The Beauty of Some Video Game Titles Is Only Skin-Deep

By AARON CURTISS

March 22, 1999 12 AM PT

It’s a pity when the best thing about a video game is its name. Three recent titles win my vote for great names, but only one is worth playing--and even then it takes a while to warm up to.

“Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now,” “Sin” and “Wargasm” all boast titles that beg to be picked up. They’re a marketing manager’s dream. Too bad “Carmageddon 2” and “Sin” are a player’s nightmare. “Wargasm” isn’t half bad, but its controls and interface take practice.

Surely these are the end times, as the name “Carmageddon” suggests. Like the original game, the point of this thoroughly disgusting sequel is to rack up points by mowing down pedestrians and smashing into other drivers. Yes, players score by running over unarmed human beings in the streets, on sidewalks, in the park, at the hospital--hey, wherever the victims are dumb enough to be.

Extra points accrue to players who demonstrate a particular flair for committing murder with a car--such as when a jaywalker’s lifeless body spins madly through the air from the force of impact. This is not peripheral action. This is the game.

The Web site for “Carmageddon 2” boasts of some of the game’s selling features. For instance, pedestrians “run away, beg for mercy and . . . have detachable heads and limbs.” That’s right, players get to watch their fellow humans suffer. And when killing people gets old, players can aim for dogs, sheep, deer, penguins.

I am definitely not a prude when it comes to video games and violence. Few things are more fun than stalking monsters or zombies in a gory shooter. But there are limits. “Carmageddon 2” crosses them. Yes, I know this is supposed to be dark humor. Yes, I know it’s just a game. But it’s a game that revels in the painful and public deaths of innocents--from office workers and police officers to janitors and lumberjacks.

Technically, “Carmageddon 2” delivers. With more than 30 courses and 40 vehicles, there’s a wide range of potential action. The soundtrack, with music by Iron Maiden, is second to none. Were “Carmageddon 2” just a racer in which players could smash into other cars and bust up a few city blocks, it would be great.

Sadly, though, it celebrates violence for its own sake.

“Carmageddon 2” requires a Pentium 200 with at least 16 megabytes of RAM and 200mb of available hard drive space.

‘Sin’

By any other name, would “Sin” stink as bad? I think so.

Wrapped beneath a thousand layers of attitude and style is a humdrum first-person shooter. Players are John Blade, a tough-guy cop with dreadlocks and shades. There’s a story at the heart of “Sin,” and that’s supposed to make the game something more than what it is--a bloody shooter that has its moments.

Using the Quake II game engine, “Sin” spits out levels that are big and interactive. Civilians get in the way of all sorts of thugs, and players are wise to protect them at all costs. None of the bad guys die easily--but when they do, it’s in all sorts of nasty and graphic ways.

For first-person shooter fans, “Sin” has moments of brilliance. Varied action and play-based outcomes make the game a little different every time. But it may be tough to play “Sin” more than once given the number of technical problems that plague it.

The game’s bugs are notorious. Levels can take forever to load. Glitches abound. Activision, the game’s publisher, offers a free patch at its Web site, but shouldn’t these sorts of problems get hammered out by the company during testing? Shifting the time and effort to customers can’t be good for public relations. Sometimes that’s a worse sin than putting out a crummy game.

“Sin” requires a Pentium 166 with at least 32 megabytes of RAM. Activision suggests playing it on a Pentium 200 with at least 64mb of RAM for better performance. I played on a Pentium II 333 with 64mb of RAM and a graphics card, and it still ran like molasses.

‘Wargasm’

Once players master the sometimes awkward controls, “Wargasm” can be as good as the name implies--mixing a great story with top-notch action and strategy.

By 2025, the nations of the world have understood the futility of traditional warfare and signed a treaty banning conventional fighting. Instead, international disputes are settled electronically with realistic war simulations. The victors then take over the banks and governments of the defeated countries. Problem: Hackers have infested the system and are wreaking havoc for their personal gain.

Mixing the elements of good strategy with first-rate action, “Wargasm” allows players to plan their campaigns and then execute them from behind the controls of a tank, the stick of a chopper or the barrel of a rifle.

Action unfolds in beautiful environments. The sky is gorgeous. Everything moves as it should.

“Wargasm” requires a graphics accelerator card.

Times staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games every Monday in The Cutting Edge. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss @latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Essentials

Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now

Platform: PC

Publisher: Interplay

ESRB* rating: Mature

Price: $39.95

Bottom line: The same, but more

Sin

Platform: PC

Publisher: Activision

ESRB rating: Mature