Video Game / Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense

Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense is the sequel to Vigilante 8 released in 1999.

Slick Clyde, one of the original Vigilantes, has turned evil and gone to work for OMAR. Over the years, he rises through the ranks until he becomes CEO of the company, becoming known as Lord Clyde. However, the U.S is still out of OMAR's reach, which annoys Clyde to no end. So he steals an experimental time machine from Stanford and, along with two subordinates of his, travels back to the '70s to change history, starting with trying to off Convoy. The attack seemingly succeeds, and the Coyotes are re-created again. Convoy's niece Sheila and his widow Houston take up the mantle as the Vigilantes' new leaders to combat them. In the midst of this are the Drifters, who aren't affiliated with either side and just out for themselves.

Included more new areas (as well as the originals you can unlock), characters, cars and weapons, as well as modification pick ups which allow you fly, float on water or add skis for more traction.

---

Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense provides the following tropes:

• And Your Reward Is Clothes: In Second Offense, as you upgrade your character's stats using Salvage points, their car will gain extra parts and equipment depending on the stat you upgrade. (Upgrading acceleration outfits the cars with spoilers and/or a beefier engine, upgrading shield gives them Deflector Shields and/or more intimidating bumper grills and covers, ETC.) Once you upgrade them all to 100, their entire car will be replaced with a tricked out Hot Rod version. Unfortunately the player is unable to revert back to their original chassis once they've upgraded to the hot-rod without ether starting a new save or intentionally losing matches so that they'll lose enough Salvage points to revert back. So if you prefer their default chassis with the extra parts, you have to select one stat to ignore. (Top Speed would be the best choice in this case as it's not only is it a Rare Random Drop, but the only thing it adds to the car is a a new set of tires)
• Bolivian Army Ending: Happens to Chassey Blue and Agent Chase. After Chase quits the Time Police and decides to stay in the 1970's with Chassey, he's declared AWOL and a rogue. Chassey's ending shows her and Chase driving away with a squad of Time Police cars chasing after them...and then that's the last we see of them.
• Dating Catwoman: John Torque and Nina Loco become a downplayed example at the end of Second Offense (or at least implied based on Convoy's ending).
• Deflector Shield: The green shield power-ups from the original have returned. In this game, Dallas, Obake and Clyde gain these for their default chassis by maxing out their Defense stats.
• Drive-In Theater: The Meteor Crater stage in Arizona has one.
• Easter Egg: Ejecting the game disc and putting in the first game will allow you to play the first game's maps.
• Face–Heel Turn: In the sequel, Clyde, via Houston's mind control bracelet, which he found in the men's bathroom of a gas station at the end of the first game. He was a self-absorbed Jerkass who was only helping the Vigilantes for personal glory before that, but this is when he truly turns evil.
• Glass Cannon:
  • The Flying All-Star team arguably has the strongest special attack in the second game. Too bad their car loses health if it is so much as rammed.
  • Obake's vehicle is very similar, given how tiny it is. Just like the Flying All-Star team, her weapon can do quick damage if it connects.
• Heel–Face Turn: Obake works for the Coyotes throughout the whole of the game, but chooses to overthrow Clyde and change the future by removing all the polluting industry and replacing them with green power sources such as solar panels and wind generators.
• Lethal Joke Item:
  • Convoy's special attack is "Rolling Thunder", essentially the blasting of the truck's air horns to knock enemies back. However, it can disable the hover pods, skis, and propellers, and it knocks enemies very far back into other hazards - if you're unlucky, light cars will be thrown nearly clear of the map.
    • In the first game, his special is an improvised explosive device called the Steel Belter, a spare tire laced with TNT that somehow also has homing capabilities.
  • The Garbage Man, who uses the truck's compactor; doesn't have great range, but if it connects, it will do some serious damage, especially for compact cars, which get sent into the back of the truck to be smashed even more by the internal compactor.
  • Molo's special attack returns. Not only does it function the same way with a similar comical fart sound, but its ability to chew through someone's health bar is just as effective.
  • Houston's special attack, which involves using the towing hook on her tow truck to...Well, tow your opponent's car around. In order to set it up, you have to get fairly close to your target, within Flamethrower distance, and then drive off, with the damage dealt depending on the tension put on the rope along with Collision Damage from towing them through parts of the environment and into traps. While it's pretty dangerous to set up, a well executed hit and run can chew up your opponent's lifebar. Especially if you incorporate the Hover Pods and land mines into the mix and ESPECIALLY if they end up getting snagged on a wall along the way. With the cheat code for multiple players to use the same character, having two Houstons tow the same opponent in different directions is an instant Total.
• Mundane Made Awesome: In Second Offense, Agent Chase (a time-traveling cop from the future) is fascinated by all-beef burgers in the 1970's. Then again, this could be seen as a subtle (and sad) reference to the dark and dismal future he hails from.
• Never Say "Die":
  • Convoy's in-game bio glosses over the fates of the Coyotes from the first game. Among those, Beeswax and Sid Burn are simply stated as "gone".
  • Also, John Torque's in-game bio vaguely mentions the fate of Sid Burn in this fashion.
  "It's a good thing Sid wasn't coming back for his money. Torque made sure of it, though he would never admit to anything."
  • Once again, Molo's in-game bio mentions him discovering Sid's abandoned car in the desert. And once again, the word "gone" is used for Sid's fate.
• RPG Elements: Scrap points gotten from destroyed vehicles will upgrade the car, eventually giving you a whole new chassis.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Houston's story. She manages to get her hands on some of the Time Travel tech and go back to the attack on Convoy, saving his life.
• Time Travel: The main plot involves Lord Clyde taking some of his henchmen back in time to fully ruin the US so he'll reign over the whole world in his time period. And after the Coyotes seemingly kill Convoy, Houston goes back in time to save him.
• Time Police: Agent R. Chase, though of a more ad hoc style than usual.
  Time travel is a privilege, not a right!
• Tomato Surprise: Bob-O and the Garbageman, who turn out to be a lab monkey and Y the Alien from the first game. It's pretty obvious if you pay attention to their character select screens, various grunts and noises from them, and win quotes.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Once again, Boogie and Molo share the same role as laughable lackeys while Lord Clyde replaces Sid as the vile villain.

---