Go Boom. Big Deal.

A Review of Assault Rigs

by Mark Woon

*yawn* With all the 3D games out there, you would think a company would think twice before releasing yet another Doom lookalike. Psygnosis has severely underestimated the 3D action game market if it believes its latest addition to the genre, Assault Rigs, would get better than a lukewarm response.

The plot is simple enough: in the future, all sports have gone virtual, held in the great arena known as cyberspace. The top sport of them all, of course, is Assault Rigs. In it, combatants pilot "rigs", or tanks. In single player mode, the goal is to collect the gems that allow you to enter the next level, and find the exit. In multi-player mode, players can opt for either a race for the gems and the exit, or a hunt in which the player with the most kills win.

According to the manual, there are four distinct 3D arenas: Hybrid VR, Steam Punk, Future Military, and World at War. With some 40 different levels in single player mode, there are 10 levels per world. You have to go through the worlds in order. In multi-player mode, you can choose the arena you wish to play in. Sadly enough, the only changes from one arena to another are the color pallette. Different arenas do not provide different challenges.

And that's basically it. Drive a tank around, collect gems, shoot enemy tanks, and find the exit. True, games like Descent and Doom are little different, but what makes them stand out from the rest is their superior graphics, sound effects, and look and feel. Unfortunately for Assault Rigs, its graphics are marginal, the sound effects tolerable, and an interface that will have anyone with opposable thumbs screaming in frustration.

First, the graphics. As nice as the introduction and the cut scenes may be, don't let them fool you. The actual game graphics are nothing like that. While generally a little too pixelated for my tastes, the game graphics is on par with what you would expect from a DOS game. However, the pixelation isn't the real problem. The real problem is that the arenas look boring. There's nothing to draw you in, especially the first 10 levels which are set in the Hybrid VR arena. The drabness of it all just muffles the entire game.

The sound effects and music don't help either. Unless you really, really like techno music, after a while, you'll be tuning it out. As for the sound effects, they're just your generic gunshot/explosion sound bites. In addition to this, there's a commentator that can become extremely annoying after a while. After the sixth time I heard "Don't try this at home, kids!" and "Nice jump!", I started wishing I could switch this off.

In terms of gameplay, Assault Rigs is really a matter of taste. I personally prefer complete, discrete control. Instead, Assault Rigs only provides relative control over the tanks. You can control them well enough, but you can't, for example, move the tank exactly 2 degrees to the right. You have to turn in arcs of approximately 5 degrees. It doesn't seem like much, but believe me, it makes a big difference when you're trying to target your enemies. There are other gameplay quirks that don't sit well with me either. When the tank hits a wall, instead of stopping, as it should, it starts to slide around in unpredictable ways. When combined with the graphics and the fact that you'll find yourself going up and down inclines and falling down (and frequently landing upside down) all over the place, it makes Assault Rigs a nauseating experience.

Another interface glitch that get in the way of gameplay was primary and secondary weapon selection. Instead of the customary Doom-style numeric weapon selection, you have to tab through your weapons. This can be a distraction when you're in the middle of a fight, as you're basically a sitting duck.

All in all, I'd have to reccommend everyone stay away from this game if you have a choice. The only redeeming qualities I can see in Assault Rigs is the fact there is absolutly no bloodshed in it. Lots of mechanical explosions and such, but no gore. But then again, even this is questionable for some...

486 DX2/66 or better, 8MB RAM or more, double-speed CD-ROM drive, MS-DOS 6.x or Windows 3.1/Windows95, VGA monitor, sound card.

Overall Score:

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