TGS 2001 Fall: Double-S.T.E.A.L. hands-on

Microsoft is showing off a version of Bunkasha Games' Xbox driving game Double-S.T.E.A.L. at the Tokyo Game Show 2001 Fall. The game has a distinctly Runabout-like flavor, requiring you to destroy a set number of items while wrecking anything and everything that gets in your way.

The one playable mission shown at the TGS asks you to destroy three enemy vehicles by repeatedly ramming into them until they explode. The three cars drive on a set path, and should you fall far enough behind to lose visual contact, a Crazy Taxi-like arrow will guide you. The key to destroying the cars quickly is to use your dune buggy to push them into trucks, buildings, and other solid obstacles. Most of the things you'll encounter on the track don't make for very solid obstacles. You can crash through almost anything that isn't a large building--including pedestrians.

Microsoft was showing the game off with a Thrustmaster steering wheel hooked up to the Xbox, and the control was pretty much standard driving-game fare. The wheel delivers a finer level of control than you'd expect from an arcade-style driving game like this one, and the result is a fast-paced but sensibly driven game. The game also looked pretty nice, with decent texture quality and variation, as well as a fast-moving frame rate.

We'll have more on Double-S.T.E.A.L. as it becomes available. The game is currently scheduled to ship in Japan sometime in 2002.