Demolition Man

Another part of the game worth mentioning is the stellar handling of Simon Phoenix himself. You will certainly slay thousands of faceless, unmemorable henchmen, but Phoenix becomes a character and integrates with the plot and the levels. So few games truly have a villain, but Phoenix successfully makes the leap from simple boss to arch-nemesis. He makes an appearance in every movie-based level, and often multiple times just to laugh at you, taunt you, or impede your progress with a few well-placed shots. In the movie levels he also usually serves as the end boss, giving you a chance to settle the score for all the trouble he's caused up until that point. It's just so much more interesting to have the villain play an active role throughout the game. You just KNOW when the music softens and his laughter echoes that his bad blonde self is somewhere nearby and something serious is guaranteed to go down. It helps to make you want to defeat him all the more.

The graphics aren't too shabby. If you're a fan of the film then you will see the similarities to the sets, but even if you're not you can still appreciate the levels' looks. The L.A. and Underground levels are appropriately dark and dirty, lending to their gritty and violent atmosphere. On the other side, the future levels are metallic and antiseptic, fitting in with the utopian society mood and helping a man firing a gun look properly out of place. There are destructible elements as well, though not as many as one might like. Still, glass shatters and neon lights explode when shot. The levels are also deformable in places, such as the car park crane smashing a ladder to stop your ascent, or Phoenix blowing out a bridge before you can cross it. My only complaints are that there are very few "future" levels before you're back in underground areas that lack the same visual appeal. You might as well have stayed in 1996. Most levels are also quite dark but never so much so that you can't see where you're meant to head to next. The only major complaint is that enemies will sometimes blend in with these dark backgrounds.

Control is a noticeably weaker point of the game. You can pull off some impressive rolls and fire in any direction, but in order to do so you must hold the trigger down and aim your gun. Otherwise you will run and fire, and in the heat of battle these often get confused. It's not uncommon to try and shoot a bad guy above you and end up running off a ledge instead. The overhead levels are twice as difficult to control and the only time when the game's frantic speed works to your disadvantage. A button to shoot instantly behind you is included in these levels, which lacks sense as you can press down to turn around and THEN fire. If you aren't used to this button you'll end up shooting in the direction you were originally facing when you mean to turn and fire behind you. The sheer numbers of enemies in these levels also work to overwhelm you, but button combinations allow you to strafe while firing and to stand in one place and aim. Without these abilities the overhead levels would be unplayable.