Smuggler's Run

As if this task weren't difficult enough, you have the CIA and the police on your tail. You're going to have to hurry, because in most cases you're given predetermined time limits to complete your pick-ups and drop-offs. And, to top things off, rival gangs also are after the same goods that you're transporting. Smuggler's Run is like a game of tag, only with vehicles.

To add another level of excitement to the game, Angel Studios--the same people who developed the popular Midtown Madness series for the PC--has added real-time vehicle damage as an unavoidable, nasty side effect of racing across treacherous terrain. In this way, the game straddles the fence between a simulation and an arcade game.

Smuggler's Run has a mission-based campaign mode, and is laid out over a dozen levels, with huge environments, sprawling desert landscapes, rural towns, forests, and snow-capped mountains. The game also features an open-ended joyride mode for one or two players (split screen) and "Turf Wars," which allows one or two players to create custom scenarios to suit individual tastes. There's even some "Capture the Flag" thrown in, for good measure.

Smuggler's Run is moderately impressive with its graphics. Extra touches, such as pedestrians, animals, ambient traffic, cacti, trees, roadblocks, waterfalls, and rivers, add to the all-important suspension of disbelief, but there are other, prettier racing games on the Dreamcast and PC.

When all is said and done, Smuggler's Run is a decent and enjoyable racing game for PlayStation2. While the game might not be the best that the new system has to offer, gamers who are looking for a one- or two-player racing experience might want to take it for a spin. --Todd Mowatt

Pros:

• Real-time damage adds to the challenge
• Various two-player modes

• Somewhat lackluster graphics