who previously developed Cybermorph for the Jaguar, were the ones developing the title under its final name. It was showcased at SCES '94 in a very early state, featuring different graphics compared to the final release. It was later showcased during WCES '95, Spring ECTS '95 and E3 1995 respectively, in addition to being playable for the magazine press that were invited to Atari Corporation's UK division.
Blue Lighting went through a troubled development cycle until it was released. Kristi-Louise Herd, who previously worked at Imagitec Design on conversions such as Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun, worked as one of the graphic artists for the title at Attention to Detail after leaving Imagitec. Referring the game's development process as "the one which gave me the most headaches", Kristi states that the graphics for the backgrounds were digitized from images created by ATD, while sprites were produced from pre-rendered 3D models but this caused a discontent for her with both the project and company, calling the scanned backgrounds as "awful" and left the company as a result. She also stated that the company hired both an aircraft and a flight suit for a photo shoot, where developers of the game dressed as fighter pilots and used photos from the session as portraits for the pilot selection screen, with Kristi herself stating that it "was the best time I had at ATD." Kristi has also referred Blue Lightning as one of the titles she would like to rework.
Fred Gill, best known as one of the programmers for Cybermorph, worked on additional support during the development process of the Blue Lightning. He states that him and the team underestimated how much work the project would bring to them, while the company was expanding into multiple teams as well as not understanding how the gameplay from the original worked when recreating it for the Jaguar. He also stated that the team had many problems when developing the game at the same time the Jaguar CD hardware was being finished. Carrie Tahquechi, wife of ex-Atari producer Ted Tahquechi and the female voice in Tempest 2000, did the voice work for some of the radio transmissions heard during gameplay at Atari's sound department. In addition, the narration, menu and most of the voice work for the title was done by comedian actor Rob Brydon, who also did voice work for Battlemorph.

Reception

Blue Lightning received divisive reviews from critics when it launched.
Next Generation reviewed the Jaguar version of the game, and stated that "You might not expect much from a game that was originally released over five years ago, but Blue Lightning was a great game when it was released for the Lynx, and it's still a good one now."