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Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense is the first car combat game for the Dreamcast. The premise is that Lord Clyde has traveled from the future to the ‘70s to destroy America. He heads a group called the Coyotes. Another group called the Vigilantes are out to stop him. There is also a third group in the game called the Drifters who have a story all their own.

The game is very similar to other car combat games and very similar to the original game. It has changed a few things though, all of which are for the better. This game does stand out from the other car combat games. It has a bit more depth than the others do, not much but still, there is more.

This is one of the most appealing car combat games to date. It has many good aspects, and some bad of course. Read on to find out just what they are. Gameplay:

Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense has three single player modes. For fast action you can choose either arcade or survival in the single player mode. In arcade you pick a level and just shoot it out with up to 12 opponents, only 4 of which are ever in the playing field at once. In survival you get to keep killing enemies until you finally die. Both are good if you want some quick combat without worrying about other aspects of the game. The last single player mode is Quest mode. This mode takes you through the story of each of the characters. You go through each level and have three objectives for each one. The objectives are all different on every level except one, “Destroy All Enemies”. The other objectives can range from destroying buildings, to finding nuclear power plant blue prints and stashing them in a safe place. The objectives make each level something more than just kill your opponent.

The objectives are what make the quest mode the best single player mode. The objectives set for each level give it depth and make the game more robust. The objectives are also one of the problems with the game. Some are very straightforward. The “Destroy The Lodge” objective is simple to understand and carry out. The “Trap The Alligator” objective however is not all that simple and tells you in no way how to trap the alligator. There are a few objectives that just don’t make sense to the story and are very difficult to figure out how to accomplish. Some are easy to understand but can be hard to complete. On one level you have to collect six gas cans. This sounds easy but it took me quite some time to find all six of them on the level. Your opponents can pick them up as well so you may have to kill a few to get the last one or two you couldn’t find before they did. Overall though, the objectives are what help this game rise above most of the other car combat games and give it that little advantage to make it stand out.

Between each level there is also a short screen with part of each character’s story. This helps to explain why the character is involved in the game and what they are hoping to do. The game also has a FMV at the end of the quest mode for each character. You understand much better what the characters are like and what they are doing by the story. I have played many games and wondered why the heck the character I was using was even in the game.

Each character in the game drives a different vehicle. There are a total of 9 characters to choose from when you first start the game and there are 9 more to unlock by completing the quest mode with the various characters. Each character drives a different vehicle. The vehicles come in a wide assortment, each having different ratings in four categories. The categories are acceleration, speed, armor and target avoidance. You can increase your vehicle’s rating in each of these categories by picking up bonuses from destroying your opponents. Each character also has a special attack. Some of these attacks can be very destructive, others allow you to setup great combination attacks.

Each vehicle is equipped with the standard machine gun. You can however add up to 3 more weapons to your vehicle by finding them and picking them up by driving over them. You will see them attach to your vehicle when you do. The additional weapons include things like missiles, land mines, and flamethrowers. They each have advantages. The flamethrower will set your opponent on fire and continue to do damage while they are still burning. The missiles are guided and will seek out your opponent. Some of the weapons are only handy at certain times. The landmines are only good if someone is chasing you and the missiles are useless if there is an object between you and your opponent. Each weapon also has three combo moves. Some of the combos fire multiple rounds to make a stronger attack while others are defensive and give an extra target or a quick speed boost. The only problem with the combos is there are so many, a total of 6 weapons each with 3 combos. I know 18 combos isn’t much to remember but remembering how to do them when you need them and which weapon the combo is for is the problem.

The game also includes three propulsion mechanisms to add to your car. Each is for different terrain or abilities. They are a nice idea but hard to control as you will see when I talk about them in the control section. There are also 2 camera views, one behind the vehicle and one from right in front of it. I used the behind view when I played but there really should be a third view, one a bit farther back and up. The problem with the behind view in the game is when you use a larger vehicle like the garbage truck, you can’t see what is right in front of you very well, by moving the camera back and up you would have a better angle on what is in front of you.

Longevity:

There are a total of 9 different game modes. Three 1 player, three 2 player, and three 3 or 4 player modes. This in itself helps to make the game more appealing to play again and again. The quest mode takes some time as well. Trying to unlock all hidden characters is quite an undertaking. You must complete each quest, including all objectives of each level for the base three characters in each of the groups to open up the first of three locked characters for each group. Going through the quest of just one character and getting all objectives will take a good hour at least, probably two or three. This may seem long but I enjoyed every minute of trying to complete the quests. The quest mode will just keep you coming back time and again. The game is also just fun to play repeatedly. When I only have a little time, I enjoy sitting down and playing through a level or two in arcade mode to see just how well I can do.

Controls:

The control of your vehicle is excellent. The controller’s default setup is very good. It is the first game I have played on the Dreamcast, besides racing games, that used the shoulder buttons well. The right shoulder button is machine gun while the left is your attached weapons you have picked up. The four basic buttons are used for gas, hand brake, weapon switch, and change target. You can also accelerate and brake with the D-pad or analog stick, which are used for steering as well. The controls were quite comfortable and the vehicles responded well during the action. You can even eject the propulsion mechanisms by pressing A and Y simultaneously, which is good since you will probably want to do this often. Where the controls lack is when you have a propulsion mechanism. The hydrofloaters don’t turn very quickly and can even cause you to flip just by accelerating quickly. They are awkward to use and only good to just grab something quick and then get back to dry land. The skis ‘n treads work well for getting traction on the snow. They do allow for quicker turns but they also make your car “tippy”. If you turn hard while at top speed your car will go up on one side or even flip over. The hoverpods are the worst of them all though. They hold you off the ground and turn your car into a hovercraft basically. No quick turns or fast acceleration here. They make you feel like you are driving on the slickest surface you have ever been on. Other than these propulsion mechanisms though, I very much like the feel of the controls for this game.

Graphics:

This game looks wonderful. The cars look good and even show the damage they have taken. You will see fenders broken, lights shattered, roofs dented. When you pick up a weapon you will also see it attach to your vehicle. You don’t have to even go through the list of attached weapons to see what you have, just look at the car. This goes for your opponents as well, it is very clear as to what they are carrying to beat on you with. The scenery is great as well. The buildings look good and the horizons are nice. On the Arizona level there is even a billboard ad for Chaos Comics with the real Chaos Comics logo. There are pop up issues though. Objects in the distance have too much of a tendency to not show up when they should or to magically appear. A weapon will not be visible necessarily until you get close to it, not because it is hidden but because it isn’t being drawn on the screen. Buildings and other larger objects also have a tendency to just appear from thin air. A good example of this is going up towards the ski jump on the Utah level. If you drive straight at it you can see off into the distance but as you get closer, suddenly there is a ski jump blocking your view. There are also a few minor clipping problems when you close to the walls of buildings but that’s about all. All together the graphics are great, by far the best looking car combat game you will see and right up there in quality graphics for the Dreamcast system.

Sound:

The music is just what you would expect for a game that is set in the ‘70s. The music is mainly disco and helps set the atmosphere. The songs themselves are good too and enjoyable to listen to. There is a large list of songs but it seemed to repeat a few of them much more frequently than others. The weapon sounds are fair and some of the vehicles sound great. Others though sound bad for what they are supposes to be. I thought the Dakota Stunt Cycle sounded horrible but the Thunderbolt sounds very good. Explosions are nothing special here. No loud “BOOMS” here. The scraping of metal on metal when you hit things is lacking too. Each character says something when they use their special and these quick sayings sound very good. Not only does they sound good but they also let you know when your opponent just released some hurt to come get you.

Overall:

This is a great game. It is one of my favorite Dreamcast games so far. It has many modes of play and will take many hours to open up all the locked characters. There are also secrets to discover on each level. The controls are excellent and the graphics are very good. The game has good appeal to play through the quests or just do some flat out combat. It is fun to just sit back, turn up the sound, and do some damage as the disco plays on.