If wildly progressive graphic novels from the likes of Frank Miller, Geof Darrow, and Bill Sienkiewicz made the jump to videogame, the result would be Loaded. The first graphically underground title for the PlayStation, Loaded's character and game art comes courtesy of Greg Staples of the UK's 2000 A.D. comic and Judge Dredd infamy. Lovingly detailed decay, and apocalyptic style define this dark ride.
Pick from six behaviorally unsound mercenaries and blast a bloody path of revenge on a quest to annihilate your nemesis, charmingly dubbed F.U.B. (Fat Ugly Boy). After being wrongfully imprisoned in Loaded's dystopian future, your mission is to escape the nightmarish prison and seek and destroy F.U.B. From a three-quarters, top-down perspective, you're assaulted by straitjacketed inmates, monster rats, and psychotic guards at a relentless pace. Music from Pop Will Eat Itself sets the aggro-tech tone.
Make no mistake: Loaded is a title for mature gamers. The graphic violence, while animated, is seriously over the top. When you finish a level, it looks like someone dumped chunky tomato sauce all over the place by the gallons. But adults deserve some games of their own. Make mine Loaded.
Loaded for the PlayStation: US$40. Interplay: +1 (714) 553 6655, on the Web at www.interplay.com/.
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