OK, I'll start this review by saying I am from the South, grew up my whole life
in The Heart Of Dixie. So many of you would figure that I would have a soft spot
in my heart toward the Dukes of Hazzard. You would be wrong. I remember thinking
even when I was young that it was a very stupid show and I did everything I
could to not watch it...well, maybe I caught a few glimpses of Daisy. I was a
young boy after all! So to be fair the names Bo, Luke, Uncle Jesse, and Cooter
don’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and isn't a trip down memory lane
that I was really wanting. But, I'm a professional so I wasn't going to let my
past experience influence my review. Given that disclaimer does Ubisoft's PS2
game The Dukes Of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee have what it takes to
entertain the masses or is it destined to only the hard-core fans. Read on for
the answer...
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| The General Lee rides again. |
Of course The Dukes Of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee (RGL) is based on the
hit TV show of the late 1970's where a couple of good old boys named Bo and Luke
were always getting into a variety of good natured trouble in Hazzard County.
Always standing in their way was Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane or if something
crooked was going down in Hazzard you could bet that it would be traced back to
Boss Hogg. Normally in the show Boss Hogg would be up to no good and the Duke
boys would have to stop him and this usually involved some fancy driving around
the county in their car The General Lee while avoiding getting caught by the
sheriff. (Which reminds me, I need to give my car a name...all great cars have
names.) So, in this episode Boss Hogg is about to foreclose on an orphanage and
it's your task to raise enough money so that doesn't happen. But as bad luck
would have it the weasel Hogg sabotages the General Lee so that you lose the
stock car race that would have given you the money. Now you must run around town
doing different errands for Boss Hogg in an effort to get the money.
So, now we have an “open-ended” driving game, which is usually fun. Not this
game, not this time. The main culprit stopping you from having fun is the
controls! A driving game with bad controls! Who would have guessed?? Also not
helping is that is it pretty easy to get lost. Kind of embarrassing when you are
supposed to know the county like the back of your hand! There is no on screen
map that does any good and the only way to figure out where you are is to bring
up the big map which takes up the whole screen but keeps the action going! But
the real evil here are the controls. You are contently sliding around without
any real feel of controlling what’s happening. They just suck and I can't say
much more than that. Oh, and there’s no online support. That will always get
points off in my reviews from now on.
But wait, there is a bit of good news about the game. The original cast shows up
for the most part to do the voices. And there's that Waylon Jennings song at the
beginning. And...nope, that's all the good stuff. Oh, did I mention the graphics
are pretty lame? No? Well they are.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
41%. The Dukes Of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee...what can I tell
you except to stay away from Hazzard County at all costs.
