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Vigilante 8 is the latest in a veritable parade of relatively old PlayStation games getting N64 ports. I never really got a chance to play the original too much, so if you're expecting a comparison here, forget it. But hey, we should judge the game on its own merits anyway, right?

However, I am a huge fan of the game that spawned Vigilante 8, that being Interstate '76. It seems to me that the developers of this title have done a great job melding the feel of I76 and the gameplay of Twisted Metal.

Welcome to an alternate past, one where a severe oil shortage in the US has been used as the catalyst for a bloody gang war the likes of which this country has never seen. Two groups, the Vigilantes and Coyotes, find themselves on opposite sides of the battlefield. One fighting for freedom, the other in the back pocket of a huge International Oil Conglomerate bent on owning the market in the US. What follows is car combat of the most destructive kind across the wasteland the US has become.

The biggest problem I have with car combat games is that the single player quest always sucks. Companies like 989 and Singletrac have always done their best to beef up this aspect of their car combat titles , but they're still relatively weak. Luxaflux deserves some credit, since V8 probably has the best single player game so far, since each character has four unique missions a piece, all of which lead to unlocking the final four combatants in the game. To be honest, though, the focus is still on the multiplayer aspects of the game.

Along with the standard free for all, two players can also attempt to complete the different quests as a team. Four players can create teams and go at it, or one player can take on three other combatants. Of course, once you get up over two players the viewing screens get so small that they're kind of hard to use.

Vigilante 8 makes use of the 4 meg RAM expansion Pak in order to present the gameplay in a hi-res mode that's actually quite impressive relative to other N64 titles. None of the normal crutches are here, there's little to no fog present, the textures all seem rather detailed and there's a lot of real time lighting effects happening here. The N64 incarnation easily looks better than its PlayStation counterpart, and suffers from almost no slowdown until you try a multiplayer game.

In the gameplay department I'd rate Vigilante 8 higher than most in this genre. I love the fact that you actually see your weapons on your car as you collect them. Trying to score a "Whammy" (when you destroy a car by hitting it simultaneously with two weapons) is also challenging and quite satisfying when accomplished. Some of the car physics could use a little work, however, and more than a few times I found myself caught in some architecture. There are definitely some glitches that got through quality assurance here.

You know, all of this is sort of moot considering that you will not find another arena-based car combat game on the N64 anyhow. But what I can say is this: Vigilante 8 is a quality product that offers a satisfying multiplayer aspect and an above average single player game. If you're looking for this type of fix, you can't go wrong. It's about time this genre was covered on Nintendo's system anyway.