WDL: War Jetz is the second game in the World Destruction League series for the Playstation2. The concept is simple enough: blow up things, collect flags,cash, and well, thats about it. There are also several different jets to pilot, and several different arenas in which to take to the skies. Despite the games unique presentation, its limited gameplay and bland graphics really hold it back.

WarJetz opens with a FMV intro similar to that of a WWF show. There are rapid highlights of planes crashing and burning and even an announcer that exclaims Welcome to Wednesday night WarJetz a la Monday night Raw is War on TNN. The show takes place in Sydney and is hosted by the busty Kate Maxwell and the slightly crazy Jimmy Hellcats Jackson. Before each level they will introduce the competition, tell you what to look for, and often times get sidetracked with a bizarre story. In each level there are rival gangs which you must defeat, and if you are successful you take control of their plane and its special weapon. Defeating gangs can be be accomplished by capturing a flag, collecting a certain amount of bux thats floating around a level, or bombing specific targets. Finish these tasks and defeat the gangs and youll have the much coveted title of Air Lord.

The game sports some simple controls that are perfect for this style of game. The left analog stick controls the planes basic movements, while the right analog stick performs loops and barrel rolls. Each plane has a machine gun, and a secondary weapon that varies depending on what style of aircraft you use. The shoulder buttons are used to either speed up or slow down your plane as well as perform evasive maneuvers. While the controls are very easy to pick up, their sluggishness makes the planes a bit harder to control than they should be. Couple this with the extremely slow speed of gameplay and things can get ugly rather quickly.

Warjetz is one of the most boring, nondescript looking titles youll ever see. Theres nothing that is truly horrible here, but average + average, divided by average , times average, minus average, is still average. It comes as no surprise that WarJetz for the Playstation2 is a slightly enhanced version of the PSX game. The game moves along a steady framerate dipping slightly when things get hectic on screen, but despite this fast framerate, the game moves extremely slow. Instead of feeling like you are flying around in a fast jet, it feels like you are cruising around in an ultralight. Even when using turbo, theres no sense of speed in the game.

If you are looking for a classic example of bland textures, look no further than Warjetz. It boasts some of the most plain looking, mediocre, nondescript textures found in anything released on the Playstation2. Apparently the future is a horrible place thats very dark and very, very brown, or at least that is how 3DO sees things. Throw in some pop-up and occasionally shoddy collision detection, and youve got graphics that represent all that is wrong with the PS2. 3DO did make use of the PS2s capabilities on occasion with some nice smoke effects, and the rockets are also nicely done, its a shame the other aspects of the games visuals couldnt have been as well done. There are a few nice FMVs in the game, and the TV style presentation goes a long way in selling the game as a fun, fast-paced adventure, but there needs to be some substance in the game to go along with the cut-scene style.

Just like Army Men: Air Attack2, Warjetz features some fine voice acting. Both hosts are well-voiced, and above all else, funny. The scenes that take place in between battles are light and filled with bizarre, witty banter between the two co-hosts. Im not quite sure what the deal is with Jimmy Hellcats Jackson, and perhaps I dont want to know, but hes pretty darn amusing. Unfortunately, the in-game commentary is not as enthralling as the between-level banter, but thankfully it can be turned off with a quick visit to the options menu. The rest of the game features some average sound effects, and some bland techno music that plays in the arenas. Do all the blands and averages Ive used point to a theme here?

What the game somehow does do, at least for a while, is entertain. There are lots of objects that can be destroyed, and obviously capture-the-flag is fun, or else so many games wouldnt use it. Flying around collecting bux is also strangely amusing, even though it doesnt take much skill or effort. The bad news is that these things dont stay fun for very long, and there simply isnt enough variety in the games missions to make it worthwhile.

If youve got a few friends that are open-minded enough to actually sit down and play a 3DO game, there are lots of multi-player levels that you can play together. If there is one thing that 3DO understands its that multi-player is great for replay, and the people that buy their games are ones that are likely to have friends over to play games. Perhaps thats whats really going on with all these 3DO games that the critics love to hate. Theyre ugly and theyre simple, but theyre also geared to the younger kids that have PS2s. Lets face it, theres not much out there for kids under 12 for this system, and these titles do a decent job of filling that niche. Im not saying that this game is worth 50 bux, its not, but maybe theres an audience for 3DO, and we have yet to realize it. If this game was included on the same disc as Thunder Tanks, it might have enough depth to warrant a purchase, but as it stands, a rental will suffice.