Vigilante 8 – Review

Vigilante 8

(Activision for the Nintendo 64)
by Eric Johnson

The wanton destruction of motor vehicles has titillated the post-industrial imagination in a variety of pastimes. The eclectic group of thirteen drivers found in Vigilante 8 gather during the 1976 gas-crisis and square off in a fight to preserve – or destroy – the precious remaining juice that can be found over the American northwest. The result is one of the most entertaining products to come out of modern man’s obsession with flaming wreckage and burning rubber since The Road Warrior first burned its way into the public imagination almost twenty years ago.

Much like the previously reviewed Nightmare Creatures, Vigilante 8 was released for the PlayStation some time ago, and has only recently been released for the Nintendo 64. It’s also the first vehicular combat game released for this system, and was an excellent choice for an introduction to the genre. For the uninitiated, there is precious little to compare V-8 (as it will be called from here on in) or any other automotive combat title to. It’s best to realize that V-8 is far removed from any racing game, even those that feature weapons or fighting. Several vehicles are placed into a large, but confined, area where they try to kill you; and yes, they are all targeting you specifically. Each car has a .50 caliber machine gun, and it’s own unique qualities, but little else to rely upon except for the large number of weapons scattered throughout each level. It may sound rather simple and academic, but V-8 makes the blood move and the action is absolutely furious. I got a tremendous amount of play time out of this game. The secret of its success is what happens when you get six cars loaded down with rocket launchers, grenade mortars, and Gatling guns flying around a somewhat confined area, trying to blow the shit out of each other.

The beauty is, unless civilization collapses sometime soon, I doubt many of us will get a chance to hop into a mid-seventies pimpmobile, cruise at 80 miles an hour alongside a school bus and pump two or three rockets into its side. Then, as it starts to roll over from the force of the impact, pull a 180° turn and try to get your ass out of the way of the ’76 Pontiac Gremlin and its flaming disco ball of death. Of course, you have to get back in there because those bastards want to blow up the only gas station for fifty miles in any direction, so you crash through the lobby of the giant casino in front of you and swing around to take ’em out from behind. The action is fast and varied and a hell of a lot more fun than 75% of the titles out there. There are 13 vehicles to chose from (five of which must be unlocked) and a separate (rather short) quest for each driver. In addition, there’re also two teams, which adds variety by making some people bad guys who need to blow stuff up to complete their quest, and the good guys who can blow up everything but the one particular item they are ordered to protect. The characters are wonderfully balanced so that eventually every person gets used. Aside from the obvious fast=weak, slow=strong combinations, the strengths are more delicately balanced. For example, the Dune Buggy is relatively slow and weak but has a powerful special weapon and can climb up steep inclines extremely well. Similarly, the perfectly-balanced Palomino has a rather lame special weapon and is hard to start up if it happens to stall. You need to become proficient at all vehicles because the game requires it to unlock the special characters and advance the rather contrived storyline. The level design is excellent, providing sufficient room for the fast cars to open up, but insufficient space to hide for an extended period of time. All the levels are highly destructible, so there is very little that can’t be demolished.

Comparisons, comparisons, comparisons… As is typical with all PlayStation to Nintendo conversions, the graphics are dramatically better and the music is absolutely lost in the translation. There is also the heartbreaking loss of all movies found in the PlayStation version, including the amazing opening film which sets the mood perfectly. The music is so awful it’s advised to simply turn it off. The PlayStation’s ’70s soundtrack, which included a lot of fully-orchestrated disco with porno movie wah-wah petal and funky synthesizer work has been replaced by an agonizing and inexplicable soul-crushing combination of beeps and boops. Other than that, the combat effects are fine and the annoying wisecracks have been mercifully reduced. If you have a Nintendo 64, buy this game. Believe me, you probably already have everything else out there for this system anyhow.