Reviewed: December 2, 2008
Reviewed by: David Shattuck

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Isopod Labs

Released: November 5, 2008
Genre: Action
Players: 1-4

7
6
6
6
6.8

Supported Features:

Vigilante 8 Arcade (V8) for the XBLA is a remake of a game released in 1998 for several of the 5th generation consoles. The original V8 was the first game developed by the California-based designer Luxoflux. In early 2008, the founders of Luxoflux announced their intensions to develop an XBLA version of the game with their fledgling company Isopod Labs. Like the 1998 version, the game was published by the veteran distributor Activision.

The nonsensical storyline recounted in the first paragraph of this review has no bearing on the gameplay whatsoever. It serves only as an attempt to justify the vehicular mayhem present in the game and to add a pinch of method to the tureen of madness.

Before every match, the V8 player will select from one of eight vehicles, each with unique strengths, weaknesses, drivers, and back-stories. After an extremely quick loading screen, the vehicle spawns in an outdoor arena to engage in a fiery and explosive fight to the death with enemy vehicles. Every car, truck, van, and school bus in the game comes standard with a fully automatic heavy machine gun, and each of the five arenas are littered with interceptor missiles, rockets, cannons, mortars, and landmines that are picked up and ready to fire when they're run over.

Each of these weapons can be charged up or used in combination to unleash potentially devastating attacks. A few of the weapons carry abilities geared towards functionality rather than destruction, such as a decoy rocket or afterburners for a boost of speed. In addition to the available weaponry, other temporary power-ups can be collected; including shields, damage multipliers, radar evasion, vehicle repairs, and a special weapon that differs depending on which of the eight vehicles is being used.

As if a 1970 AMC Gremlin equipped with guided missiles in the rearview mirror wasn't enough to worry about, the battlefields are almost entirely destructible and often explosive. This coupled with the violent surprises hidden throughout each of the five arenas lends itself to a certain degree of intensity during the struggle to be the last man standing or, more appropriately, the last car rolling.

Unfortunately, the gameplay has several quirks that can hamper enjoyment. First of all, driving is often more difficult than it should be since the steering feels loose and unresponsive. Judging from how easy it is to spin out, every tire in the game must surely be bald or balding. Compounding this frustration is the oft-irritating camera, which will always show what is directly ahead of the player, even if the vehicle is spinning wildly through the air. The right joystick can be used to steal quick glances to either side of the car, but the camera's enthusiasm for facing forward makes it difficult to find what you're looking for behind you.

Although the graphics are sharp and crisp, the overall visual presentation has a distinct 1990s aura about it, as though Isopod Labs just took the same game and increased the resolution. Much like a Ford Pinto with a fresh coat of paint is still a Ford Pinto, a 1998 game with 2008 pixels and frame rate is still a 1998 game.

The game also carries an assortment of graphical bugs. Parts that have been blown off of a vehicle will become lodged through the middle of the car, recently detonated RVs will occasionally spin like a top through the air, and while I recognize that this is just a game, the scientist in me must point out that the laws of physics present in whatever alternate history V8 occurs in are quite dissimilar from our own.

The sound effects in V8 are adequate but nothing special. Every driver has a few catch-phrases that they will yell during their rumble, and the game does a fair job of imitating the various cracks, skids, explosions, revs, screeches, and gunshots present in every scuffle. The music compliments the 1970s theme well, but repetition plagues the soundtrack, and the average player will probably elect to just cruise to their own tunes.

There are several modes available in V8, with the only real difference being the quantity and quality of the opposing drivers. In the single player campaign mode, each of the eight vehicles has a chain of three quests which follow the "storyline" for each driver. A quest amounts to single-handedly defeating several opponents at once. A single player can also hop into a "Quick Battle" or a "Custom Battle" if they would prefer to blow things up without pretending there is a point to all this.

Unlike many games in the XBLA library, V8 has an online fan-base so it is possible to hop into a multiplayer game to test your skills and earn XBL achievements. Unfortunately, latency issues can often cause frustrating lag-induced glitches. Irritation abounds when you are cruising towards a repair icon and certain salvation and another driver teleports in front of you to pick it up first.

Although Vigilante 8 Arcade for XBLA maintains the spirit of chaos and destruction of it's 1998 namesake, it lacks the polish one would expect from a game released for a 7th generation platform. However, if you and your friends have an insatiable urge to blow each other up in glorious vehicular combat but you don't want to throw down $60 each for GTA IV, this is certainly a viable alternative that could easily fill a few hours.