"Cartoon Mayhem at it's best"

This game is basically a more fast paced Twisted Metal with a lot more close range attacks. The action is usually very intense, and most of the attacks take you out in one hit, but no need to worry, you have an endless amount of lives. I personally enjoyed this game quite a bit, with six main characters, four bonus characters, three game modes, and twelve levels; it's enough to keep any young bugger entertained for hours. Also up to four players can compete with or without AI players.

GAMEPLAY

The controls are tight and they have never messed me up during a game. Most of the time you play will be spent driving back and forth chopping and shooting people. The controls are very basic, to use your current weapon just tap A to attack, simple enough. You use the L and R buttons as the gas and brakes, joystick to move, that's basically the all you need to know. The controls are good, end of story. The gameplay is real fast pace and intense, and the main mode doesn't go off of lives, but a point system, and for every kill or hit you get it adds to your points, and when you reach a certain amount, you win. The other two modes include gate rally, which is basically racing, and flag rally, where you must collect four flags, and make it to the winners circle alive. The levels are one thing that I really liked about this game. There are four themes and three levels in each theme. The themes are western, jungle, transylvania (a Dracula theme), and space. In each level there are tons of level based traps you can set off to kill or slowdown other players, such as setting off a rockslide or a meteor shower.

GRAPHICS

The graphics on this game are one of the main reasons I bought it, cel shading. I have liked cel shading since it was first introduced, and when playing this game it looks as if you are watching a cartoon. I know a lot of people who probably wouldn't like this game because it has ''cartoony graphics'', but that doesn't take away from the gameplay, just give it a chance.

SOUND

There is nothing wrong with the sound, it all sounds good. The only thing concerning sounds that really bothered me was the constant verbal battering that the players dish out. They got somewhat repetitive and annoying, but it doesn't pose a big enough threat to make me think any less of this wonderful little disc full of magic.

STORY

Well, the story on this game sucked terribly, but who buys games like this to get into the story? This game is all about gameplay in my opinion. The story is that all the characters are on a show creatively called ''Cel Damage''. The show is about the characters dueling it out for millions of viewers to watch. Though the story falls short, I commend the workers for at least trying to give it a story.

CONCLUSION

Rent or buy, is that the question you ask? I definitely say buy because this is a great game and the multiplayer isn't too shabby either.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/03, Updated 06/26/03