The premise is simple: you sit on top of a rocket and fly about throwing ropes at pylons, explosives, and other players. There are three game types; battle, race and a soccer type thing. The battle is by far the most enjoyable and where you'll spend most of your time.
You're put in an arena with various obstacles like pylons and re-generating bombs. You use your ropes, one on either side, to kill your opponents in various ways. My favorite, and for my money the easiest, is to latch onto a pylon or even the ground and use your rope to clothesline the guy.
Then, when he's on the ground, pick him up with a rope and just knock him about till he's dead. You can also just crash into people to knock them off their bikes, or hook ropes together between pylons to make a sort of wall for them to crash into. The bombs aren't much use. You can pick them up and throw them, but they're tough to aim and you're as likely to kill yourself as the other guy.
Races I didn't like one bit. You just fly through a series of posts like slalom of sorts and it's pretty difficult and doesn't have the excitement that the battle mode has. I barely touched it and I doubt you will
either.
The soccer game is a sort of hit and miss thing. Some people love it; most could take it or leave it. You have 8 balls and 4 goals. You pick up the balls with your ropes, throw them into the goals. I haven't spent much time on this mode either, mostly due to the lack of people to play it with. A major criticism is the restriction of the time limit. This adds a bit of pace and energy to the battle mode, but in the soccer game it's just restrictive.
Well, it was good for 1996, but it really doesn't matter one bit how pixilated it is when the game-play is this exceptional. Because of the game-play, it is a game that will stand the test of time, which for many people is just a test of graphics.
On the version i have the music has been cut out, but supposedly the original version had one of the best soundtracks ever. The voices and sounds of the rockets etc. are a little annoying, but tolerable. Like graphics though, you won't really care.
It’s a 9 / 10 if not more. It’s just a fantastic game all around. With infinite replay ability and short, sharp games, it's an easy way to procrastinate for 5 minutes or kill an afternoon with nothing better to do, as I have just done.
