Hardware: Online Arena

Guns and cars are the two fundamental tenets of fun in videogames. Hardware: Online Arena lets you have them both in enormous quantities

Like jeeps, do you? And tanks? Of course you do. Well, listen up: bolstering the fast-growing online offering for PS2 is Hardware: Online Arena. It's full of those jeeps and tanks you just said you like so much, plus shedloads of weaponry to pick up, aim and deploy at anyone who dares to enter the same room as you.

If deathmatching is the bread and butter of online gaming, then H:OA is indulgent Nutella, luxuriantly spread over its yeasty hide with no concerns for saturated fat. Players choose from a variety of vehicles - broadly fitting into those two categories above - according to taste, then scream about trying to kill, kill, kill.

Whether you choose a tank or jeep is largely a matter of personal preference, but you might also want to consider the map and type of game you're about to play before decisively stabbing away at the X button. Jeeps are fast, but they can't take much damage before being sent to the great scrapyard in the sky. Also, the extra speed can be a double-edged sword when you're trying to drive in one direction and fire in the other.

Tanks, meanwhile, can absorb more unfriendly projectiles before going BANG, which is just as well, as they're much slower. Such an apparently straightforward decision is made more interesting when teamplay and mission type are taken into account, mind; if you're playing in a team you might want to have a couple of jeeps acting as scouts, with a hardcore tank contingent waiting in the wings...

Of course, no deathmatch game is worth its weight in crispy body parts unless it's chock-full of natty pyrotechnics and weaponry. These are abundant in Hardware, naturally, taking the guise of missiles (including light, heavy and EMP varieties) and plasma volleys. There's even an airstrike weapon, that calls in some friendly fighter jets that wipe out any enemies who fail to make it to the safety of an underground bunker in time.

If all this sounds like it makes for an action-packed deathmatch, then that's because it does. Hardware matches are as intense an online experience as you're likely to find anywhere, with one-on-one duels growing into massive rucks between multiple tanks and jeeps - particularly on well-populated areas like Area 51. If you're after an intense online blast, then you should definitely stock up on new Hardware.

• Fast-paced online multiplayer deathmatch
• Choose from a variety of tooled-up vehicles
• Cause Mayhem in five different environments, including Area 51, Mayan City and Arctic
• Master a collection of killer weapons, such as guided missiles, salvos and airstrikes

Source:

uk.playstation.com