Rush 2049 Hands-On

Midway stopped by the videogames.com offices today to show off some of its latest wares, one of them being the Dreamcast and the Nintendo 64 versions of Rush 2049.

The early version of Rush 2049 for the Dreamcast looks almost arcade perfect, even in its current stage of development. The N64 version, while of course not anywhere near arcade perfect, looks fairly good in its own right and does a fair job of representing the same feel of the game.

Lots of new modes and abilities have been added to both the N64 and the Dreamcast versions that weren't featured in the arcade version of the game. For starters, both versions feature a couple of new multiplayer modes that you can play with up to four people, such as battle and stunt mode. In battle mode, the cars are outfitted with weapons that you can find lying around the deathmatch-specific levels. Once you pick one of these up, you shoot one another until someone explodes. Stunt mode puts players in a stunt arena where players must try to outscore one another by pulling off crazy flips and barrel rolls off of jumps and ramps. Barrel rolling and flipping are easier to do than ever since one of the biggest additions to the game is these little wings, which help you direct the car's rotation as it soars through the air after coming off a jump. The ability to land jumps through the use of the wings really adds a whole new dimension to the game that really makes it more challenging and fun. Other additions are new cars and two new tracks, plus a whole lot of new and altered shortcuts.