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A.P.I Review:	Rogue Trip
Developer:	SingleTrac	OPTIONS:	SCREENSHOTS: No.1   No.2   No.3
Distributor:	GT	1-4 Player
Game Type:	Combat Racing	Memory Card
Review Date:	November 1998	Dual Shock/Analog Compatible

Setting the Scene

It's the future and vacations have become an immensely valuable commodity, controlled by the nefarious Big Daddy. The only alternative to paying the gangster is to hitch a ride with an auto-mercenary...which you just happen to be! Twelve huge, highly-explosive levels (including SoCal, Nuke York, Area 51, and more). Fifteen highly unstable characters. Genetic AI that learns as it goes along. So come on, and remember, it's all about getting' down with your Rogue-self!

You're an automercenary. A rogue tour guide hell-bent on showing cheapskate vacationers the hot spots of the radioactive, char-broiled future. Rogue Trip is a two-fisted journey into the blackened heart of the open road! From Vegasland to D.C, you'll annihilate the competition with a tricked out arsenal of everything from swarm-missiles to Pyro Weapons and maybe even bring your clients back alive!

Genre

From the million-selling makers of car combat game Twisted Metal 2 comes a mercenary experience the likes of which you haven't seen since your last family trip!

Graphics

Now we have all seen and possibly played this style of game before in the form of Twisted Metal 2 and recently Vigilante 8, but does Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012 match the gameplay of the TM series while capturing the silky smooth visuals that were the hallmark of V8?

The intro is brilliant, so over the top and tongue in cheek. A nuclear holocaust is interrupted by a wild and wacky gameshow host backed by four of the largest knockers ever seen on screen at once (worth renting just to stare at the freak show). He babbles on and on about taking a vacation when suddenly Big Daddy performs a totally illegal announcement about how to be an automercenary.

The in-game graphics, while bright and colorful do lack the detail and atmosphere that Vigilante 8 created, but are a vast improvement over the grainy Twisted Metal games. Now this is weird because I always though of TM2 graphics as a little rough around the edges, but somehow quite acceptable. Perhaps it was the gameplay that took your mind off the substandard visuals? Let's hope the same goes for Rogue Trip.

It seems what we have here are large polygon jigsaw sections that don't quite fit together. You don't actually feel as if you are driving around a 3D world, more like pushing a toy car around a flat table with a few blocks in your way. Most of the building are cardboard cut-outs with the occasional barrier that can be blasted down to create an opening, but it never feels as if you are entering the building... more squeezing through a tight gap in the scenery.

On the plus side the environments are all huge, there are many secrets hidden in each level and most of the scenery is destructible, which is fine. The hyperactive vehicles you are hunting down move at such a speed that you only grab fleeting glances. On the occasions I caught a glimpse of them they looked quite detailed.

Overall the visuals are certainly an improvement over TM2 and had this game been released before Vigilante 8 then we would probably all be singing it's praises... but sadly it wasn't.

Sounds and Effects

The sound effects are acceptable. Lot's of loud crashing, banging and walloping, as you would expect but the best part of Rogue Trip has to be the music. The Mighty Mighty Boss-Tones and Nashville Pussy offer a selection of Rock music, Hill-Billy music, Big Daddy Cool Rap... in fact a little of everything you would probably listen too on CD. It totally rocks!

Playability

Love it or hate it the gameplay follows a tried and trusted pattern. The concept behind Rogue Trip is that you are an automercenary in the year 2012 whose employment involves picking up tourists and giving them a quick excursion of the local sites. Your main objective is to take them to the Photo Ops and have their photograph taken. In return they give you wads of money which can be used to upgrade your health and weapons. In reality Rogue Trip is a darn good excuse to tear around a 3D environment blasting the Hell out of all and sundry.

There are three levels of difficulty and three different game modes which are Vacation, Getaway and Challenge. Vacation involves watching out for a passing tourist and then attempting to drive alongside them. When they are within touching distance the car door opens and you suddenly have a tourist on board. All rival cars will attempt to ram the life out of you before you reach the Photo booth. Should you receive too much damage the Tourist will eject into the air and hop on board the nearest passing vehicle when he eventually comes down to earth. The game ends when all of the enemies are destroyed.

To gain victory in Getaway mode you must again hunt down the car that carries the tourist in a game of 'destruction tig'. If you're 'it' then all other vehicles will do their best to take you out the game. Challenge is your basic 'Rambo' mode where one player takes on all 'comers in a fight to the death.

Vehicles include cars, buses, trucks, helicopters, tanks.. the usual. Controlling the vehicles again sticks close to the accepted button configuration. Directional buttons or analog stick accelerates, brakes and turns the steering wheel. Face buttons turbo, brake, rear fire and handbrake turn. Shoulder buttons switch weapons and fire them.

Locations include aptly named areas such as Daddywood, The Maul, Xlax airport, Area 51, Neon Nightmare, Eternal Acres, So Cal, Hell-O-Stone, Quake-A-Ron and Nuke York (snigger, snigger). There are twelve worlds in all, each packed with bonuses, health and mayhem.

Value for Money

You couldn't really grumble at Rogue Trip when it comes down to VFM. Twelve locations, three single player games, Co-op vacation, two player getaway, two player challenge and a fabulous link-up mode.