Angel Studios has followed up Smuggler's Run with an enjoyable, albeit flawed, sequel.
If it were released now, Smuggler’s Run would have a hard time making it as an average game. But back when the PlayStation 2 had just been released, not much else was available for the console, and Rockstar Games and Angel Studios’ off-road drug-smuggling effort seemed like a good choice. Biding their time over the past year, the companies have been working on the sequel, Smuggler’s Run 2: Hostile Territory, which has taken strides over the original, but still falters in the areas that matter.
There was little to no coherent reason for gamers to be running goods back and forth in Smuggler’s Run, but that did not really matter since the enormous environments had us spellbound and the gameplay was interesting enough to keep us attuned for decent while. That would not work for the sequel, and realizing this, Angel Studios has come up with a story involving Frank Luger and his squad of elite smugglers who are working for a Russian mob boss. FMV even plays throughout the game to keep things moving along. Given, the acting hardly reaches mediocre and many times comes off as cheesy, but it gets the job done.
You have to wonder if the programmers at Angel Studios are some gods when it comes to their game playing; they seem to have a tough time judging difficulty. In Smuggler’s Run, almost anything past the first mission or two started to become horribly tough to complete due to the police AI’s relentless, non-stop assault. This has been changed for the sequel – or at least, pushed back. Throughout the game’s first chapter in Russia there are some difficult sections, since simply blowing through the game wouldn’t be much fun, but once Vietnam kicks in the pull-your-hair-out-and-pray-for-mercy police AI from the original starts to kick into high gear. As soon as police spot you, hoards of them will crowd every direction, making movement difficult, as one blocks your forward movement and three others smash you from the side.
For all those gamers who insist that games these days are too easy and require more hardcore challenges, Smuggler’s Run 2 should be right up their alley. If the game lead players up to the difficulty switch it wouldn’t be so bad, but it feels as if the AI does a complete flip flop from one mission to the next. Maybe for old school gamers used to Ninja Gaiden-style difficulty this will fit like a glove, but for the majority it will only result in frustration.
Looking at both of Angel Studios’ Smuggler’s Run installments by side, there have not been any substantial changes made to the game’s visual appearance. It is in the details, however, that Smuggler’s Run 2 is able to shine far above what the original accomplished. The size of the environments do not seem to have changed much, since they were more than plenty huge already, but now there are rebel soldiers running amok the landscape, towns with working villagers, rubble and trees lining deserted areas where battles of war obviously once took place, etc. It really pushes the feeling that Angel Studios spent quite a bit of time adding subtle details to the environments to make them as unique and interactive as possible, hoping to avoid the bland, same-old-same-old feel that Smuggler’s Run started to give off after a few hours of play.
Smuggler’s Run became repetitive quickly because there were few gameplay variants, and despite Angel Studios’ best efforts, Smuggler’s Run 2 still runs into this problem. There have been some worthwhile changes made to keep things interesting, though. Mission objectives can now range from the already familiar idea of picking up a package and delivering it to another location, taking out a spy by smashing into his vehicle, destroying the radio communications of the opposition by ramming down their radio towers or simply learning the landscape of a new environment by following your boss, Frank Luger, around. Eventually, though, while the missions continue to try and stay interesting with new ways to approach them, they are still the same concepts with a new angle. How quickly the repetition sets in will depend on the gamer.
Some smaller, still annoying complaints include night and rainy missions where it becomes impossible to see the smaller objects littered on the ground that are large enough to screw with the vehicle. More often than not, it sends it careening into a continuous barrel roll that can have a fatal effect on the time limit imposed on most missions. Still related, the rain effect looks fantastic initially, but as you start to drive around, the constant raindrops crowding the screen can make it difficult to navigate around the aforementioned objects.
It might be more of the same only taken to the next level, but for fans of Smuggler’s Run, this will be exactly what the doctor ordered, while for most it will make it an entertaining rental. When taken into consideration against Rockstar Games’ other major holiday release, Grand Theft Auto 3, though, the repetitive nature of Smuggler’s Run 2 almost makes it not worth mentioning.
