‘Interstate 82’ Gives Road Warriors a Whole Lot of Bang for Their Buck

The easiest way to understand “Interstate 82” is to imagine “The Road Warrior” set in the American Southwest in the early 1980s, with Samuel L. Jackson dressed in a “Miami Vice” suit playing the lead.

Got it?

This sequel to “Interstate 76,” the mother of all highway combat games, takes road rage to outrageous new levels as players slip behind the wheel of some “bad-ass cars” outfitted with some “big-ass guns.” Their words, not mine.

In any case, “Interstate 82” lets players do all the things they dream of doing as they creep toward work on the 405. Forget cup holders, CD changers and seat warmers; the muscly cars in “Interstate 82” come equipped with roof-mounted mortars, under-bumper machine guns and satellite-guided lasers.

The stated goal of “Interstate 82” is to find Groove Champion, and the cinematics between each level tell a tale laced with attitude and full of clothes that no one who was alive in 1982 would ever admit having worn. But the story is secondary.

The real thrill of “Interstate 82” lies in screaming around Las Vegas and the surrounding desert blowing things up. Whether against computer opponents or real people connected over a local area network or the Internet, players will find plenty to keep them happy.

Cars move with realistic physics through detailed environments that seem to go on forever.

The keyboard control takes a little getting used to, especially because the number of distinct commands in “Interstate 82” ranks right up there with sophisticated flight simulators. Each of four views is assigned its own key. Targeting friends and targeting enemies each use a distinct key. You get the idea. I found play much smoother and more enjoyable with a joy pad.

Overall, though, “Interstate 82” pumps out a steady stream of thrills.

“Interstate 82” requires a Pentium 233 with 32 megabytes of RAM, 400 mb of available hard-disk space and a 3-D accelerator.

“Tomorrow Never Dies”

If ever a movie franchise lent itself to becoming a video game, it’s the James Bond series. Watching a Bond flick is already like watching a big, flashy video game. And “Goldeneye” for Nintendo 64 proved that it’s as much fun to be Bond as it is to watch him.

“Tomorrow Never Dies” for Sony PlayStation promises all the action of “Goldeneye” plus all the stealthy tactics of “Mission: Impossible.” Had “Tomorrow Never Dies” lived up to that promise, it would have been a killer title. But it doesn’t.

Instead, players get a game that in too many respects is just one level below where it ought to be. Control is close, but not dead-on. Weaponry is neat, but nothing new. The missions are based on the movie, but don’t have much excitement.

And even though Bond breaks out of the third-person shooting mode for some neat driving and skiing sequences, the action is predictable and familiar. It’s cool, but not cool enough to warrant spending much time with. It could use a little more time in Q’s workshop.

“Evolution: The World of Sacred

Device”

Sega Dreamcast hosts a lot of good games. “Evolution: The World of Sacred Device” is not one of them. That’s too bad, because Dreamcast deserves a quality game that involves more than fighting, driving, flying or blowing stuff up.

The first role-playing game for Dreamcast, “Evolution” had a lot in its corner from the start. The machine’s graphics capabilities are phenomenal, and the GD-ROM format, which fits a gigabyte’s worth on information on a single disc, permits sprawling games.

“Evolution” does boast some impressive graphics, and it does go on for a long time. But that’s not necessarily a good thing because the technical achievement cannot cover a weak story and plodding game play.

The story follows Mag Launcher, the sole descendant of a family of treasure-seeking adventurers. Like all adventurers in the game, Mag uses a device called a Cyframe, which is basically a weapon built onto the body. Mag’s is a giant fist. Others use a bazooka or a sword.

The story starts with Mag trying to get out of debt after his parents disappear. He’s in competition with another adventurer, Chain Gun, for paid assignments from the Society, a sort of National Geographic for the fantasy world.

Mag and Chain explore dungeons and tunnels that are randomly generated by Dreamcast, which makes each exploration fresh. But there’s not a lot to do in these tunnels except battle giant bugs and rabid gophers. The combat interface is standard turn-based adventure fare, and it gets old fast.

Outside the tunnels, the characters have more mobility. But that doesn’t make it interesting.

Visually, “Evolution” is a gem. The villages are beautiful, and the interiors of buildings look great. “Evolution” demonstrates that Dreamcast can host a role-playing game. Now we just need to wait for a good one.

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Aaron Curtiss, formerly a Times editorial writer, is participating in a management training program, in which he serves as assistant to the senior vice president of advertising. He has no financial dealings with the companies he covers. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.