Outlander

The world is in total shambles. All law and order has been eliminated and only the outlaws rule, or so they think . . . The Outlander is set to clean up the town! Driving in his souped-up car, he can blow away the baddies on their bikes with his built-in machine guns.

When the action takes to the streets, however, the only form of protection is his trusty shotgun to lay waste to the biker clans.

Outlander blends a mundane side-view beat-em-up with an action- packed, road-blasting car war. The result is a good Genesis game, but keep your doors locked.

Roads of thunder

Hellacious driving is this game's forte. Good-looking, first-person game play puts you behind the wheel of a V-8 hot rod. You race over majorly meanspirited, two- lane blacktop through 28 wasted Regions of the Australian outback on your way to rescue a hostage scientist, who holds the key to reviving Earth's radiation-scarred civilization.

The merciless bad guys attack you from five directions at once (front, back, either side, and above). They ride motorcycles, supercharged jalopies, and auto-gyro helicopters. You ram the creeps, or gun them down with machine guns and missiles. You can also blast cycle freaks with a bitchin' first-person, over-the-shotgun-barrel view out of your side window.

You must leave your car to find such critical supplies as gas and ammo. Here, unfortunately, the limited, stiff-moving, side-view fighting clunks the game into low gear.

The game's controls do the job, but sometimes they feel mushy and unresponsive. Your machine guns, for example, keep blasting even after you've released the trigger.

Outlander looks and sounds good. The graphics are outlandish, especially those from inside the car. The sound effects are adequate, and the hard- charging music, though repetitive, rocks steady.

Apocalypse When?

Outlander's look and attitude are straight out of The Road Warrior. If you dig that flick, or fancy fighting on four wheels, burn some rubber here.

You take the high land, I'll take the out land and I'll run over the pedestrians before ya.

You're on a one-player hunt for Dr. Beaumont, the creator of a Water Synthesizer that can produce water in barren lands. Jump behind the wheel of a car that's equipped with a massive arsenal to take on post apocalyptic punks. Until you hit the town, your view of the action is from behind-the-wheel. Once in the town, you climb out of the car for a little side- scrolling action with a shotgun and your fists. Pick up vital supplies and use the onscreen map to track your progress as you search for the Doctor.

Outlander's the name and all out highway terror is the game! It's 108 years after the Apocalypse. The world is a barren wasteland whose only hope is the Water Synthesizer, an invention that promises to revitalize the parched landscape. Unfortunately, Dr. Beaumont, creator of the synthesizer, is being held captive deep in the Australian Wasteland. As a mercenary hired by the United Nations, your job is to rescue the Doctor so that he can save the world.

Highway to Hell

Outlander is a one-player Mad Max-style car game that mixes a first-person- perspective, road warrior driving and side-view, walk-don't-run, shoot-em-up action. It's a great concept for a game, and the shoot-to-thrill game play is fun, despite a few control hang-ups.

You start out behind the wheel of a car. The forward-scrolling, out-the-wind- shield look paints a nice 3-D perspective on the action, which takes you from one meager outpost of civilization to another. As you cruise the roads, Molotov-tossing biker dudes and other assorted outback scum try to take you out. To survive, you must avoid road barriers and knock off bad guys by blowing them out of their motorcycle boots or running them down like traffic cones.

Your car comes equipped with a hood-mounted machine gun, and you're equipped with a shotgun, which you use to blast bikers foolish enough to get in your way. You aim the shotgun out of either side window via a slick on-screen window that also enables you to watch the road ahead.

Although blowing away the bad guys makes for big fun, controlling your vehicle is harder to learn than driving a stick, since you have to use every SNES controller button.

When you reach a town, you climb out of your car on a side-scrolling search for vital supplies. You punch, kick, and shotgun your way through the town goons and pick up ammo, food, and fuel left in your victims' wake.

Oddly enough, Outlander's slow speed and clunky controls do not detract from its Fun Factor. There's enough challenge to keep even the most jaded driver going, and there's something to be said for the perverse thrill of wiping people out on the open road. Haven't you always wanted to be the Car-Key de Sade? Outlander is the answer to your freeway fantasies.

The graphics in this game are good, but not spectacular, especially in the side- scrolling areas where the sprites are small. The in-the-car perspectives are nicely drawn, even if they aren't innovative. You'll enjoy the nice, catchy Down Under disco tunes and realistic sound effects, like the grunts enemies make when they bang into your car.