Written By Shaun McCracken
Smuggler's Run at a glance may seem like an original idea. You work as a part
of an underground smuggling ring, and a fairly elaborate one at that. You
pick up packages, take them to their locations, and move one to the next job.
Oh, and you get paid, let's not forget that (we don't do things for free around
here). After the first couple of stages (which was pretty fun getting into),
something donned on me. I felt like I've done this kind of thing before. Not in
real life (but if I could, CA-CHING!), but in another game. The idea of picking
up something and dropping it off. What does this remind you of? CRAZY TAXI!
Much like how you would come up to a person and drop them off to their desired
location, WITH a time limit; Smuggler's Run is pretty much that same gameplay,
except a little less pickups, a lot more law enforcement, and you lose money
for some rather wreckless driving (like flipping a bitch on a hill). While it's
fine to be inspired by an exisitng game design, this seems way too familiar, and
I kind of wonder if anyone else who has played this series has picked up on that.
The story, guided through live-action cutscenes (with some fairly good acting)
is about you being the new recruit of an underground smuggling company. Planes
drop of the supplies, or someone asks you to pick it up, and you take it to it's
desired location. But things aren't all that easy, as the national government is
on your ass all the time. And unlike some games that have pursuits that are sometimes
easy to get out of, these people will hunt you down, and flip your vehicle without
thinking about it. As the story further unfolds, suspicious things arise, and if
I told you, that would spoil the game, now wouldn't it?
As I mentioned before, the gameplay is kind of similar to Sega's Crazy Taxi.
While not as offbeat and comical (or even addictive) as CT, Smuggler's Run does
manage to be it's own being, in a way. It's shadier, it's harder, and you will
yell at every stupid thing the game does. Let's start with it's best aspects,
though. The map (stage) layout is HUGE. While it does get used more than once,
the world is varied, and has a variable terrain. The game does have a high sense
of speed, as well as a smooth framerate, which really helps. You won't be further
slown down by choopy framerate, or low speed. Some missions take place at night
and the whole screen is in night vision, which is cool, but a lot tougher to
play. Aside from the mission mode, there are other modes as well, such as chackpoint
racing, and can also be played with more than 1 player. In fact, I think the GCN
version of the series is a lot more multiplayer friendly than the PS2 releases.
Now come the gripes. The AI is brutal. While some like to be challenged, I never
thought I would be bullied by the computer in a videogame. Opponents slam into
you without remorse, and also seem to predict what your next move is (especially
head-on). The missions could have been more varied than what was there. Basically
you take packages (or bombs in some cases) to people, keep rivals from stealing
your goods, or chase after someone to spy on them or to hunt them dowwn and
imobilize them. And there's only about 36 or so missions, and some can only
take a couple of minutes to complete. But there are the mini games, and the
racing mode is a nice addition.
The graphics are pretty average. I admire the huge draw distance and the
vegetation it displays, and keeping it at a near-solid 60 fps, but the textures
are a tad plain, and the architecture is not that inspiring. Also, the vehicles
could have used a little more zazz. Your paint job is plain old brown, and the
designs are average. I guess brown makes sense for camoflauge, but I've seen
better off road vehicles in games such as 4 Wheel Thunder. Also, what's up with
the Vigilante 8-like texture pop-up? If you've ever played V8, you may have noticed
that the texture pops up in a weird, tile-like way. It happens here, but the distance
is a bit further.
The sound is really not much to complain about, except for one thing. The guy
that you work for (I forgot his name) never really shuts up. How is it possible
that he can see everything that's going on, like he's a part of a pit crew?
And why is everything a lame insult? Shut him up! The music, is good, not great.
It's techno, which for a game like this, is a bit weird. But in kind of works,
and almost reminds me of the music of V-Rally 2.
A fairly tight design with a highly brutal AI and deja vu gameplay is pretty
much the order of the day in SR:WZ. It's basically a cleaned up version of the
PS2 stages, with some extra modes and multiplayer elements thrown in. I would
have like to have know WHAT I was smuggling, instead of it just being a "package",
and I'm not sure how well this story really holds if it's a mix of the two PS2
game's levels. But it's a fairly decent game. Not very long, but comes off entertaining
most of the time. It's the best Rockstar game I've played so far, and that kind
of says a lot. Worth a rental, buy if it's cheap.
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Smuggler's Run Warzones
