Jacked Impressions

We got a demonstration of 3DO's upcoming motorcycle game Jacked at E3 2003. The game features 19 different tracks in three different environments--urban, jungle, and desert. Each of the tracks features multiple paths and interactive environments. Exemplifying these features was the urban track demonstrated at the show, where you can take a shortcut through a museum and grab a parking meter on the way out to use as a weapon.

Though the primary goal of Jacked's gameplay is to win races, the game recalls classics like Road Rash with its combat aspects. Jacked includes a number of melee and ranged weapons such as shotguns, flamethrowers, baseball bats, bazookas, and shotguns. These weapons are used to try to knock opponents off their bikes. If you're successful, you can steal their bikes--win the race while using an opponent's bike and it will be added to your garage. Jacked includes several different bikes, each with various ratings in speed, acceleration, handling, and stability. Street bikes will be much better on concrete, while dirt bikes will handle a lot better on off-road areas.

You'll need to keep track of your nitro meter in order to apply boost to your bike. Boosting through straightaways gives you tremendous acceleration, and the game shows this visually by applying a motion blur to the edges of the screen while you're boosting. So players don't avoid combat, Jacked encourages you to fight your opponents by refilling your nitro meter every time you engage in combat. You can also get more nitro by doing rider stunts on your bike.

Jacked will include four-player split-screen multiplayer on the Xbox and the GameCube and two-player action on the PlayStation 2. You will also be able to import the bikes you've unlocked in the single-player game into the multiplayer component. The game is slated for release this fall. We'll have more information on Jacked as it becomes available.