Interstate '82

The Good
As an Interstate '76 fan, it's almost impossible to play this sequel without comparing the two. On the good side, the graphics engine has been improved a lot. The graphis in general look good compared to the successor, and if you put the two head to head you can really see the three years of age between them.

The cars have also been remodelled and there are more than a dozen of new models including models that have clearly been copied from european makes(including Porsche and Saab). There are also more guns more levels, well, more of almost everything. BUT...

The Bad
as a fan of the older game Activision has really spoiled the old version. First of all, the playability is... well... it's hard to describe. The cars act somewhat realistically but driving the cars just ain't fun. And don't get me started on the walking mode... The combat ain't that fun either. The reason? Read further...

Second, the new stuff. When you add new ingredients the soup gets either better or a whole lot worse. This time it's the latter. Activision spoiled the novelty of realism by adding in new stuff that just doesn't make any sense. Industrial cutting lasers? Fitted into cars? Back in '82? Puh-leaze... And most of the regular guns have been spoiled too, usually by bad ammo levels. For example, shooting with miniguns is more like shooting with sniper rifle as they don't have even nearly enough ammo for the longer missions.

The campagn is spoiled throughoutly. Some missions are fun, but then there are those missions that you try four or five times and then you feel like throwing the game into the bottom of a lake. They have also scrapped the salvage system I loved, and now you only get money from wrecking other cars. What's the fun in that? And with money you can buy anything. Even in the bottom of an old mine...

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is, the game just ain't as fun as the old one. The graphics and the sounds are OK, but the game just ain't fun to play. If you bought the game then you play it through once... And at least I didn't enjoy it too much... And then you throw the game to the back of a shelf and forget the whole game.

If you haven't played the old Interstates, you might enjoy this one. If you liked the original gameplay and the feeling of the '76, don't even touch this thing with a long stick...

The Good
Well all the good car action / shooter elements are here, laid out in the same vein as Carmaggedon and Hot Wheels Velocity-X. The game puts you in the role of a vigilante that seeks to destroy some terrorist group (or so... doesn't matter). Fast and furious action, the game is quite addictive and you can expect to spend many happy hours with it. The thing that sucked me in was the variety of cars that you have the chance to drive. The game claims to be full of 80's cars but OK, some of them are 70's really (which is a good thing after all). The cars physical models are in a very arcade action style, so you can't really expect to find any simulation value in this. It's the action that this game stands for, going fast and shooting enemies. And on this respects the game rates quite high.

The Bad
First of all we have average graphics altogether. Beginning from the menu and going into the game. There are no graphical masterpieces here. And maybe that's because the machines back in 99 wouldn't be able to support supreme textures combined with high 3D transformation speed.

The levels are of mixed difficulty. You can fly through 2 or 3 levels in 10 minutes and get stuck in one damn level in the middle. Imagine having to replay the whole level again and again simply because of a false jump, which is a total nuisance, if not disastrous for the game itself. Most of the times there are no alternative routes. You gotta do it their way only. Personally I got stuck in the mines level where I've tried to get out of there about 50+ times and failed in every try. And that was when I lost interest on the game and uninstalled it from my HD.

The Bottom Line
I liked this game a lot. It has all the nice elements for an action packed speedy game. The cars variety is a big plus but then again, once you get stuck... that's it.

I can't really say that this is going to be the jewel that left forgotten 4 years now, as I feel that it won't keep you going much. I have never played the other games of the Interstate series so I cannot really compare. But I dare say that this game might deserve a little try.