"*Sigh* Here we go again."

In a way I feel kind of bad for giving only a 6 to Smuggler's Run 2. Because if I had to give only a score to the fun I had while the rental period of 5 days, this game would probably garner a 9 out of 10. But coming in from a gaming standpoint there isn't anywhere near the amount of criteria needed to warrant a purchase.

Game Play
7/10

I am very glad that I didn't pay $50 for this game when it was released, as I feel that a short rental period is all that is needed to get all of the enjoyment from this game. You see, I only really had fun playing this game when I wasn't doing any kind of mission objectives, and instead just driving around the country-side in my dune buggy. It seems as if having huge sprawling environments is all the rage in gaming these days, and RockStar Games is the leader. All of their recent games seem to revolve around merely having a large open space to play around with. While some people call this open-ended game play, I tend to call it a gimmick in some games. You do little more in the actual missions than race through checkpoints for what seems like no reason. This is where the game gets boring. As stated earlier, I really only had fun on the free run mode where you are just dropped in the middle of a large field surrounded with hills and mountains, and allowed to just cruise about like a drunken hillbilly (anyone who has played the free roam mode on ATV Offroad Fury knows what I mean). Which can get old after a few days, therefore I can only allow game play a 7 out of 10.

Graphics
6/10

The visuals in Smuggler's Run 2 aren't very different from the 1st game in the series. And that game was released at the PS2 launch! While the graphics aren't all that bad, there just seems to be a lack of detail anywhere, and the environments feel weird and lonely because of it. The ground and mountains all seem to just have one big texture slapped on so things start to look the same very quickly. The vehicles themselves look pretty good though and I was was impressed by their reaction to the lenient physics of the game while driving off of cliffs and landing perfectly on all 4 wheels. But in the end it all looks kind of generic to me.

Sound FX/ Music
4/10

Crap music and sound effects. That's basically about it. Is it just more, or does every game have the same sound effects for everything they do? Meh...

Overall
6/10

Smuggler's Run 2 easily is worth a quick rental. As far as a purchase is concerned though, I'd suggest waiting till this title drops to about $10.00 before considering all that.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/03, Updated 06/26/03