Underrated game of 2003: Starsky and Hutch – PlayStation 2
Snobbery rules as genre-creating brilliance overlooked
You have played Driver, and you probably loved it. Arguably, Driver blazed the trail followed by the big ugly monster that is Grand Theft Auto 3 and mission-based driving games featuring a heavy angle on crime are pure gold. Just ask Activision.
So Empire Interactive, by no means the world’s most exciting publisher, announces that it has the rights to develop and publish games from the classic 70’s TV smash Starsky and Hutch. It’s a mission-based driving game, the haute couture in PlayStation fashion.
And it sold rather well, received good press reaction, due in no small part to a fierce PR campaign which saw, amongst an array of other things, a world record breaking cardboard box sculpture in the shape of the bight red Ford Gran Torino.
Starsky and Hutch can be played in two very different ways, both equally brilliant. Single player gaming sees one player control both the driving and the shooting, but more on that, much more, in a moment. Two player action can be played with one player driving, using a force-feedback steering wheel, and one shooting, using a lightgun.
When two players at going at it with their specific peripherals, a rare feeling of gaming purity descends on the proceedings. Remember when you first played Operation Wolf or Outrun or Crazy Taxi? The feeling that you are enjoying yourself, enjoying gaming in its purest form? That oh-so rare feeling will captivate you, engulf you. On this level, S&H is amazing and a must-own game.
Single player mode blows the lid off the mission-based driving genre, simply in terms of the completely unique play mechanic underpinning the action. As you drive, your sights auto-target on the enemy vehicles. However, you must point the front of the car at your opponent to increase damage. This means that you are forced to balance your driving with targeting. Sounds simple? It’s not. It’s unbelievably demanding and tricky, yet all the while the game maintains a pick-up-and-play feel.
Games like Starsky and Hutch, when viewed from an ‘industry insider’ perspective, hammer home just how lazy and spoon-fed magazine reviewers in the UK have become. Because it’s a licensed game, from Empire, without the street-cred of Rockstar, they decide well before playing that they are going to give it six, maybe seven out of ten. Simply because you as the reader expects it. Why rock the boat for the sake of a single game?
Go out and buy Starsky and Hutch, available for GameCube, PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2. It will exceed your expectations ten times over and deliver hundreds of hours of gaming bliss.
So Empire Interactive, by no means the world’s most exciting publisher, announces that it has the rights to develop and publish games from the classic 70’s TV smash Starsky and Hutch. It’s a mission-based driving game, the haute couture in PlayStation fashion.
And it sold rather well, received good press reaction, due in no small part to a fierce PR campaign which saw, amongst an array of other things, a world record breaking cardboard box sculpture in the shape of the bight red Ford Gran Torino.
Starsky and Hutch can be played in two very different ways, both equally brilliant. Single player gaming sees one player control both the driving and the shooting, but more on that, much more, in a moment. Two player action can be played with one player driving, using a force-feedback steering wheel, and one shooting, using a lightgun.
When two players at going at it with their specific peripherals, a rare feeling of gaming purity descends on the proceedings. Remember when you first played Operation Wolf or Outrun or Crazy Taxi? The feeling that you are enjoying yourself, enjoying gaming in its purest form? That oh-so rare feeling will captivate you, engulf you. On this level, S&H is amazing and a must-own game.
Single player mode blows the lid off the mission-based driving genre, simply in terms of the completely unique play mechanic underpinning the action. As you drive, your sights auto-target on the enemy vehicles. However, you must point the front of the car at your opponent to increase damage. This means that you are forced to balance your driving with targeting. Sounds simple? It’s not. It’s unbelievably demanding and tricky, yet all the while the game maintains a pick-up-and-play feel.
Games like Starsky and Hutch, when viewed from an ‘industry insider’ perspective, hammer home just how lazy and spoon-fed magazine reviewers in the UK have become. Because it’s a licensed game, from Empire, without the street-cred of Rockstar, they decide well before playing that they are going to give it six, maybe seven out of ten. Simply because you as the reader expects it. Why rock the boat for the sake of a single game?
Go out and buy Starsky and Hutch, available for GameCube, PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2. It will exceed your expectations ten times over and deliver hundreds of hours of gaming bliss.
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