Here comes the answers to the questions posed last time.

Yes, Y is in V8 Arcade. No, I do not have the game. No, there is not a new character (not exactly), but there is a new car.

See, the High Octane DLC pack has been released, featuring three characters who should have been in the game from the beginning, and two tracks that hardly seem like something you'd see in V8. Sheilah, Houston, and Loki are the "new" characters, and Houston has her towtruck from Second Offense, so she's probably a Vigilante. Loki is now driving the aforementioned AFV I mentioned, complete with a big-ass cannon on it, and combining this with his new design, he looks more like a rogue army soldier than he does a rogue airforce pilot. As to the courses, one looks like a stunt track, complete with loops (which maybe only Sid and Y will be fast enough to use, and only Sid will probably fit) and ramps, etc. The next is a garage--an arena where you're tiny and drive around a giant garage, slowly pushing its gasoline content to lethal levels. Here's the site: [link]

If it seems to you I sound a little more cynical than usual, you might be right. See, a part of me is thrilled V8 is back, but this isn't what I had in mind. I wanted a full Vigilante 8 III, with a story that picks up where the last game left off, showing what happened to all the characters. I wanted it to be set in the 1980s, another decade that was cooler than this one (though actually, probably every decade was cooler than this one except the 1930s and 1950s), and have multiple subplots. I figured have one subplot where Obake uses her time machine to rescue Darius/Dallas, another where Y and Bob O return to Y's planet, but now have to fight an invasion of the notorious mutant ants, and much more. I wanted countless new vehicles, and for characters to have their vehicles and specials from both previous games. I wanted new multiplayer modes, like Capture the Flag and Base Defense. I wanted this franchise to take full advantage of better technology.

Instead of that sequel, we're getting a reenvisioning of the series that, while not bad as a game, isn't great as a game either, and doesn't respect continuity. The characters are an amalgam of what they were in both games, Loki is completely-warped, and Clyde, the villain of the second game, isn't even there. So how can we have a true sequel when the plot's been butchered? Part of me feels that Isopod will make one if this game gets bought enough, but who's to say it would be a good sequel? Why continue the old, superior continuity, when the new fanbase accumulated now on the XBox360 will be paying attention to the new one? I don't know if Isopod can fulfill my dreams of a V8 III, which is a shame.

I still hope to play the new downloadable game someday soon, just for old time's sake, but it's not anything that should be acceptable now after a whole decade's passed.

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