This is a unique game.  You control a small hover tank like in Battle
sport, but you're not battling another hover tank.  Instead you're
battling against a whole array of bizarre enemies in the air and on
the ground like in Jumping Flash.  There are nasty, clawed teddy bears
(called Shreddy Bears) and garbage dumpsters with spider-like legs to
name just a few of the foes.  Unlike JF, these enemies are not cutesy.
They're just strange.  The objective of the game is to find and make
contact with the four "Orb-ids" that are hidden throughout each level.
These are glowing balls of energy that are highly protected by big,
swinging fan blades and other nasties.  There are lots pf powerups
scattered about to increase the strength of your hover tank (called a
slamjet in the game).  The most important are power crystals that
attach to the back of the slamjet.  It is essential to collect these,
but they can only be gathered in a certain order.  You can't get a red
one before getting the white one, for example.  To complicate things,
there are these flying hooks that buzz around above you and snag the
power crystals from the back of your slamjet.

The game takes place in a virtual world, which explains all the
bizarre creatures.  As you control your slamjet, you are under
constant attack by all the enemies.  It's important to keep moving and
to keep firing your weapon.  The gameplay can get rather intense since
you have to simultaneously stear the slamjet, look for powerups,
search for the Orb-ids, and defend yourself.

The graphics in the game are excellent.  Very crisp and clean, not
grainy at all.  The frame rate is also very good.  The cover claims 60
fps.  I don't know if that is true, but the action is very fast
indeed.  I saw absolutely no slowdown and the pop-up in the realtime
3D world was almost unnoticeable since the draw in took place way off
towards the horizon.  I have the impression that this game was
designed specifically for the Playstation since it seems to exploit
its hardware to the fullest.

Sound is good with music composed by the group, God lives underwater -
who I've never heard (I don't watch MTV).  The game includes three
music videos by this group as well, which can be accessed from the
main menu.

Control is also quite good, although since you are controlling a
hovering vehicle, you can't stop and turn as quickly as you like and
frequently overshoot the point you want to reach.  There's a learning
curve, but not a steep one, when it come to controlling your slamjet.

Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised by this game, although I still
haven't decided if I like it.  I'm still learning how to play.  It's
certainly a different and interesting game and I think Viacom (the
company that owns MTV) deserves credit for developing an original
concept instead of yet another fighting game like everyone else.  We
need the kind of variety this game offers, so I think this game is
definetely worth checking out.  You might love it, but even if you
don't, you'll enjoy finding out that you don't love it.

SteveK