Future le oks fun in Rouge

»: MB Playstation: Rouge Trip
(Singletrac/GT Interactive)
_ > Certainty nor the first
“third-person, tree range auto-
shooter, but coming from
Singletrac, the developers who
invented the genre, Rouge
Trip is one of the best. Much
in. the vein of Activision's
Vigilante 8, players climb iio
a beeted and tweaked motor-
ized marauder armed to the
teeth and set about hunting
~ down similarly cquipped
“adversaries. .

: Pick-ups and power-ups are
littered about or in hard-to-
reach places, It's top-notch
stuff, really, and is easily as
good as V8 in took (cleaner |
even), feel and style. Bur the
Rouge Trip plor isn’t just pil-

-. lage or protect with a post

~ apocalyptic presentation, the
mission objectives are fairly

“unique and ultimately, down-
. Fight funny. a
__ sYou see, in the Rouge’.
future, life is pretty unpleas-
ant, gas is at a premium and
poverty and pestilence prevail.
But hey, you'd think at least a
: foresighted few would have
cen all this coming... They
id

Enter the eccentric million-

ire just dying to ger out of

the mansion/bomb
and ‘do a little joy riding, see

how the other 99/1 00ths live. :

‘The prime imperative for cach
and every player is to pick up
a far wealthy tourist —

and show him or her the

things,
pi

g :

and little details are
ut ‘gameplay is
entioned, and not

Operate a Mech-Warrior-type
Monster cum cop hover-car.
You stomp and drive around
fulfilling mission objectives,
‘solving a few puzzles but
mostly muscling your way
around the forsaken squalid
streets of Los Angeles.

Good graphics, great
glossy lighting effects, gritty
gameplay, :

Maybe a little too busy for

‘Yake the plot from Robozap
(the movie), the premise from
The Transfariers (the kiddie
cartoon/franchise) and the
armoury trom Armored Care
(the video game), jumble it
together ina vaguely coherent
manner and watch it all trom
the ever-popular 3rd-person
perspective and you've got this
glitzy game: Future Cap
LAPD. It's pretty cool. You

We wilt deduct the equivaler
Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, N ine V
ind Nine West, Estate Jewellery,
and clearance-priced Fine Jewelle
~” merchandise, regular-priced Wor
: “wear, loungewear and robes, a
Valentino, ck and Joseph Abboud ¢|
Mont Blanc pens, sale-priced bedding :
microwaves, sale- and clearance-priced |
(consisting of Ralph Lauren/Polo bedding’
Esprit bedding, Ralph Lauren Home Col!
Beanie Babies, Lalique, Disney Cla:
2 a Eaton Gift Certifics

its britches — a little roo
much action as you try to fol-
low an adventurous path off a
path off an alley from a side
road to the hideout under the
stronghold, but at lease ir’s
lots to do. And thank God for
auto-locking weapons while.
your ar it, This ought to keep
you busy. Excellent renal.
Good purchase. / -

B Playstation: Ninja (Eidos)
Coniing trom Eidos — the

Tab Raider people — you'd

think this here ancient mysti-

Friday, November 13, 1998 — North Shore News — 25

cal warrior adventure would
have a lot to offer,
Unfortunately, it’s aiso trom
Fidos — the- Fighting Ferce
people) so it’s a bit of a fet
down, Not that Fighting Foree
was all that bad, and nor is
Ninja: Shadaw of Darkness
(how dark can thar possibly
be?).

Basically Ninja works asa
roaming, fairly-iree range 3D
fighter /adventure, Your wan-
der abour and find little treats

(tood, keys, swords) hidden in -

little treasure chests which

sometimes turn our to be litte
tortures (bombs — ooch, ya
sure fooled me with that one).
You fight all sorts of bad-
dies with an ultra repetitive
Punch punch punch button or
an equally repetitious kick kick
kick button. Sometimes you
pull some taney Ninja fear, bur

* merely by random happen-

stanee. Oh yeah, vou can
throw litte threwing knives
until you're blue ire the face

cand hop tike nobody's busi-

"See Crash paae Ye