Retro Lookback: Vigilante 8 2nd Offense

Developer: Luxoflux
Publisher: Activision
Platforms and Release Dates (US): Playstation (October 31, 1999), Dreamcast (November 30, 1999), Nintendo 64 (February 2, 2000)
Genre: Vehicular Combat

Vigilante 8 2nd Offense (also known as V8:2 or V8:2nd) is the follow up to the first game released a year earlier. How does this compare?

The story continues from the first game. The story of Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense centers on the international meddlings of an oil conglomerate from the future known as OMAR (Oil Monopoly Alliance Regime). After finding an electronic armband in a service station bathroom, former Vigilante Slick Clyde rose to be controlled by OMAR. Working up through the ranks of command he soon came to be the CEO of OMAR itself and made a complete monopoly on all oil trades with the sole exception of the United States. With the help of his student and hitman, Obake, he steals the technology to allow him to travel through time. Taking with him Obake and his cybernetic assassin, Dallas 13, he makes the jump back to 1970s to cripple the United States and bring OMAR to total domination. Appearing in 1970s, the three vehicles encounter Convoy, the former leader of the Vigilantes. Upon seeing him, the three cars open fire. (Plot synopsis from Wikipedia). Each character also has their own story to follow, which folds out in the Quest mode.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as the first game. You collect various weapons scattered on the maps and blow up all the other vehicles before you get blown up. Pretty simple. The Quest mode follows each character's story through various maps. Along with destroying all enemies, you have to complete 2 other objectives on each level for a pass. You can go on to the next level without completing all 3 objectives, but it won't be considered complete until all 3 objectives in each level are met. You also got the classic Arcade mode, where you can choose the enemies and the map to, with the goal being to destroy all the CPU. There is also Survival more, where enemies will keep endlessly respawning until you are eliminated, the goal is to destroy as many as possible. You can also play Quest, Arcade, and Survival in 2 Player Co-op as well, which is good fun with no decrease in frame rate or graphics. There is also a Multiplayer mode for 2-4 players, you can play a tram game or a Free-For-All. There is a small bit of suffering in terms of performance, but the gameplay is still solid, 4 players is great fun. Each vehicle also has their own Special weapon, which gives them an edge over the others. Along with some returning vehicles, there are all new vehicles as well. Each vehicle has different stats to suit different styles. You can also collect Salvage Points form defeated foes to improve the stats of that vehicle even more. You can also edit the color of the vehicle. You can unlock more vehicles by completing all the objectives with characters in Quest more. Along with the Vigilante and Coyote sides, there is also the neutral Drifter side, with the characters there having their own motives different from the other two sides. The gameplay is solid fun, especially with 4 people. There are comparisons to Twisted Metal, which is logical. I personally find V8 and V8:2nd more fun than the Twisted Metal series in my opinion, but both Twisted Metal and V8 are still really fin.

The music on the N64 versions suffer a bit, with the disc-based ones having better music. The graphics across all 3 are still solid though

Bottom Line: Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense is just as good as the first game, with more and bigger levels and more vehicles. Multiplayer is a blast to play. This is worth a Play or Buy.