Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense

The game is set in September 1977, two years after the events of Vigilante 8 . 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. 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 clean energy) would be his biggest mistake. 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.

Characters Many of the characters who previously appeared in Vigilante 8 return in the game, and are joined by a cast of new characters. However, not all playable characters have their own Quest Mode campaign. The game's protagonists are the Vigilantes, which had been all but disbanded following the events of the first game. 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.

Also returning from the first game as members of the Vigilantes are gambler-turned-bounty hunter John Torque and Convoy's niece Sheila. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. They include Chrono Police (ChronoPol) agent R.

Chase, who is investigating Clyde and OMAR's activities; former FBI agent Chassey Blue, whose Hollywood career is in shambles following a scandal the Bureau engineered to put her back on the job; former NASA astronaut Bob O; Native American shaman Dusty Earth; doomsday preacher Padre Destino; and The Garbage Man.