When it comes to vehicular combat, the late 90s had no shortage of contenders. Twisted Metal may have taken the spotlight, but Vigilante 8 carved its own groove with a 70s setting, chunky firepower, and a sense of style that made it stand out. Its sequel, Vigilante 8: 2nd Offence, hit consoles in 1999 and decided to double down on the madness, adding more cars, more weapons, and even time travel.
The story is every bit as wild as the gameplay. The Coyotes, a band of mercenary drivers, return under the leadership of Slick Clyde—a former Vigilante who’s gone rogue. Clyde has travelled back in time to sabotage the American oil industry before it can threaten his future empire. Think Terminator, but on wheels. The Vigilantes themselves are reeling after their leader Convoy is killed early on, but they regroup to fight back, and maybe steal that time machine while they’re at it. Add in a bunch of misfits with their own motives, and you’ve got a bizarre but entertaining backdrop to the car-smashing chaos.
Gameplay sticks to the formula of the original, but with some smart upgrades. You’ve still got a roster of unique characters with themed vehicles, everything from a stunt motorcycle team to a garbage truck, lunar rover, and classic muscle cars. Each driver comes with their own special attack, some devastating, some a little underwhelming, but all entertaining.
Power-ups are scattered around each arena, offering weapons, shields, and repairs. The big new twist is vehicle modifications: grab the right icon and suddenly your car has skis for icy maps, a propeller for watery stages, or hover jets that make you feel like you’ve borrowed Doc Brown’s DeLorean. It adds variety and keeps matches from feeling too repetitive.
The arenas themselves are a step up from the first game, with more diverse layouts and objectives. While you can often brute-force your way through by simply destroying enemies, the extra wrinkles give missions more replay value. Progressing through the campaign unlocks additional characters, each with their own cutscenes and story beats, which helps flesh out the eccentric cast.
Visually, 2nd Offence is a definite improvement over its predecessor. Vehicles have more personality, and once you power them up they gain new skins that look great for the era. Some arenas suffer from a drab colour palette, but the overall presentation is strong. The soundtrack is another highlight, filled with funky, era-appropriate tracks that keep the energy high. Better yet, you can choose your favourite tune to blast while you unload missiles and machine gun fire.
What makes Vigilante 8: 2nd Offence shine is how it builds on the solid foundation of the original. It doesn’t reinvent the formula, but it smooths out the rough edges, adds more variety, and gives players new toys to experiment with. It’s one of those rare sequels that really does improve on almost every aspect of the first game—and for fans of vehicular combat, it’s still worth taking for a spin today.