0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Assault Rigs

   

Assault Rigs is a 1^st and 3^rd person action tank shooter set in a dark cyberpunk future, the game was developed and published by British studio and Wipeout creators Psygnosis. The game would release worldwide in 1996, first in North America and Europe in the February and then in October of 1996 in Japan.

In addition to the Playstation release the game would release on MS-DOS this version would have multiplayer with either series link play for 2 players or via network play for up to 8 player multiplayer games, the Playstation version of the game also makes up of the Link Cable for connecting two Playstations together.

The Sega Saturn also saw a released of the game in Japan, with the game being identical to the Playstation version with the exception of the levels being renamed, Perfect Entertainment would handle the development of the Saturn version of the game it would release on the 11th of September 1997.

The player takes control of a virtual tank called a Rig and must negotiate their way through the 42 levels, visually the game seems to take several cues from Tron with the wire framed virtual world that the World Net Championships takes place.

The aim of each level is not to race but destroy your opponents Rigs while also navigating your way around the maze like levels, using jumps, elevators and moveable blocks the game also has power ups to aid you against the other Rig pilots.

Before we look closer at the games power ups lets first look a the weapons which can be picked up from floating blue cubes on the battlefield, the basic ammo your tank uses called standard ammo this ammunition is unlimited, next you have bounce ammo this comes in rounds of 30 and as you can imagine this ammo bounced off the walls of the level, these can bounce back however so there is a risk/reward with this ammo.

Shattershells which break open when they hit the wall these work just like cluster bombs once broken they release five smaller bullets, they player also has two types of missile they can use the first is the classic homing missile which comes in rounds of 6 and will lock on to the nearest enemy, the second type is a guided missile which upon firing the player will gain control of and is able to guide to the desired target.

Laser ammo which works as a more powerful standard ammo this ammo is not unlimited however and comes In rounds of 15 the ammo has a good range on it though, the final weapon is the mini gun which comes in round of 250, works as a quick fire standard ammo which is incredibly powerful at short distances.

There are a total of six power ups available the first is a drop and forget mine, like ordinary mines that appear in the games levels but you decided where to place them. A temporary shield can be deployed when picking up the shield deck with a red shield appearing around the players Rig when active.

Warp Deck which transports the player to a random point in the arena, one of the most useful is the push block deck which turns your rig into a push block making enemies unaware where you are this is very good for setting up ambushes, the push block will disappear once you fire though.

A couple of turrets are also deployable via picks ups the first is an auto turret which only works on Rigs that have a moveable turret, this auto turret will fire automatically at the closest enemy, the final power up is the sentry gun pods, these are dropped from the back of your rig and will shoot anything that comes into range including your own rig.

In the not too distant future physical sports have been replaced by a ultra violent virtual contest that supports a major gambling industry and the vast funds of major corporations. The player acts as a jockey for a virtual tank called a rig and you must navigate your way through maze like arenas, your only goal is to win and make your sponsor ZamCam Inc the biggest sponsor in the World Net Championship.

Critically Assault Rigs did very well receiving two review scores in the 90s a good 80 review and several above average review scores, with a low of 60 received for the game from two reviewers, as usual though we will start with the best which is a 92 from GameFan Magazine.

GameFan Magazine called Assault Rigs another original and high quality title for the Sony 32-bitter by this british software house, the review finding the only way to describe the game as a thinking man’s Battlezone with arcade quality graphics and gameplay.

The reviewer went on to praise the 3D graphics running at 60fps, the great controls, sound effects and the games music which they called music from Heaven, they also prised the intelligent layouts of the playing fields, multiple views and large number of levels.

Electric Playground were equally full of praise in their review which they scored at a 90/100 saying the game is already racing for Electric Playgrounds game of the year, they had the following to say Assault Rigs like the previous years Wipeout with has proven to be completely addictive, incredibly rich and insanely enjoyable, three things that we'll be measuring Psygnosis' games by from here on in.

Video Games & Computer Entertainment were up next with their 80/100 review who also saw the comparison to the Atari 2600 game Battlezone, they found the scrolling in the game to be top notch, but the game was not without issues for them, they felt the controls could have been better with the tanks needing to feel heavier according to the reviewer.

A couple of above average 78 are next up Game Players up first who concluded that Assault Rigs is not an over the edge gaming experience but called it pretty good fun. While German publication Mega Fun with the game making a great impression on the reviewer praising the flawless programming and nice gameplay, they also praised the games textures and level designs as well as the design of the tanks, the review also getting a Tron vibe from the game.

Not that they did not have criticism, the review felt that the developers could have teased out some improvement in the sound department, they were also critical of what they called the superfluous 2 player mode with most not having a link cable to use this mode.

Down to the bottom end of the review scale we find two 60 rated reviews the first comes from IGN, who concluded that Assault Rigs never really delivers, they did praise the music as been cool as well as the Tron aesthetic is neat, they concluded with, but after awhile you find yourself longing for some light-cycles or luminescent frisbees to throw around. Get it if you want to complete your Synopsis collection, but other than that, it's strictly a renter.

All Game Guide were the other 60 rated review they were critical of the lack of replayability, the review saying they had competed the game in a few days, with the review saying there is not much to see once you have completed it, they concluded the game is worth a rental and you will have fun in your playthrough but not enough to own the game.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude who will give you $5 if you are looking to trade in your copy of Assault Rigs, if on the other hand you are looking to buy a copy of the game you will be looking at a $14 outlay for a copy form Gamedude.

Retrogames.co.uk up next who don’t currently have the game listed so moving quickly on to eStarland.com who do have the game listed however currently the game is out of stock. The game has a usual price of between $6.33 and $11.50, eStarland offer a trade in for the game and will pay up to $3.50 for a copy of the game.

This price will fluctuate depending on the completeness of your copy if you are missing either the manual or case they will pay up to $3.15 for your copy, if on the other hand you are missing both the case and manual they will only offer $1.58 for your copy of the game.

Lastly on to Amazon.com where the North American version of the game is limited, this game also suffers from the disc only syndrome that many PS1 games suffer with all the cheapest copies available either being disc only or missing some component. If you are only wanting a disc only copy a good quality one can be picked up for around $10.

If however you want a complete copy of the game you will be looking at a minimum spend of $29.53 for a good quality copy of the game, that price is with the shipping costs added in. If you are wanting a better quality used copy very good conditions ones start from $30 once shipping has been added in.

Like new copies take a huge jump up in price with currently just one on the market, this is for a long box copy of the game and is priced at $118.76 once shipping costs have been added in, at the time of writing this there are no new copies of the North American version available.

Also on Amazon.com is the Japanese version of the game with a better supply of this than the North American release, and much more reasonably priced with a good or very good condition and complete copy available for around the $9 to $14 mark.

The majority of copies currently available for the Japanese import are new copies which are significantly cheaper than a like new used copy of the North American version, while still pretty prices one can be picked up for $60.46 this comes with free shipping as do all new copies barring one, prices for a new copy of the Japanese import reach a high of $76.23.

Written by

P J Gibbon