They include Chrono Police (ChronoPol) agent R. The game also introduces a third faction: the Drifters, individuals who somehow get caught in the Vigilante-Coyote war, but are not affiliated with either faction. Boogie and Molo are the only returning Coyotes from the first game Nina breaks Boogie out of jail, while Clyde frees Molo, who is being transported to a correctional center by a prison bus, giving him the bus as his personal vehicle. Sid Burn's former lover, arms smuggler Nina Loco, is a new addition to the Coyotes, having safeguarded most of the advanced weapons they stole in the first game. His underlings are Japanese orphan Obake, whose real name is Keiko Uzumi, and cyborg Dallas 13, who is in fact Uzumi's close friend Darius, who disappeared after a mistake during the Stanford University heist. The game's main antagonist is ex-Vigilante Slick Clyde, who has become the Coyotes' new leader after finding Houston's old mind-control armband. The Vigilantes are joined by the Flying All-Star Trio (Team FAST), black stunt performers in search of their missing sister, and Dave's Cultsmen, a trio of hippie followers idolizing Vigilante 8 character Dave. Also returning from the first game as members of the Vigilantes are gambler-turned-bounty hunter John Torque and Convoy's niece Sheila. Their leader, Convoy, has married ex-Coyote Houston and now runs a trucking business, but is apparently killed in an ambush on September 17, 1977, presumably by the Coyotes. The game's protagonists are the Vigilantes, which had been all but disbanded following the events of the first game.
However, not all playable characters have their own Quest Mode campaigns. Many of the characters who previously appeared in Vigilante 8 return in the game, and are joined by a cast of new characters. He plans to change history by stealing prototype time machines from Stanford University's quantum physics lab, travel back to the 1970s, and eliminate the Vigilantes to ensure OMAR's supremacy. With new Coyotes leader Slick Clyde leading OMAR during the twilight of his life by 2017, Clyde thinks that a failure to conquer America (which has adopted nuclear and sustainable energy) would be his biggest mistake. The southwestern United States has become peaceful in the wake of the Coyotes' defeat, but the Oil Monopoly Alliance Regime (OMAR) continues to dominate most of the world's petroleum market, well into the 21st century. The game is set in September 1977, two years after the events of Vigilante 8. Aside from being able to play music CDs, the player can also access the Vigilante 8 levels for multiplayer matches by inserting the game disc. The Totaling and Whammy combat modes from the first game are also retained, as is the concept of stages with interactive features.Ĭompleting secondary objectives in Quest Mode would also help unlock secret characters. The original game's five standard weapons - mines, rockets, autocannons, homing missiles, and mortars - are now supplanted by flamethrowers, with each weapon now capable of performing three special attacks using movements on the control pad. Special icons scattered over the game zone allows the player to improve mobility over certain environments, such as hover pods, skis, and outboard motors. The vehicle's external appearance is altered with more Salvage Points and turns into a completely different design when it is fully upgraded.
Second Offense introduced the "Salvage Points" system, which allows the player to upgrade their vehicle by collecting Salvage Points from destroyed opponents, improving the vehicle's offense, defense, speed, and targeting abilities.
The game also offers a new two-player cooperative mode and a Grand Melee Deathmatch mode, wherein the player endures attacks by multiple AI opponents. The player can choose to play through a story mode, Quest Mode, or play with an assorted number of bots in Arcade mode. As in Vigilante 8, players control a vehicle and eliminate all other vehicles in the arena with the use of weapons and upgrades.