Smuggler's Run |
Game Boy Advance |
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Review by Matt Paprocki |
Destination Software |
Driving |
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Graphics: 6 |
Sound: 3 |
Gameplay: 6 |
Overall: 5 |
Smugglers Run was originally a Playstation 2 launch title.
Popular enough to spawn a sequel, it's was a intriguing game much in the same vein as Crazy
Taxi. In a completely illogical move, the game has been transferred over to the Game
Boy Advance. While a fair port in most aspects, the limitations of the console prevent it
from cloning the console version.
The fully 3-D graphical engine is impressive, though only in motion. Draw distance is relatively minimal for the most part but big, nasty pixels are noticeable. Even at full speed it's hard to ignore them. Worse yet, when driving over water, there is no noticeable difference from driving on land. No splash, no sinking, and you won't even lose speed! Controlling the sprite-based vehicles is easy enough, but with physics issues like mentioned above, what's the point? The game also lacks a battery back-up feature meaning paper and pen are required to get through this one. There are a ton of missions so be prepared for A LOT of writing. Then again, coming back to this game might be a rare feat. While the voices are spot on (and the engine sounds aren't that bad either), the music is atrocious. The 2600 put out better tunes than this. It's one track that beeps every few seconds, and that's in no way an exaggeration.
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