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The Hazzard Retreat has had a chance to review a build of the Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee for the Xbox before it hits the stores and we are excited! There have been several DoH themed video games hit the market but none have seemed to spark much interest among fans. After spending several hours with RotGL I think they developers may have hit on the winning combination!
  
The overall theme and feel of the game seems very true to the Dukes world found on the TV show. The voice-overs are performed by many of the original actors and when you combine those with realistic models you really feel like you are living out another episode. John Schneider (Bo Duke), Tom Wopat (Luke Duke), Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke), James Best (Roscoe P. Coltrane), Ben Jones (Cooter) and Sonny Shroyer (Enos Strate) all lend their voices and sound great. I will say that I am not fond of the Balladeer's voice though. It just sounds a little too far from the original. Boss Hogg's voice however sounds VERY good and you would almost think that Sorrel Booke came back from the grave to do the part himself. Uncle Jesse's voice works out nicely also. The graphics look outstanding on the Xbox and all of Hazzard County is rendered nicely. Car models, trees, farms, and human models all add to creating an immersive environment.
The gameplay starts off with you driving the black 69 Charger and having to drive around the junk yard to pick up the appropriate parts to get your car in racing condition and turn it into the General Lee. Cooter guides you along and tells you what you need. It works out nicely as a tutorial mission and you can get a feel for driving the General. The design of the game is pretty open ended with you being able to freely drive around Hazzard County but there also specific "tasks" you have to accomplish. It could be related to the Grand Theft Auto series in a way and their open environment but don't expect anything exactly like GTA. In typical Hazzard fashion, Boss Hogg is found working up a crooked scheme to harm the local orphanage and it is your job as the Duke boys to save the day!
  
Everyone wants to know, does the General Lee still have the Confederate Flag on top? It wouldn't be The Dukes of Hazzard if it didn't! Ubisoft has included the confederate flag in this build and it remains in the final version of the game. The paint on the General looks a little too orange in my opinion but the car drives and flies just like the General! When doing jumps you can give out a good Yeee-haw! or sound the Dixie Horn at the press of a button which increases your jump ratings. The car physics are pretty good sliding around on the dirt roads and don't take too much difficutly to master.
The game also features a variety of automobiles to drive including the General Lee, the Black Charger, Uncle Jesse's Pickup, Daisy's Road Runner, Cooter's Tow Truck, Rosco and Enos’s squad cars, and Boss Hogg’s limousine. I didn't spend a lot of time driving anything but the General Lee but I did notice that there are several "missions" that involve the other vehicles instead of just randomly having them around to drive. The multiplayer modes in the game include destruction derby battles, head-to-head competition and cooperative play. I was unfortunately unable to test these out. I did notice that there is no Xbox Live support so any multiplayer is going to be done locally.
Some of the missions include driving in Hazzard races at the race track, sneaking around back roads trying to avoid Roscoe, and trailing Enos from a distance. One mission has Daisy taking Enos to a picnic so she can distract him while the Duke boys "borrow" the squad car and sneak into the courts to look at some documents. I had a hard time following behind the squad car in the General without getting caught and found it pretty frustrating but I'm sure that will be tweaked by the game's release.
  
Overall, the game feels really solid and I think DoH fans are really going to embrace it. In my opinion, it accomplishes the goal of putting the player in control of a DoH episode and makes them feel like they have been transported in time back to 1979 and are living in Hazzard County. Hazzard Retreat's official opinion? A good solid 'yee-ha' and a recommendation for fans of the show to pick the game up today!
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