Page created 02 Oct 98. Updated 03 Dec 98. NEW Invulnerability code! See below
Rogue Trip seems designed to use as much immature and semi-offensive humor as possible. It's not a bad little game, either.
RT is very much like Twisted Metal (having been done by the same team) and most of the commands are the same -- but not all. It does bring up some questions, like "Why didn't they import all the same commands?" Unlike TM2's fairly straightforward specials like Napalm, Ice and Shield, all of which could be accessed by using the D-pad, RT's variants of these (Stun, Cash Suck, etc.) require use of the Triangle key as well as the D-pad. It's a bit annoying, especially as you can't keep holding down the D-pad to finish the maneuver properly.
On the other hand, Jump is much easier to use (R1+L1) and there's actually good reasons to use it, such as in Area 51 level when you're trying to get off the moon.
The drivers are the usual outrageous lot you'd never see outside a videogame. The semi truck from TM1 is back under as a giant fuel tanker, and Ozone and his ambulance are just Outlaw-2 with a new outfit, so to speak.
One new thing is the addition of the cash-carrying tourists. These are reminiscent of Critical Depth's energy pods, except you don't get special upgrades for tourists and there's only one of 'em per level. Tourists give you cash for carrying them around and for driving them to photo ops. You have to hold still at the photo ops, facing the right direction, so the tourist can get his/her treasured souvenir of this ghastly trip. This gives a sense of mission besides "destroy all enemy vehicles" (something you have to do anyway) and also adds that element of danger (seems like most photo ops are badly positioned for you to defend yourself).
Money and Health
Like Critical Depth, you get only three
lives. Unlike CD and for the better, you can "buy" health anytime
you can afford it, and you can earn extra lives. There are giant
blue Health arches on each level, though some may be easier to find than
others. If you have at least $1000, you can drive through (or sometimes
near -- I'm not sure what the qualifications are) and get healed up.
The Health arches take up to $7000 of your hard-earned cash, and you don't
get the option of only partial health -- well, who'd want to only get a
little healed up? $1000 gets you a "baby" heal (only a few HP needed), while $7000 puts
you back to normal from 1 HP left. The downside, of course, is that everyone else
can use these, too! And the opponents are smarter than TM2's in that
they will use the Health arches.
If you finish a level with at least $30,000, the game automatically deducts $30K and gives you an extra life in exchange. (You get only one extra life per level, so carrying $60K at the end of a level only nets you one extra life plus $30K... which still ain't bad.) Because of this, you'll want to pick up that tourist and hit all the photo ops as fast as you can. Don't forget to also hit every cash icon you can find -- they're only $500 each, but like weapons and health, you just can't have too much, and when you're scrabbling for cash to afford a trip through the Health arch, you'll be happy to run across a couple of those dollar signs. Oh, and while it's heartbreaking to end a level with, say, $29K because you had to use the Health arch -- well, it wasn't all in vain.
Y'see, you carry your money and weapons over to the next level. Of course, every time you die, you lose all your money. You may want to consider restarting the level (if you've saved your game) to avoid losing money, if you happen to die early on.
There are also extra levels like Funtopia, where you can pick up some extra cash and gain an extra life. Lastly, after a while the passenger stops giving you money. If you've already hit all the photo ops, it's okay to lose the passenger to someone else (or nobody) briefly -- as soon as you pick them back up, the meter starts running again!
On early levels like XLAX, destroy everything you can to pick up extra cash. You will eventually run out of planes and trucks, but meanwhile you'll collect a lot of extra dough...
Weapons
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like RT's weapons are cruddier than
TM2's. The machine guns now overheat (boo!) so you can't just park
your finger on the R2 button and forget about it for a while. Most
of the specials don't appear to home in on enemies, and for the life of
me I can't tell if some of them do damage at all. On the good side,
most of them seem to refresh pretty quickly, and in RT's favor there are
heaps of free weapon icons lying around. In particular go
for Stingers and Stalkers. Stingers are the olive drab homers; Stalkers
are boomerang-like flying wedges that more or less home on enemies.
Meteors are great (especially if you can watch 'em from a distance) but don't use them if the enemy is right next to you, or you might get caught in the fallout. If meteors start raining down and you haven't used one, get out of the area fast and jink left and right to dodge them.
The tourist ejectors do minor damage even if another car doesn't carry a tourist, so feel free to use 'em. The Prowler missiles are like those from Critical Depth, except while you're busy fighting the controls and steering your Prowler, other vehicles can beat the crap out of your car. I'd say avoid even picking them up, but if you do, use and dump as fast as possible. The Blaster missiles are like TM2's Power missiles, including lack of homing ability, but they're pretty powerful. Bullets (machine gun upgrades) only last a few seconds, and you still have the overheating element; since you won't see many of these, they shouldn't be a problem. Barrels of TNT are like TM2's Detonators; fire one and it zips into the air like a depth charge from CD, hit the button again and it goes off. If you're in the area, you get smacked too.
Lastly, Scorchers are like TM2's Thumper's firethrower, except you have to hold down the button to get the full use of it. Since every other weapon is a fire-and-forget kind of thing -- push the button and release -- it may take you a while to get used to this.
Red Weapon arches upgrade one weapon you have in residence, for $1000. Is it worth it? You be the judge. Personally, I like to save my cash for extra lives and health -- there's plenty of weapon icons around as is.
At least they put both styles of inventory on screen -- both the "list" and "symbol" formats.
Breaking Things
You can also pick up extra cash by destroying things -- but not just
anything; trees and signposts don't count. To get cash for blowing
things up, aim for big noisy things, like airplanes and monuments.
Stingers and Stalkers will home on overhead air vehicles if no enemies
are in front of you (try it in the Maul level).
Breaking things may also lead to new areas.
Music
The music has much improved, and it sounds like what you'd hear in
a taxi as it takes forever to get somewhere. Someone spent some money
and got the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to do "Rascal King" (BGM for the XLAX
level), which is catchy, but that "Big Daddy" tune playin' in the Maul
just won't get out of my head. "Snake Eyes" was probably meant to
be the same (it's in the Funtopia stage) but it was several games before
I really paid attention to the music in that stage, much less noticed it's
supposed to be an important song (well, important enough to get a mention
in the back of the book).
The Passengers
Boy, can they dodge! These people should be playing pro sports!
You will quickly hate how fast they move and how sharp they turn (lots
sharper than you can). Captain Proton really prances around.
Other than their occasional comments when you take a picture, the passengers
are pretty interchangeable. Oh, and they're all ugly, too. The comments could have used some spicing up -- each passenger gets only two comments/insults.
The Drivers
NEW! Character codes! Use these at the Password screen to unlock hidden characters. Like all of my PSX codes, the keys are: A=Triangle, O=Circle, S=Square, X=X (duh).
As I'd guessed, Goliath is one of the hidden characters, and he does indeed seem to be the "Sweettooth" of
RT so far. Goliath can run over you (he's a steamroller) as his special, and somehow
seems faster and more agile when you have to fight him. And just like Sweettooth in TM2,
you'll end up with a logy barge if you yourself try to drive Goliath. Good luck using him.
Goliath code A, L1, R1, X, L2, L2
Alien Saucer is nifty; you get cutesy "alien spaceship" Jetsons-type sounds when you fly, and a generic homing missile like a stinger for your special. More on flying vehicles in a mo.
Alien Saucer code R1, S, X, X, L2, O
The Helicopter gets the same Stinger-like homing missile special. The Copter has less armor than the Saucer. More on flying vehicles below.
Helicopter code L1, A, R2, A, A, R1
Nightshade is the boss from Neon Nightmare. She's ostensibly a female cyborg security bot. Nightshade handles very well with tight turn radii and a good rate of speed. Her special appears to be twin power missiles that may or may not home (I've seen both examples in play). Because of her size and shape, she can also really ram things well. When she starts taking a lot of damage, the treads fall off, leaving a spiked sphere for a vehicle. Kinda neat, but a little wobbly to drive.
Nightshade code R1, R2, L1, L1, X, O
All four of these characters have the same ending.
Flying Vehicles
Flying vehicles have bennies and flaws unto themselves. On the one hand, when the going gets tough, you can just go skyward to avoid enemies, particularly those with ramming or close-up attacks. In theory you should be able to avoid the falling problems of Hellostone level. There are lots of power-ups that can be reached easily only by air. Plus you get a nice overall view of the playing field, and you can camp big-time.
The downside is that flying vehicles have no brakes. Instead of Up and Down being forward and reverse like in terrestrial vehicles, think Critical Depth's subs; Up and Down now relate to your vehicle's climb/dive angles. To accelerate, press the Square button (you still have to double-press it for turbo). This means angling up for a photo op can be a little challenging; overshoot and you have to circle around instead of just backing up. And don't forget that there's still things in the skies in several levels, including other helicopters and flying saucers.
More Codes! as of 13 Oct 98
Funtopia Level: X O L2 X S L1
Gulch Level: X S O L1 L2 S *or* S S A R1 L1 O
Boss Battle: O R2 R1 S L1 R2 (needs to be re-input after every challenge battle)
The above three codes only work in the 2-4 player Challenge mode.
Double Pickups: L1 L2 O L1 R1 S
Better Armor: R1 A R1 A L1 S
Infinite Turbos: S X O A R1 R2
Infinite Jumps: O S R2 S A R2
I have not tested these.
Still More Codes! as of 03 Dec 98
Enable Cheats Mode: When you start a level (whether a new game or saved game), press L1, R1, R2, and Select at the same time. The text bar at the top should say "Cheats Enabled". You must do this before doing either of the following codes.
Invulnerability: Press L1 + R1 at the same time, then press Up, Down, Left, Right. Text bar should read "Invulnerable Mode On". This will stay on even when the game is saved. If you do it again, it switches invulnerability off.
Hornet's Nest: Have Stinger missiles selected in your weapons bay, then press A, L2, L1, R1, Left, holding each one down as you press it. Hold them until the text bar confirms that it worked.
The designers really worked hard to create different characters for this game... unfortunately, both the cars and the characters have separate sets of names. TM2 kept it simple enough that you identified one name with both the car and driver; here you may end up getting confused (say, between Ratman and Intruder, and they're both the same), not least because instead of a name, you get a popup image of the nearest enemy's picture. This gets old real fast, plus it takes up more of the screen.
Be prepared for cliche dialog and character voices, too. *rolls eyes*
This is only a test... name all the potentially offensive characters! The worse they get, the farther down the list they are... Oh, and if you think they're all really immature, don't yell at me about it. I didn't come up with 'em. If they really burn your toast, go find Singletrac's contact number/site/address and bother them about it.
Pyro
(Necrobot) is the giant fuel tanker (notice the "Shell Oil"-like skull
symbol). The special weapon is a vaporthrower. Pyro handles
about how you'd expect for a tanker. He can also do decent ramming
damage.
Biohazard
(Agent Orange) -- Oh, by the way, you may notice when you play that the
design team was really into puns... Biohazard has "Zoomy Missiles" (sic)
and drives a tank. The missiles do not appear to home,
but there's a bunch of them and they look neat. Probably because
of its low profile, Biohazard handles very well. TM2Think:
Warthog.
Snake Eyes
actually has the same name for both "phases". How this cyber-cowboy
ended up in this game is anyone's guess. Looks like he belongs in
Deadlands or Wasteland or something like that... anyway, his exploding
arrows (they look like big cartoon arrows) do decent damage, he's speedy,
he's not a bad character. He could use some extra armor though. TM2Think: Spectre, without the homing missiles.
Intruder
is better known as Ratman. Between Disney and DC, this character
parodies a lot of ground. He drives a sort of low-budget Batmobile
armed with giant saw blades. These don't home either, which is too
bad, because that means you have to ice... oops, I mean stun your enemies
if you want to do a lot of damage to them. Too often you'll be using
the blades against the scenery. Hey... if Ratman's supposed to be
a hero, how come he's off destroying stuff with the rest of 'em?
Rock 'N Rule
is better known as Elvis D. Kang. Special weapon is a sort of disco
glitter rocket thing (honest). If you think the pic here is bad,
wait'll you see the one in the game. Elvis' special doesn't seem
to do much, although it homes a little bit. It's also really quiet, so that sometimes you'll be hit by his weapon and not have heard it coming.
Then there's Bunny
the former beauty queen in her pink Camaro. This one's kinda strange.
Her special is a set of attack poodles who do home, frighteningly
so, barking all the way. Dodging these critters is a sport in itself and actually can be pretty funny. I think Bunny can be hit by her own dogs, though. Poor vehicular handling, too.
Ozone
is driven by Schiz O'Manic and his feet. The whole shock-treatment/ambulance
shtick seems to be more of an attempt to clone a certain police officer
and her official vehicle and special weapon. TM2Think: Outlaw
2 with a different overlay.
Destroying Angel
aka Sister Mary Lascivious (ugh). She drives the school bus (the rationale being it's a "Sunday School bus" -- I dunno, I never went to Sunday School in a bus...).
The bus is the most massive vehicle in the game, meaning you've got great
ramming potential, but the special -- a ring of light -- is really hard
to use, at least so far. Neat sound effect for it, though.
Gatorbait
-- huh, Jailbait is more like it. Anyway, Daisy May McCoy drives
an airboat-turned-land vehicle (sort of like how Captain Cutlass' surface
ship became a sub in Critical Depth, I guess) and has a trained pack of
attack chickens. Hmm, two sets of attack animals in this game?... To activate the special, you have to have it selected
as your weapon, but instead of firing it, ram someone. Light armor. Since she's called Gatorbait, though, why not have a ramming weapon that's a giant set of gator jaws instead, sort of a cross between CD's Lockjaw and TM2's Mister Slam? That makes more sense than the chickens do.
TM2Think: Grasshopper, complete with jumping.
It took me a while to realize
that Francis "Legs" McGee, ex-wrestler, is called Vermin
because he apparently drives a VW Bug. The special is the "Disrupt-O-Ray"
which either does lots of damage (I've killed a few opponents with two
shots from it) or none (sometimes it doesn't seem to work, and not because
of shields). Vermin has a terrible voice actor and dialog.
The car's reasonably good, though.
It's going to get ugly
from here on... the driver of the Meat Wagon is a
little guy by name of Richard Biggs (think about it...). I am honestly
amazed they were able to get away with the special weapon of the Weeniemobile
-- let's just say it's called the Weenie Whacker for a good reason.
The downside is, it's almost impossible to use effectively against opponents,
just like Ratman's saw blades.
Lastly, here's the man who's caused all these Rogue Trips...
