jobs involve pissing off a local redneck
family, the McCoys, by stealing their
cars, running them off the road, or
shooting them up. Ana wants to you
burglarise stuff. Cue a bunch of fetch-
quests, including a side-achievement
to fence as many paintings as you can
nick. There are, unsurprisingly, stunt
jumps too. But come on, you knew
there would be.
Time trials dotted around the map
are brilliant fun, and ridiculously
addictive, and are one of the best
ways to make money in the game.
Jobs pay generously enough that you
never feel like you have to grind to
make any cash for things like ammo.
Handily, bringing up your phone with
a tap to the top of the D-pad (of
course you do), lets you call up a car
dealership that will bring you a brand-
new car for next to no money, and an
ammo delivery service, which if you
ask us is just asking for trouble.
The game looks pretty nice, with the
cars in particular shiny and detailed
enough to feel like you’re controlling
tiny model cars. There aren’t loads and
loads of different vehicle types, but all
have that ‘classic’ American ‘80s feel.
Muscle cars, Camaro-alikes, pick-up
trucks, vans, big Lincoln-type cars,
all with suitably varied handling and
speeds – to an arcade degree at least.
Sadly, at times there is quite a bit of
jankiness in the scrolling, particularly
when you’re speeding along, chased
by the fuzz.
But the real problem is the game’s
AI. Pedestrians walk out in front of
you without a single care in the world.
Cars don’t give way, and turn into your
path, and flattening folk or slightly
pranging another vehicle immediately
gives you a wanted level. There are
an awful lot of cop cars in Redrock
County, and one wanted star very soon
escalates to you being public enemy
number one. To lose a wanted level,
you can change clothes and change
(or respray) your vehicle, but once the
choppers turn up you might as welljust give up, because they can see
you wherever you go. Then there is
nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide
from the kamikaze cops, who have no
brakes and just keep smashing into
you until everyone blows up. For all its
arcade fun and immediacy, American
Fugitive is undeniably hindered by its
own (intentionally?) archaic gameplay
flaws. Still, with all our other big Xbox
time-sinks, it’s refreshing to just be
able to jump into something for a
quick couple of missions, and not
take it all too seriously. QTIMED
BANDIT
Breaking and entering
is another big part of
the game. You can
break into houses,
and doing so brings
up a top-down plan of
the building, with your
portrait as a tile to be
moved through each
room. To get anything
from the house, you
have to spend time
searching, which
speeds up a
countdown until the
cops arrive. You might
meet a resident, who
you’ll then have to
threaten or restrain,
but you can look in
through the windows
first to check if
anyone’s home. When
the cops arrive they
will block off each exit
until you’re caught.“Pedestrians
walk out in front
of you without
a single care in
the world”
ABOVE A few
modern
flourishes are
added to the
top-down GTA
formula.
LEFT Jacking a
car right in
front of the
police is a
bold move on
our part.OXM VERDICT
This GTA-a-like
will make you
nostalgic, and
grateful that AI is a
lot better now.7
FAR LEFT Once
the police
choppers start
circling you
might as well
call it a day.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 087