"Let's go on a killing spree"

All I have to say is this game is great. Pure, pure great. Although, this game does not deserve a 10. It deserves an 8. The graphics tend to bring the game down a little, but graphics aren’t everything, now are they? Of course they aren’t.

INTRODUCTION - Well, this game is mainly about destroying other people’s cars. You have a variety of weapons. You do not start off with any weapons except for your personal weapon. To unlock weapons, you must beat the stage with the weapon or weapons in them. I’ll explain it better later. This game is also made for the X-Box. I would prefer the Game Cube version. Not only because I do not like the X-Box, I have heard this version is better. I have not played the X-Box version, so I can’t really tell you. If you want, you can go play both versions at some place, to see which is better.

STORY - Well, there isn’t really much of a story. All you have to do is destroy other cars, capture flags and go through gates. Not really much is there? Although, doing that can be fun. I can’t give the story a mark because there really isn’t one, besides going through gates, destroying cars and collecting flags.

GAMEPLAY - This game is pure fun when you play it. You will be addicted, I promise you. If you’re not, I’ll give you a free rebate. Well, maybe not. It will be real fun, especially if you love to destroy things. Also, you do not have to destroy things. You can unlock modes such as going through gates and capturing flags. You can also set the difficulty of the computer players, the time of the match (how many smacks (which are points), gates to go through, and flag speed) and the weapons to put on for the game. You can also include other options, but I can’t remember off the top of my head. The gameplay does get a 10 because it is very, very fun.

DIFFICULTY - This game can either be very difficult, moderate, or very easy. You can set their difficulty in options before you start the game, after you select the character. The base difficulty is moderate, which is called Toon Pro. The harder mode is called Insane Toon, while the easier mode is called Toon Training. It should be easy to know which they are, as they speak for themselves. The difficulty deserves a 10, and that’s why I’m giving it a 10.

CONTROL - The controls are easy to master. R is to drive forward. L is to drive backwards. A is to use the current weapon you have (assuming you have one). If you do not have one, you will just use your secondary weapon. If you push B, you will use your secondary weapon, even if you have an item. There are others, but I can’t remember off the top of my head, I haven’t been able to play my Game Cube for over a week. Sorry I couldn’t tell you the rest. Controlling the game does earn a 9, for they are easy.

GRAPHICS - As I explained earlier, these are not all that great. They are cel shaded, which in my opinion, are not great. They are not 3D, which I do like. I’m a major fan of 2D, and that is what changes my mind. If you are a big fan of cel shaded graphics, you would love the graphics. If you aren’t, like me, you would hate these graphics more than anything (well, maybe not, but a ton). I would of first given this section a 3, but now, I give it a 6, simply because of the 2D effect. You have to love the 2D, as it brought up the mark. These graphics are horrible compared to what the system can do.

SOUNDS - The weapons are the only sounds in this game. Voices do not cunt, because I will be adding them to a new section. This section really doesn’t need to have anything in it. Also, the cars make some sounds, but they really aren’t that great. Sounds do get a 9, but they do need to have more.

MUSIC - I think there is a different sound for each stage. I’m not sure. Most likely, there is. These are awesome. You’ll enjoy it so much it isn’t funny. It’s great to have so many themes, as they will not get boring unless you replay that stage until the Game Cube has had enough. The music can really help you in the stage you are in, or hurt your progress, depending if you like it or not. The music receives a 10, because it is awesome. Pure awesome.

VOICES - I decided to stick in an extra part, because it is something major in the game. Well, not major, but these appear often. Every character uses them. Whether you die, kill someone, or use the Taunt button (can’t remember what it is), your character says something. You can also hear the computer’s voices if they kill someone near you, or kill you. The voices get a 9, as they can seem cool, and annoying at the same time.

VIDEO - The videos in this game are awesome. You can access the videos by the starting menu. They are awesome. No other word can describe it. Even though the graphics aren’t great, I will not include them as a part of the video section. The video section (here) gets a 10 simply because they are animated so great. I would give this an 8 if I included the graphics with this, which I didn’t.

PLAYING TIME - The time this game takes to beat really depends on your skill. If you are good, this can be anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. If you are horrible, it can be around 10 to 30 hours, and this is beating all the stages with only one character, in all the modes. It really does depend. I would say it would take around 5 to 7 hours if you are not bad nor good at this game.

REPLAYABILITY - You can play the game for a long time. It will be fun if you play some friends, as you can destroy their character. You can also choose different status for the game, so it never gets boring. Replayability gets a nice 9 for the record.

UNLOCKING WEAPONS - To unlock a weapon, you must beat a stage which has the weapon in it. It is very simple if you ask me.

PLAYING THE NEXT STAGE - If you want to play the next stage, beat the current stage you are in.

BUY OR RENT - Buy. No questions asked. This game will be great to buy. You can play all your friends because it is multi-player.

All my marks repeated:
Gameplay: 10
Difficulty: 10
Control: 9
Graphics: 6
Sounds: 9
Music: 10
Voices: 9
Video: 8
Playing Time: 5 to 7 hours being moderate
Replayability: 9
Buy or Rent: Buy

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/02, Updated 04/18/03