Clockwork Knight 2 Gets With the Times

Be they movies or books or video games, sequels rarely manage to match the quality and spontaneity of the original. And when the original is itself of dubious distinction, any sequels are all the more suspect.

So when I popped Clockwork Knight 2 into my Sega Saturn on a recent rainy weekend, let’s just say I was hardly expecting to be dazzled. Yet, to my considerable surprise, I was.

Sega’s Clockwork Knight 2 is one of the rare games that makes the original pale by comparison. Unlike its predecessor, the sequel is actually a lot of fun to play. If you remember, the first chapter of Clockwork was part of Saturn’s rather unimpressive launch lineup last spring. The game was a cookie-cutter platform adventure that was rough at the edges and downright boring.

The sequel, although almost identical in story line to the original, employs some nice design touches such as rotating environments and imperceptible perspective changes that really show off how smoothly Saturn’s processors can handle images.

And sound? Yowza. The soundtrack is a hokey salsa mix, but it’s as clear as anything on a high-end CD player.

At heart, Clockwork Knight 2 remains a platform adventure with all the standard jump-hit-dodge action, but when done properly, the genre can still be a load of fun.

A nice job all around.

Jupiter Strike: OK, Earth is under attack yet again from some savage alien race bent on conquering the entire universe. And, yes, you are the planet’s--and the universe’s--only hope for freedom.

So goes the uninspired story of Acclaim’s Jupiter Strike for Sony PlayStation, a game that squanders its potential by not ironing out its rough spots.

Jupiter Strike’s soul is in the right place and its graphics and sound are exceptional. The problem here lies with the control--or relative lack of it. Although it features a first-person perspective, Jupiter Strike does not allow full 360-degree action, instead pulling you along a determined course through hostile territory.

That’s fine and fairly standard, but within that limited range, control should offer extremely sensitive and accurate maneuvers. Jupiter Strike falls short. The PlayStation’s joy pad is part of the problem, but designers need to factor that in.

In the end, it’s more frustrating than fun.

Loading . . . Please Wait: Right about now is when we should have been playing Nintendo’s new 64-bit machine, but delays have pushed the system’s North American launch into the fall.

Nintendo promises the machine will be worth the wait, but I’m curious whether Mario and his friends can make a go of it. Sure, the price is set under $250, but so is Goldstar’s 3DO Multiplayer, and competing systems from Sony and Sega aren’t much more.

Staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games regularly. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send letters to The Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or send e-mail to Aaron.Curtiss@latimes.com.