Smugglers Run

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

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.

Smuggler's Run is moderately impressive with its graphics. Extra touches, such as pedestrians, animals, ambient traffic, cacti, trees, road blocks, 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 the PlayStation2. While the game might not be the best the system has to offer, gamers looking for a one- or two-player racing experience might want to take it for a spin. --Todd Mowatt

Now i want to buy the sequel wich i haven't bought yet because i wanted to finish this first one first.

To me Smugglers Run has everything a game should have, a MASSIVE gameplay area to explore, with lots and lots of geographical features, total freedom to go wherever we want, extremely simple gameplay and extremely furious gameplay also.
Also it has a great thing, when we loose we can begin from the start right away without having to wait for any loading data once again. This makes for a very compelling and addictive gameplay.
The only thing it lacks is a cinematic replay mode so we could watch our adventure from diferent angles.

The graphics might not be the best for a PS2, but i really couldn't care less about it. The whole visual of the game is trully beautiful, with forests, trees, rivers, waterfalls, and all geographical features you can think of to explore freely.

To me this is the best PS2 game i ever played and i couldn't care less about the marketing campaigns say about more popular titles. Smugglers Run 1 doesn't feel like a game, it feels like we're inside a movie.
Some reviewers complained that the gameplay is repetitive. So what ?! That's what makes this game addictive. Who says that a videogame can't be repetitive ?!! Is that something bad? In this case repetition means addictiviness and the game has tons of it if you get into the spirit.
The last level is absolutely insane !

Buy, buy , buy !
For me now, i'm buying the second one and i only wish someone makes a third because this type of thing is what videogames should all be about. Pure fun, adrenalin and adventure.

Five out of five stars.
A master piece in video-games altough it doesn't look like at first glance.


smuglers run does it steal you away   November 30, 2001
Robert Metcalfe (England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I think that smuglers run is one of the best ps2 games around. the grapics are superb. The whole out look on the game is amasing it's sound is could do with some adjustment but the smuglers run 2 has a lot to live up to. It has everything an off roading game should have: Theft,damage,apponents and scenary that will blow you away. It has so many different cars and different settings. On the whole this game is awsome


Smuggle this in your ps2 for some fun   July 31, 2001
Mr. Craig R. Macdonald
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Smugglers Run

Smugglers Run is not your average racing game. Your not blasting round a formula 1 car in a perfectly tuned car trying to lap your opponent as Schumacker. Your not going in a realistic racing car round tracks to earn cash to finely tune your car and your not skidding round muddy tracks in a rally car as Colin Mcrae. Instead your a driver for a gang that smuggles numerous illigeal items across the country.

Graphics

As far as the eye candy department of the graphics goes its all plain and simple. Unforunatly its also rather repetitive seeing the same 3 levels throughout the entire game. The cars themselves are varied enough so you can tell the difference but simple enough that you recken you could have designed them yourself. Size wise the game is very strange. If this were real either people and houses would be the size of people from the Borrowers book or the cars would just be hilariously large. However scale is not an important factor in a game in which the objective is to rush about dropping off various goods. Also the pickup and dropoff points instead of being brilliantly designed sites are just columns of smoke raising in the air, green for pickup and red for dropoff with occasionaly the odd vehicle thrown in next to the smoke or possibly a helicopter hovering above.

Game play

First thing first. Although Smugglers Run is a racing game the gameplay element does in no way consist of finely braking and easing your car around apexes of corners trying to gain a few metres more over your opponent. Oh hell no. Smugglers Run invovles holding your foot firmly on the accelarator and getting to Point B from Point A as fast as possible. You want to know the little gem that this sort of gameplay has. Its *gasp* amazingly much more fun than realistic sims than Gran Turismo. Its also surprisingly entertaining just going in ''Joyriding mode'' for a half hour or 2 and trying to do the craziest jumps and flips. If however your the sort of person that takes anger managment classes because your tv controller batteries stopped working then i would not reccomend playing Smugglers Run because it does get very frustrating. Nee, very very frustrating. At some points your just about to complete a level you have been trying and trying again to complete for an hour and just as you think your about to hit the final finish point you get knocked from behind and go carrearing off into a ditch. I actually got so annoyed at one level that I stopped playing Smugglers Run for about 2 months and only resumed play after a friend came round and beat it for me. He had to use cheats but come on the mission was nearly impossible. Just so you can feel my anger it was the last level on the desert section the one where you have to chase down a guy, steal his contraband and go up the spiral hill.

Sound

Sound is not a large part of Smugglers Run. In fact most reviewers rate it as the least important factor in a game. I personally disagree, where would Final Fantasy 8 be without that slightly annoying opening sequence. Anyways i digress. The music in Smugglers Run is quite relative to all other sounds. The most stand out speech of the game is your sort of helper who eggs you on in a womans voice. Saying stuff like ''The Car is meant to be able to drive sweety'' and the like. It is fun for a while but soon gets rather boring.

Lifespan

Smugglers Run is a long game. Despite being pretty much the same thing every level with a few varations its still a fun game. It has about 33 levels in total. The first ones will be done in your second or third sitting and the latter ones have took me as long as a week. However you may just be forced to snap the game in half when you get to the later missions. I am only on mission 18 and its easily the hardest playstation 2 game i have. And i have 9.

Multiplayer

Smugglers Run is just as much fun in Multiplayer as it is in Single player. There are 2 options. Either you are in a team of 4 people with you controlling one against your opponent or your in a big 8 man with you and a friend controlling one car each. The object is to make 5 pickup or dropofs, first car or team to do so wins.

Pros & Con's

Pros ---- - Fun in the wake of more serious driving games. - Long. - Very good im multiplayer.

Cons ---- - Frustrating. - Repetitive.

Verdict - Buy this, Its a gem of a game.

Verdict - 9/10


Addictive, playable, intelligent   July 26, 2001
Chris Snowdon (England)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

It's a toss up between this and TimeSplitters as the best PS2 game out so far. In terms of how often it gets played, Smugglers Run has the edge on the shoot-em-up. The principle of the game is, like all the best games, incredibly simple. You have to get from A to B in the quickest time. Sometimes you get chased by the police who hound and annoy you like midges on a camping trip. Sometimes you are racing against other cars. You have to pick up dodgy goods from one point on a map and take it to another point. This means driving 90% of the game cross country. The 1 player missions are challenging enough to sometimes frustrate - levels 11 and 13 can make you want to put your boot through the TV - but you'll keep coming back for more. There are basically only 3 different terrains (grass/snow/sand) but each is very large, beautifully detailed and you can drive wherever you want in any direction. The 2 player game is essentially Tig with cars. Worth the price of the game alone, this is great fun. I strongly recommend this game. One word of warning, turn the sound down and put a CD on the stereo - the repetitive music and the continuous police sirens will drive you out of your mind.


Great 2 Player Game   July 23, 2001
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Borrowed this, and only ever played the 2 player version. OK the graphics are a bit weak, and the sounds not brilliant, but who cares, in 2 player mode with some friends this is GREAT. Probably worth the price alone. Anybody who doesn't get the 2 player mode doesn't have any mates.