by Jay "THE FLEA" Wade
From the makers of the Vigilante 8 series becomes a car combat in a galaxy far far away!
Jabba has made a new contest where contestants battle each other to the death in vehicle combat.
The contestants are; Wade Vox (Landspeeder), Boba Fett (Rocketpack), General Otto (AT-ST Walker), Tia & Ghia (Snowspeeder), Aurra Sing (Swoop Bike), Quagga (AAT Battle Tank), Tamtel Skreej (Skiff), Pugwis (Pod Racer), Wittin (STAP), Malakili (Rancor) and three other secret characters from Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace.
Arenas range from the Tatoonie Desert, Hoth, Dagoboh, Naboo and the Death Star.
The arenas are huge and have many cool things from the movies. Skiffs flying overhead, Tie Fighters shooting down the trenches, Scarlac pits waiting to eat a victim and AT-AT walkers that can crush you. The game play is exactly like Vigilante 8 but with a few twists.
You have to charge up your weapons for them to do any real damage. This is a little difficult, you mostly play “shoot and run” as you charge up your weapon.
The contestants not only have life meters, but also blast shield meters. You’ll have to knock out their shield before really doing any damage.
The computer players can play vary cheap sometimes leaving the player screaming at the screen.
But this does offer a challenge.
The characters are all new (except Boba Fett and the secret characters) but they use vehicles and creatures that you recognize from the movies. Boba Fett one of the coolest characters is a little disappointing due to he flies around with his jet pack. He’s a pain to fight against but looks silly with his feet dragging around.
The graphics on the Dreamcast version is bright, highly detailed and high rez. Just like in V8, the characters show damage as they get blasted and you can blow most anything up in the back ground. There’s several modes in Star Wars Demolition, Single Battle, Tournament, High Stakes (earning money by betting on yourself) and Hunt-a-Droid. (Or using the Hunting down Jar Jar Binks code, every Star Wars fans dream) The sound is like only Star Wars can produce.
The control is a small problem, the charging of weapons is difficult and controlling most of the vehicles on the wild terrain leaves you loopy or sluggish, depending on which character you use.
Also the not able to collect and change special weapons like in V8 is also a draw back.
Overall if you liked Vigilante 8 2nd Offense and a huge fan of the Star Wars Movies you’ll get a kick out of this game. If you’re not a huge fan, this game won’t make you one.
PUBLISHER: LUCAS ARTS
GRAPHICS: 9 MUSIC & SOUND: 9 CONTROL: 7
SECRETS: 10 ORIGINALITY: 6 FUN & REPLAY: 8
OVERALL: 8