An excellent game, but it feels "incomplete."
1. Gameplay/Ingame Review
2. "Mechanics"
1:
Vigilante 8 2nd Offense continues where Vigilante 8 left off. The Coyotes are back, and this time, they have a new leader. The Vigilantes are out to stop the Coyotes, and now joining the car-combat mayhem is a mysterious team - the Drifters. V8: 2 offers a variety of gameplay modes. One player mode lets you go through each characters individual story in Quest mode, duke it out with player-chosen opponents on Arcade mode, or test your "stayin' alive" skills in Survival mode. Of course, V8: 2 also offers a two player mode, including Versus- you and your buddy duking it out in a one-on-one, teaming up with your pal on Cooperative, or going through the story line together on Quest mode. The N64 version offers 3 or 4 players too, with modes such as Brawl, Team, and Smear. There are a total of 18 vehicles in the game, including the locked vehicles. Other characters can be unlocked by completing Quest mode with certain vehicles. Your game status and which vehicles have been unlocked can be checked at the options screen. As you progress through Quest mode you'll be introduced to the storyline of the character you are playing as. One new ability which the first Vigilante 8 didn't offer, is the ability to upgrade your car. When opponents are destroyed on Quest or Arcade mode, they will drop "Salvage Points", which appear as spinning yellow circles. All four categories can be upgraded (Acceleration, Top Speed, Armor, and Avoidance), which can be brought to a max of 100. Once your vehicle reaches 100 in each category, you'll recieve a shiny new chassis.
2:
For the most part, V8: 2 for the Nintendo 64 satisfies the gamer's needs, but in some parts, they don't satisfy their "wants". The N64 version offers crisp graphics, great multiplayer, and all out fun, the sound is where it fails. Because the Nintendo 64 uses cartridges, the sound was very limited. The music was reduced to midi, with only 11 songs left on the soundtrack. Although the weapons and environment sounds are great, there is one area that you can not let by. Unlike the Playstation and Dreamcast counterparts, all the vehicles on the N64 version use the same "engine" sound. The engine sound remains idle the entire time, even driving at top speed, when sitting completely still, the pitch or sound doesn't change, just the volume. It was unnecessary for this change to be made from conversion to N64- the engine sound was very amaturely made, and Luxoflux could have easily fixed that. The N64 also lacks FMV movies, but this can be brushed to the side- it's not a necessity.
Overall, Vigilante 8 2nd Offense is an extremely addicting game; I personally love it. The way I look at it: if the sound was fixed, it would be perfect.