Gravitic Mines

From the back of the box:

This Time… We Strike First!

Grip tight to your ship’s controls as you spin through gravitic wells and obliterate enemy installations, all the while dodging explosive mines. Strike back as you navigate harsh environments. Assess distance travelled versus fuel and weight to rescue your comrades, collect supplies, and, ultimately, conquer your foes!

• Sixteen unique and lush worlds, with
• multiple missions on each world, and
• punishing boss fights.
• Eleven music tracks, totaling over 32 minutes of music.
  Pilot profiles and online achievement tracking via QR code upload…
  …and much, much more

Review:

Challenging. That’s the one word that comes to mind after playing this game. Sometimes it feels ridiculously challenging, but if you stick with it, you soon can do the thing you thought was previously impossible.

I’ll mention the packaging next, since this is a homebrew game available through Atari Age. I got the standard edition, but there is also a deluxe edition which comes with some cool extras like a poster, a patch, a Reboot coin and other stuff. The box is awesome looking, with great cover art and a style that looks very similar to the classic games from when the Jaguar was new. The manual is a very glossy 36 page work of art. Wonderfully done and it includes story and descriptions of most of the game elements along with some cool artwork of all the ship types in the game. The game also includes a keypad overlay, an Atari Age glossy brochure of upcoming fall 2024 games, a postcard for the coming Yars Rising game, a “Welcome to Crashed Ice” postcard for one of the levels in Rocketeer Rebooted and of course, an Atari Age Sticker.

Now about playing the game: The first thing I will say is that the booklet recommends the Pro Controller which I do not have, but I can see how much better that would make the controls for this game because of one simple reason. The shoulder buttons become your side thrusters. On my standard controller, I have to use the 4 and 6 buttons on the keypad and find myself looking down to make sure I’m on the right row of buttons a lot which in this game is a very bad thing to do because if you stop paying attention to your ship and what gravity is doing to it in flight, you’re probably going to crash. The manual actually does not recommend the rotary controller which I thought was a little sad, as that controller might make it even easier to control, but the manual states that it can cause performance issues with the game.

Most levels in the game have you collecting items and rescuing people that need to be saved. There is usually an energy shield that prevents you from leaving the level and completing it until you have at least collected the minimum items to open the shield. This is very fun, but very challenging and sometimes you think that you’ll never complete a level (or at least I did) and then after a few more tries, you figure it out. The play control is excellent, but the sheer anxiety of bumping into something hard enough to crash your ship can be maddening. Especially on the levels when the gravity changes and you have to reverse your ship etc. That being said, it is very responsive and most of the mistakes I make are my fault from either doing something dumb, or just going too fast… or too slow… You also have to constantly worry about fuel and ammo which can be replenished by returning to the home pad on most levels which is nice as long as you don’t realize you’re running out of fuel and you’re too far away from the home pad.

The graphics in this game are superb for a Jaguar game. I give them a perfect 10. My other favorite graphics in a Jag game are the graphics in Rayman and this game is very close in graphical quality to that game. It is just beautiful. Screenshots were taken from my 1990’s Magnavox 32″ CRT TV, so the quality isn’t necessarily representative of what it looks like in person.

The sound is very well done, but the songs for the levels can get pretty repetitive and bothersome even. The song for the first world particularly felt like it didn’t really fit the atmosphere to me, though it is a fine song and well done… just short and a different vibe than what I thought the visuals were conveying. That being said, I can live with it… and I do find the song in the second world to be better than the first one.

The story is pretty good and more developed that I would expect for a game like this. I really like the dialog that the mini bosses have with you before you take them on. The level design is very good though some of the levels are pretty short in the beginning, but that is a good thing. I am having trouble finding some of the people to rescue though so there must be some hidden ways to find them. I will explore that more in the future.

I discovered that I was missing finding rescues when I was using this game’s unique online high score system which is really cool. Basically, when you complete a level, the game presents a QR code which you can scan with your phone. If you do this, your score gets added to the reboot games high score website. This displays a list of high scores for each level showing how many times the player crashed, how many rescues they completed and what their mission time was. As of the writing of this review (Feb 08, 2026), I have only played up to System 2 – Endorian Falls, J1 – Underwater Encounters. At this time, I have my name in the top 50 for each of the 8 training levels and the 4 levels of System 1 – Hyperborean Nexus (Username: SILLYCAR… of course). The link I shared above goes to the general site, but if you are playing the game, you set up your own pin number and you can filter the scores by your user name and see all of your scores, even the ones outside of the top 50, so that’s pretty cool, though in 2026, there are still several levels that still don’t even have 50 scores submitted, so I’m not sure a lot of folks like this as much as I do. I think it’s really neat, and if a Jag game had this in the 90s when it was new, it would have been revolutionary. When you enter your pin number on the site, it not only shows you your scores, but also your badges earned. See mine below this review :)

After you defeat the 4 levels of each world, I think you get a mini-boss as I did after the first world. It was pretty easy to beat once I figured out how to stop getting pulled into it and dying instantly, but it was really unique and fun.

I do plan on finishing this game and will update this review when I do. I think it will take me a while though as I’m not really great at the controls. Maybe I’ll grab a pro controller if I can find one cheap so I can play better.

Overall though, so far, I really love this game and think it is a worthwhile addition to anyone’s Atari Jaguar collection. Even at $70. Remember, it’s a small batch game, but the packaging is great and makes it totally worth it.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Albert at Atari Age. My step mom was really getting upset that it was taking so long to get this game and I emailed them and Albert kept me posted. They were moving their facilities at the time and things were very hectic for him. I had purchased other games from Atari Age before and never had any big issues, so I was patient and we eventually got the game. Albert was a class act the whole way.

Oh, and last thing. This game also comes with something called JAGTOPIA which I have never used, but the manual says the utility allows you to boot an unencrypted Jaguar CD title, such as a homebrew cd title, without needing a bypass cartridge. I’m just mentioning it in case it is helpful to know it’s on this game.

Below are my overall stats and badges as of 2/8/2026.

Statistics for current player across all missions:

Total ships lost: 15   –   Total rescues: 20   –   Total Time: 1 hrs 26 mins

Achievements for: SILLYCAR

Time to stretch your legs! More than one hour in the pilot seat!

Gas Guzzler! 300K units of energy burnt!

Yeee-Haw! 500 Shots Fired!

Just Getting Started! 50 Enemies Killed!

Have you tried turning it off and on? 20 Switches Toggled!

Accidents Happen! 20 People killed after being rescued!

Energizer Bunny! 25 Batteries Collected!

Paddling! 4 Minutes Submerged!

Got your Hair Wet! 8 Minutes Submerged!

Skinny Dipping! 12 Minutes Submerged!

Tied to the tracks and the train’s fast coming! Armed a bomb!

Where did you learn to fly? 5 Wall Bounces!

Show Mommy Where It Hurts! 25 Wall Bounces!

Code: Zero Zero Zero Destruct Zero 1 Self Destruct Triggered!

11	2	1	0

My Rating:

Play Control: 9.0
Graphics: 10.0
Sound/Music: 6.0
Story: 7.0
Level Design: 8.0
Replay Value: 8.0
Overall: 8.0 (Overall ratings are rounded to the nearest half point.)

Cosmetic Condition of my copy of this game:

Overall, I rate my copy: 9.5 – I got this new and sealed and it’s in excellent shape.

Details:

System: Atari Jaguar
Year: 2021
Developer: Reboot
Publisher: Atari Age
Price I paid: $75.39
Retail Price: $75.39
Purchased from: Atari Age
Date Purchased: 11/30/2024
Game is complete?: YES, including manual, receipt, overlay, brochure, postcards and sticker.

Screenshots: