|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 A soon-to-be-hip-again license fuels a unique combination of driving game and light-gun shooter. By Zach "Freelance Weasel" Meston | Sept. 10, 2003  72Good
The Lowdown: A driving/shooting game with an agreeable price point and a great two-player cooperative mode.
Discuss this Review How the review scores work
Platform: PlayStation 2
 Game Type: Driving / Shooter Developer: Minds Eye Publisher: Empire Interactive ESRB: Teen Full Game Information Advertisement
Play where you want with the Logitech® Cordless Controller for PlayStation®.
At its core, Starsky & Hutch is an incredibly souped-up remake of the 15-year-old Taito coin-op Chase HQ, except that you shoot the car you're pursuing in addition to ramming into it. A few of the later missions introduce Driver-esque mission goals, but auto-destruction is usually at the top of the list. You also have to shoot various power-ups as they appear above and to the side of the road, which gives you such temporary blessings as turbo-speed, grippier tires, and a police siren that freezes the "timer" (about which more later). When playing by yourself, you control both driving and shooting; whatever you're driving toward is automatically targeted by the game, which fortunately just about always makes the correct choice -- important in missions where friendly vehicles can get between you and your target. The auto-targeting even stays locked in when you hit ramps and power-slide around corners. The more enjoyable control option, however, is the unique two-player mode, in which one player drives and one player shoots. The game supports a range of driving controllers, including Logitech steering wheels, and both the GunCon and GunCon 2. Both players can also use a Dual Shock 2, although moving the aiming reticle with the analog stick is very much the pain in the butt you'd expect. Instead of a straightforward countdown timer, Starsky & Hutch has an unusual system which plays into the nature of the license. The game's 18 storyline levels are divided into three "seasons" and six "episodes," and you start each episode with one or two hundred "viewer ratings points." The viewer points rapidly tick away at about two per second, and you lose ten or more VPs at once by ramming or shooting buildings, civilian cars, and pedestrians (who don't go flying a la GTA, but scurry out of the way a la Runabout). Shooting the target car keeps your VPs steady, but what you really wanna do is boost your VPs. To do this, you jump off ramps, blast viewer-point power-ups, drive dangerously close to pedestrian cars without actually swapping paint, and occasionally veer off-road to drive through shortcuts. The game awards gold, silver, and bronze medals, based on how many VPs with which you finish a level; to access the second and third seasons, you need to earn a certain number of gold and silver medals. S&H;'s levels are short and sweetly designed, so while the gameplay structure essentially forces you to replay them several times, it never feels like a chore; you're always striving to nail the turns just right, and to blast every power-up. In addition to the medal-earning framework, S&H; encourages replay with a hefty collection of unlockables. Most significant are the tedious Free Roam mode, in which you can explore each of the game's four major locales, and three "TV Specials," in which you engage in racing, stunt-driving, and precision shooting. By collecting a special key in each episode, you unlock a new car that can be used in that episode and the Free Roam mode; purely cosmetic, but kinda cool. By collecting "Huggy Cards," you can unlock a half-dozen options and features, including movie and music tests, and a biography and video interview of Antonio Fargas, who portrayed Huggy Bear in the series, and who reprises the character in the game. The controls are intuitive and tight, although the gameplay feels slightly sluggish, thanks to the 30 fps movement and abundant use of blurring and slow-motion effects when leaping off ramps and triggering special events. I had a bit of trouble getting my GunCon 2 calibrated, but that was when playing on a smaller monitor; when I moved to a larger boob-tube, the problem was solved.  The real reason why donuts have holes. While the drive-and-shoot gameplay of Starsky & Hutch unavoidably becomes repetitive, the solid level design and great two-player mode combine to make it one of the best budget titles for the PS2. Many times I've spent twice as much money on games that were half as good. •
Write your own review in the forums!
Essential Links Reviewer System Specifications PlayStation 2, Memory Card, Logitech® Cordless Controller. System Requirements PlayStation 2, Memory Card, Standard Controller. Reviews Index |
Most Popular
Video Games
Powered By PriceGrabber
|
||||||||
