The game begins with a nice FMV that clues us in to the story: Convoy and Houston, old enemies from the last game, have grown close to each other and plan to wed. But years in the future, Clyde a member of the coyote gang, has stolen a time machine in order to go back to 1977 and make sure that his company will be the major supplier for oil in the U.S. by destroying the Alaskan pipeline and the Vigilantes. The overall and individual character stories are enjoyable, not just mindless filler to read while we wait for the next stage to load; something that Luxoflux should be applauded for.

In the game itself you start off by choosing one or two players and whether you wish to play Quest, Arcade, or change your options. In Quest mode you follow the story line of your character through eight different locations in the U.S., trying to complete 3 objectives per stage. Most of the time these objectives include finding items, protecting or destroying buildings, and wrecking all of the other characters on a stage. Some of the more difficult tasks that drive up the level of fun include, finding bombs placed around an oil refinery and chucking them into the sea, or destroying a moving train in order to get its precious cargo of crisp cash. The best option in quest mode is that you are able to complete it cooperatively with a friend via split-screen; making the job of completing all of the objectives a bit easier and a lot more interesting. Quest mode is also where you can unlock the 9 secret characters, and since you need to complete all of the objectives in all of the stages to do so it adds plenty of replay value.

Arcade mode on the other hand is all about destruction. You simply pick a character, your stage, and what enemies you wish to go against. To spice things up Luxoflux implemented an upgrade system wherein you trash cars to get their precious upgrade points. You can receive points to upgrade such categories as top speed, armor, and avoidance (power to avoid lock-on weapon attacks). If you trash enough cars and collect enough points, your car will change into a finely tuned wrecking machine; playing a lot of arcade mode has its advantages.

And speaking of advantages, the games special items and weapons make V8: SO a real treat. The games standard weapons include such items as a flame thrower, land mines, homing missiles, and much more. On the defensive side you can collect temporary shields and wrenches that will fix a small amount of damage to your car. But the real gem is all of the terrain upgrades that can turn your car into a ski mobile, motor boat, or a hovering UFO! Depending on the terrain, these items can severely help your speed and control of your vehicle. For example, the UFO enhancement makes it easier to avoid rough terrain, but it also means you need lock-on weapons since you are 5 feet above everyone else and can't hit them with your standard artillery. Lastly, each character has a powerful, special weapon that is specific to him/her. These weapons are usually scarce compared to the rest because of their damage and can range from a hood-mounted laser to a load of homing fireworks!

The stages in V8:SO are large and incredibly well rendered for the Playstation. Some of the locations include a Louisiana swamp complete with an angry alligator, and as an Olympic tribute there is a stage in Utah that features winter game events for you to complete in order to receive special weapons and power-ups. All of the stages are highly interactive with plenty of objects to destroy and secrets to find.

I am also very happy to tell you that Luxoflux really wanted a great experience and went out of their way to give you fantastic music. Every character has their theme music from a light country tune to incredible techno. You can even set what you want to hear at any time during a stage as well as setting the music on repeat or random. This was one option I loved to abuse.

One of the few problems I had with this game was collision detection. I found that when I ran into one of the invisible boundaries for a stage I would sometimes be thrown like a rag doll in the opposite direction, sometimes hitting another object and bouncing back. This mini game of pinball became highly annoying as well as damaging to my vehicle. I also had times were I would simply phase through a car or building; this would rarely happen but when it did I was incredibly annoyed. I must admit that these faults were mostly car and stage specific, you won't have this problem with everyone or every stage. And as usual with Playstation games a limitation of its power reared its head, you can't play a four player death match like you can in the Dreamcast version, only two players at a time.