Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy

Rating ESRB: Everyone Genre adventure Publisher Natsume External Links Official Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy Website

Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy can aptly be described as being a game that is "rough." And I am not just saying that as a way of having a kitschy opening sentence. I am saying that because it's a game that can easily frustrate the player. Whether it is due to the sub par graphics or the at times frustrating nature of the controls, Ruff Trigger is a game probably best enjoyed while under the influence of some mood-altering drug.

The game play in Ruff Trigger is eerily similar to that the more popular and superior PS2 title, Ratchet and Clank. Traveling around the planet of Endust, you play as the oh-so-cleverly named dog bounty hunter Ruff Trigger (get it, he's a dog and his name is Ruff!) collecting Piglots (weird Neopet looking creatures) and Tykels (money) while fending off giant spiders, sentry guards, and other baddies. As the game progresses, the challenges really don't increase in difficulty. Rather than taking three shots to kill off an enemy, the enemies only get stronger, requiring a few more blasts from your plasma gun to defeat them.

The graphics in Ruff Trigger are rather hit or miss. Some of the enemies you encounter look clunky and can even at times appear slightly pixilated if you are looking at them from a distance. But watching Ruff move and leap around the screen is nothing short of watching good, fluid animations.

The music, or really the lack there of, does not help to sell Ruff Trigger. The levels are more comprised of ambient noises and the sounds of your surroundings than any real soundtrack. You can occasionally hear faint, generic electronic music playing, but more times than not the games' soundtrack largely weighs on wacky "bonk" and "blip" noises. The voice acting found in Ruff Trigger is also nothing to really write home about. While the voices are intended to be goofy (and succeed at it), they grow tiresome by about the fifth cut scene.

What really bogs the game down more than anything are its (at times) shoddy controls. Walking around the large, non-linear levels is easy enough, but occasionally you encounter problems when trying to reach platforms. The jumping system can become frustrating, especially when trying to reach a platform that is free floating or one that is surrounded by lava. If you do not time your jumps just right, you could end up suffering a fiery fate.

And then there are the aim controls. Typically to aim and lock on to an opponent, it requires no more than the pressing and holding of on button. Well in the land of Ruff Trigger, it takes two buttons being held down to aim and lock onto an adversary. At first, it seems like something that just takes a while to get used to, but as the game progresses, you find yourself fumbling all over the controller. It's not easy to press and hold L1 and R1 while pressing X to fire your weapon, while still trying to move the analog stick back and forth to avoid incoming enemy fire.

Despite all the control issues, Ruff Trigger does succeed in offering up a rather decent (and easy) gaming experience for younger players. The variety of levels in the game, from action packed shootouts to beat-the-clock motorcycle races, will keep younger crowds entertained for hours.