You know those times where you see a game and it looks pretty cool, yet your lack of interest for it keeps you from trying it out to test the "coolness" factor? Well I have those times a lot, and the most recent game to be given this treatment was the Smuggler's Run series by Rockstar on the PS2. I was in the exact same position, both Smuggler's Run and Smuggler's Run: Hostile Territory looked really cool, however I had little to know interest in them to try them out. So of course I went on checking out other games, and totally skipping over these two "diamonds in the rough". Until one day I was browsing the racks of Blockbuster and ran across a couple of new games on the Gamecube rack, which has REALLY been lacking lately, named NFL Blitz 20-03 and Smuggler's Run: Warzones. What?! Yet again, the constant barrage of PS2 ports on the GC has surprised me and so I took the opportunity and grabbed me a copy to see how good it was for myself. I mean it's under Rockstar's golden name, Grand Theft Auto III's developer also, so it can't be that bad can it?
Gameplay:
Does anybody here like to play cops and robbers? Whoa wait...let me rephrase that sentence, is there anyone who DIDN'T play cop sand robbers when they were little(or still do)? I know I did, in my not so distant childhood I played cops and robbers with my cousin all the time, "Bang! Bang!" sound effects and all. I don't know about you, but I loved being the bad guy. Nowadays in video games, there aren't too many games anymore where you play as the bad/evil guy. I'm not saying there aren't any because I can name a few( Grand Theft Auto III, Blood Omen series), but there aren't that many.
In Counter-strike I use to play as the terrorists, however it wasn't until 9/11/01 when I stopped playing "the bad guys." However it's just a game, so therefore Smuggler's Run: Warzones is a really fun "bad guy" game. What you're ordered to do is smuggle goods into Russia, and eventually you'll be in Vietnam and then another location later on in the game. There are like 5 or 6 different game modes, however all but one are for multi-player, and the first game mode on the list is for the single player. I've never played any of the games, so I don't know whether the missions on here are combined from the first two games or what, but I do know that there are 36 missions and three tutorials with some fun and some not so fun missions. After choosing the mission, you'll come to a vehicle select screen that will only have one vehicle when you first start the game. But when you start beating more missions, other vehicles will be unlocked, each with their own attributes like handling, weight, speed, etc. You've got a buggy, truck, jeep, ATV, grenadier, and a couple other vehicles, and each mission has a vehicle that is best suited to complete the mission. For example, the ATV is small and fast, but it's handling and overturn rates are a lot higher than say...the grenadier which is nice and fast, but also has excellent handling and a heavier weight that'll keep it on the ground more than an ATV will be. When you get a "Great" ranking on each mission, you'll eventually unlock a hover sled, however it's not that much better than any of the other vehicles in my opinion, the sports car is my favorite as it's got the best speed out of all of them.
Now I begin the only big problem I had with this game, and that's the terrain. I know that the hills and rugged areas are ideal for what this game's setting should be that pertains to the story, but you're doing way too much more flying in the air than you do drive( maybe they should have changed the name to Smuggler's Flight: Flyzones). The landscapes are bumpy and there are rarely any flat spots more than an inch apart, and even if you go over a tiny little "bump", the lighter the vehicle, the more air they're going to get, even off a small little hill or area. Anyhow, most of the missions have one common point, and that's that you'll collect packages and deliver them to a different area, and the remaining missions are ones where you get to chase and blow people up. Most of the missions you'll be working on your own, collecting packaged that are located by yellow smoke, and then dropping it off at a drop zone that's located by red smoke, all while dodging the local authorities(or the army). Knowing where to go next isn't really a big deal, as you've got a fairly detailed map in the bottom right corner of the screen, and you've also got an arrow at the top of the screen that will point in the direction you need to go. Speaking of the authorities, they are the most annoying AI enemies in any game I've EVER played, as if you screw up JUST once, they'll swarm you and since the acceleration sucks on ALL the vehicles, no matter what their stats say, you can't get out. There is a damage meter around the map that calculates how much damage you take as you drive, and trust me, EVERY little bump gives you a little bit of damage, and if you're not damaged TOO bad, when the meter runs out, you can keep pressing the "A" button to restart the engine and get goin' from the position you're at now with half your damage filled. But then again, that ties in with the swarming AI that will pounce on you like a lion on a gazelle and if your engine isn't running you'll be arrested and have to start the mission over again.
Some of the missions have to parts to them, and when you get arrested near the end of the second part of that mission, you still have to start at the VERY beginning...and although none of the missions are very long in the first place, this can get VERY tedious. Like, there's a couple missions where you have to pick-up a bomb and deliver it to a drop point...without blowing up. The last mission that you do this, I re-did about 60, maybe 70 times until I finally reached the drop zone and completed the mission. I do believe that the AI vehicles in Smuggler's Run: Warzones are the best vehicle AI I've seen in any game, even Twisted Metal Black, although it's not that the AI are smart....they just seem that way because they're so annoying. So anyway, those are the missions where you're on you're own, now for those team missions. The team missions have you collecting packages(like in the solo), and taking them back to a specific drop off point, and you have to reach a certain amount of packages first in order to win. But you and your comrades aren't the only ones on this mission now, oh no...now you've got another team that's trying to do the same thing you are, AND the stupid police are on your tail also. In order to win, you need to watch your radar very carefully, because there's usually at LEAST one of the other team members that wait behind your drop point and will zoom out and steal your package by hitting you right before you reach the drop point. So therefore, you've got to turn around and try to steal it back by hitting them. For all the missions, you've got a certain amount of time in order to complete the mission, so you won't be able to screw around much in this game, or else you'll have to start over from the beginning.
Although very loose and slippery, this game is just so addicting because as I drive over the hills, bumps, mountains, etc., or any surface at all in the game, it feels like I'm controlling a vehicle on ice, and it's just fun to slide around and stuff like that. My favorite part of the game would have to be the sort of hand brake that's used by pressing the "R" button, which is actually used to keep you right side up and lower to the ground when you hold it after or before going off a mountain or hill, however I used it for pulling off some wicked 360*'s. It's really fun, and I've probably wasted two or more hours of my life just driving around and doing doughnuts everywhere.
Eventually after you complete missions under certain times, or if you get a high ranking on different missions, you'll unlock one of the vehicles "countermeasures"...or in my language means weapons. There are two counter-measures for each vehicle, although I think the second counter-measure is opened after getting certain rankings on certain missions or completing one within a certain amount of time. The counter-measures are pretty useful, however there are no projectile weapons to use, and they're all used out the back end of your vehicle, such as oil, fog, bombs, etc. My favorite vehicles to use were the ones with the bombs, and the ones with the fog...because as I said the AI SWARM behind you in a big pack of lions who are bloodthirsty, so one well timed bomb rolling out from behind your vehicle into the pack of savages, and you've got a big explosion with the police vehicles flying everywhere. It's not necessarily a beautiful thing to watch, but it makes you feel good inside, or at least it did me, just knowing that the idiots behind me ran right into the bomb and are now lookin' down on me and scowling. As for the fog, that's perfect for big groups, because they'll get totally lost, and that'll give you a few more seconds ahead of the police, and it also comes in handy when you get surrounded and they keep running into you so you can't get out anywhere, so you just blow some fog and watch as a path is opened right up for your exit. Apart from those handy features, this game would have been a lot more fun if there were actual weapons like missiles, machine guns, and other power-ups that can sort of be a reminiscence of Twisted Metal: Black.
Graphics:
Although nothing extraordinary, the graphics aren't really that bad, considering it's a year and two year old game that's been updated for this Gamecube version. I'm not sure what the Smuggler's Runs on the PS2 ran like, but Warzones doesn't have much of a frame rate drop, unless the police swarm you and/or there are a whole bunch of explosions. The environments aren't really that big, and are basically using the same models over and over again to create one big map, and everything looks the same because it looks like they made one grid of the environment, used copy and paste to make a pretty big environment, and added little details like roads, buildings, towns, etc.
The vehicle models aren't ANYTHING to write home about, as they're just plain and bland, and the only part about the vehicles that stand out are the fact that you can distinguish each vehicle from each other. The game also isn't that colorful, it just has a lot of uses with reds, blacks, browns, dark greens, that give you the desert like feel of Vietnam and the other locations you'll visit. Also the FMVs of real-like footage was real grainy, and I wasn't sure if this was because of the Gamecube's compression techniques in order to fit the game in, or if it's like that just because they couldn't really get good quality into it, but either way the picture was real bad and fuzzy. You know what, I just had an idea, that maybe the developers MEANT to do this, hmm...
Sound:
I was really disappointed in this area, although since there wasn't anything very extraordinary when it came to the graphics, I didn't expect for the sound to be any better. However it was worse than I thought, as there were a few sound effects here and there, and the occasional rock beat that could get your foot tapping or something, but otherwise the sound effects are pretty much the only thing left, although they sucked also. The vehicle sound effects are what I'm talking about, and they are just awful as they don't sound like vehicles, but like the little Malibu Barbie cars that has an engine from a go-kart or something. The voice acting that was done actually fit in pretty well with the setting that this game takes place in and the whole story, however it still wasn't anything you'd want to praise.
Rock's Thoughts:
Aside from the disappointing sound and graphics, the gameplay is just too addicting to not recommend, and although not worth a full 50 dollar purchase, this is a definite rental as it'll keep you busy maybe the whole rental period, and with the last hidden vehicle only unlocked by receiving a "great" rating on all the missions, it'll take you even longer with the game. But I must admit there are lots of frustrating parts to the game, such as the missions where you have to deliver the bombs, and just all of the enemy AI in general as they swarm you like you've just messed with a hornet's nest.
