BattleTanx: Global Assault - Nintendo 64

BattleTanx: Global Assault retreads the well-received 1998 debut with new weapons, power-ups and locations, and revamped graphics and effects. Gameplay is simple. Players take control of 12 different tanks, ranging from an air-gliding hover tank to super-armoured monster tanks, and battle it out against computerised tanks or up to three other players in a variety of global cities. Part of the fun of the original game is the ability to destroy buildings, taken to a new level in Global Assault with a greater variety of destructible objects, including cars and street lamps. Power-ups and weapons abound, with cloaking abilities, turbo boosts, mines and nuclear weapons providing devastatingly fun ways to turn enemies into big old twisted heaps of smoking metal.

The single-player game features seven different modes of play, including deathmatch and capture the flag variations. The very addictive, over-the-top fun of the debut's multiplayer mode returns with more frenzied and explosive butt-kicking. --Eric Twelker