VIDEO GAME REVIEW

$#!%-ed Up Octane

Dump trucks, city buses, semitrucks, a motorcycle with a sidecar? Each equipped with a locked, stocked and loaded barrel of ammunition attached to the side door, a partial-nuclear missile launcher screwed to the roof and proximity mines dropping from the bottom interiors – at the controls of any of them you might actually stand a chance in the brutal arenas of combat in Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense, a bland, careless eruption of road rage from hell.

Although the gameplay does offer a splendid array of explosion-charged pyrotechnics, this Activision-published, rough photocopy of the Twisted Metal series is less than extraordinary. The speed of the game is far behind the pace of its precursor, and Vigilante 8 doesn’t even compare in terms of vehicle control. When using either the arcade stick or D-pad, even the seemingly effortless task of driving in a straight line is virtually impossible.

Fun factor, you ask? Ultimately, the only pleasure you’ll get is looking at the fancy graphics the game showcases. Car combat has never witnessed such glorious attention to detailed imagery, but with enhancement there is always a disadvantage. The creators at Luxoflux Corp. seem to have forgotten the most important element of the video game – the excitement and utter thrill that made Twisted Metal famous and entertaining.

Multiplayer free-for-alls are present, and with a choice of 18 vehicles there isn’t much room for indecision. But truly the best aspect of this second disc in the Vigilante 8 series is the mindless, short-lived entertainment that it embraces.

Jon M. Gibson writes about video games for Metro Times.