Barrage

From the moment you fire up the CD, Activision's new 3D shooter Barrage assaults your senses and numbs your mind. In fact, it does most of the things you'd expect from an arcade shoot-'em-up.

From the moment you fire up the CD, Activision's new 3D shooter Barrage assaults your senses and numbs your mind. In fact, it does most of the things you'd expect from an arcade shoot-'em-up. But while it boasts impressive 3D graphics and novel gameplay twists, the game still suffers from one serious drawback: the ride may be thrilling, but it's too damn short.

Developed by Mango Grits (who get full style points for their name), Barrage is very similar to Rage's Incoming in both gameplay and premise. You control a heavily armed hovercraft that can fly and maneuver with the agility of a helicopter or go underwater and become a fast attack submarine. You'd best develop an appreciation for this baby's versatility because, unlike Incoming, you won't have an opportunity to fly or drive anything else in the game.

Barrage comprises five different levels which, in order, are Prairie, Tunnel, Canyon, Chicago, and Ocean. Each environment is unique in design, and you'll experience radically different scenery and mission parameters as you progress. As with most action shooters, there's a very simple strategy for each level-keep your finger on the fire button and blast everything you see. You can't upgrade or replace your craft in Barrage, but you do amass weapon upgrades as you move up through each stage, and each of these is critical to success in the subsequent environments.

Barrage's unexpected twists form some of the most entertaining aspects of gameplay. In addition to blasting away at everything that moves, you'll be called upon to maneuver your (temporarily) rocket-boosted craft through a winding, narrow tunnel at high speed or locate rogue police units hiding in the busy streets of Chicago. Every stage provides you with a set time limit, but extra minutes can be earned by collecting hourglass-shaped bonuses sprinkled throughout each environment. Mission goals aren't always clearly explained, but you'll eventually learn from your failures what needs to be done.

Each of the five levels must be completed successfully in turn before the next in the sequence is unlocked, and this illustrates the game's biggest weakness: once you've advanced through all the scenarios at the Easy skill level (which only takes an evening or two), your only replay options are to do it all over again at Medium or Hard settings. Unless you harbor a masochistic desire to spend 20 or 30 hours beating the game's tricky upper levels at the highest difficulty setting, the core solo-play component of Barrage doesn't really have enough gas to remain on your hard drive for more than a week or two. By contrast, the game's multiplayer options are considerably more diverse, offering full support for 2-player serial/modem, 8-player LAN/Internet as well as projected online play with HEAT.net, Mplayer, and Zone.

Barrage's graphics-which require 3D acceleration-are definitely one of the game's better features. Though not as spectacular as those in Incoming, they're still of coin-op quality and succeed in giving the game an immersive and absorbing feel. Unfortunately, no external views of your craft are offered, and the simplistic HUD view can be a little disorienting.

Barrage may not advance the 3D-shooter genre by any significant degree, but it does offer some original gameplay packaged in an attractive visual environment. It's just too bad that the experience ends around the same time as you manage to get your seat belt fastened.

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