Smuggler's Run: Warzones

"Nice game, fun, but too short and too easy"

I rented this game a couple of weeks ago, when it first came out, as I had been waiting for it with anticipation. I played it for about an hour, and had already beat the 3 ''training'' missions, along with 7 or 8 ''smugglers missions''. This is baisically Crazy Taxi, except you are delivering things instead of people. You drive your car over to an area marked by yellow flares, you dont have to stop or slow down, just drive through it to pick up some contraband. You then drive it to an area marked by red flares, and drive through that area to drop it off. You do this many times during the game, and can get boring. There are four kinds of missions:

1.Pick-up-and-drop-off Missions. Do what is explained above a certian amount of times. Sometimes there is a slight twist,like picking it up by ramming a teammates car.
2.Team Missions. Like above, except contraband is thrown all around the stage, and you race another team to pick it up and drop it off. You choose two computer teammates, but they are NO help at all. You can steal contraband from an enemy vehicle by ramming them, and vice-versa.
3.Exploring Missions. You follow a teammate through an area, and try not to get too far behind. That's all. Sorry.
4. Specialty Missions: These include knocking over radar towers, destroying enemy vehicles, and following enemy vehicles without being seen. These are the hardest missions.

Cops:The mosquitios of this game. Come in swarms, and ram the hell out of you, and are hard to get rid of. In some missions, after you complete the objectives, you may have to ''lose'' the cops. This is a MAJOR pain.

Ratings:
Fun Factor:7 Overall fun, but some levels can be frustrating due to the cops and your engine stalling. Would be higher if the cops were laid off a little.

Controls:10. Easy. Gas,A Brake,B Defense1,Y Defense2,X. Z is reverse. Stick is steer.

Gameplay:6 Addictive, but several missions are the same or similar in a different setting. Gets repetive over time

Graphics/Sound:8 The graphics on the cars and settings are nicely done, but trees, grass, people, and houses look like something out of NES. You don't really notice the background music, but the SFX and voices during movies are good.

Difficulty:2 Here is where the game lacks. Most missions are WAY too easy, while a couple are so hard they become frustrating, fast.

Rent/Buy/Dont Bother: Rent. I rented this for a week, but beat it in about four days, without much trouble.A solid rent, but not worth a buy. You get a rating on each mission: OK,GOOD, or GREAT. Get a GREAT on all missions(good luck) and you get something special.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/02, Updated 09/02/02