How is the gameplay? Hmm... how should I describe it? (Away from computer for 30 minutes) Let's just say addictive. If you like driving around, blowing things up,
V82O will give you all the toys you need to stay in
Road Rage Bliss* for hours and days and weeks on end. Virtually everything in the game is destructible (if you're stubborn enough to keep shooting), making for a rewardingly realistic interactive environment. The weapon pickups are liberally scattered about, allowing you to amass a fairly nice arsenal in rapid fashion. And, since you can hold several different weapons at the same time, you can attack faster and score better by cycling through your weapons while firing at an enemy. This is called the "whammy." The whammy works very well for quickly destroying a single enemy, but can leave you with nothing but your stock machine gun, so regardless of the result, you'll need to run off to find more powerups soon thereafter.
The background stories are nicely developed, and in Story mode, you can work through a series of missions, playing out your character's storyline. That's a nice feature, especially since the storylines make sense. (Okay - in a sci-fi way, but still. It is more coherent than the storyline for the Twisted Metal games, isn't it!?)
Finally, one feature I have to mention is the hover powerups. These are blue icons that you will find from time to time that are shaped somewhat like an upside-down bowl. These, when acquired, will modify any vehicle in the same fashion that Marty McFly's DeLorean was modified in the Back to the Future series of movies. This cool pickup allows you to fly over rivers, walls, other cars... you name it - giving you a lot more flexibility than driving around. Unfortunately, the vehicle becomes a lot more difficult to control (no contact with the ground... duh!). When hovering, the D-pad is used to turn left and right, and go forward and backwards, while the analog stick will control your altitude. Pushing forward on the analog stick will cause you to raise up higher (and go forward) and pulling back on the analog stick will cause you to go down. Left and right on the analog stick still work to steer you, but it will take using a combination of the D-pad and the analog stick to accurately control your vehicle in the air.
* The term "Road Rage Bliss" is used here in referring to videogames only. In real life, you should never speed, drive recklessly, shoot ballistic missiles at other drivers, or mount military weaponry on your vehicle... unless your driver's license was issued in Mississippi. Just kidding. ;)
