Alrighty then, so speed IS the most important thing about racing…but pretty pictures zooming past are also a nice touch and Digital Illusions' Motorhead just jumps at the chance to deliver both. Available now in Europe from Gremlin Interactive, and set to be distributed by Fox Interactive in the states in plenty of time to wedge itself into your holiday buying spree, its a no brainer. Forget uncle Ernie, if you are an arcade race fan just get it for yourself - that Gucci hand-bag can wait!
Though its not got San Francisco Rush scale crashes nor quite the poly count of Ultim@te Race Pro, it does have the kind of Ridge Racer rain-soaked-windshield-wipers-that-really-work extra touches that put it over the top and into my holiday stocking. Plus it's really fast. I mean whiplash fast. It's so fast that the first person view is a bit sick making on the turns. It'll have you straining yourself, stomping that invisible brake pedal when you've pushed it a little to far. Fast like that. True arcade racing fans will know the drill- it was designed to put the wedgies back into your steering wheel and pedals combo gathering dust in the basement.
Set in the near future, the action takes place on the eight tracks of something called the Transatlantic Speed League. Venues range from downtown highways to an artificial island off the cost of France.
Each venue has its own challenges and features designed to improve your skills over time while providing a variety of settings or kill you while you look out the window. Actually not. The designers have chosen to make you invincible. You cannot die or even lose a hubcap.
My personal fave venue is the NeoCity. Art direction leans toward the simple and pristine, this is not a grunge fest with realistic fender dents and bird poop on the wind shield. This is the future that Hollywood paints when it feels optimistic about the box office receipts for next summer. This is a parallel reality world complete with "Fiji Film" billboards and league opponents named Mboto "Bongo" Bonga. Perhaps the team is even now collecting royalties on some island in the Pacific? Nah, they are probably up to their compilers in the next project, which I will definitely check out.
The league competition will give any driver worth their speeding tickets the jollys at every precious win and the ranking stats compilation will satisfy that need to measure up. No complaints from the mighty competitor here. Finding that fast line in each track, muscling out the competition for forward positions, avoiding the spectacular pileups that happen even to the AI drivers all fuse to create a coherent racing experience. Not reality, more like movie realism.
The balance between FPS and graphic detail is well considered. Those of you Sunday racers that don't give a hoot about the scenery won't feel cheated out of the last bit of speed wrung from your steaming machines. But if you're up for a leisurely midnight drive through the city, you can cruise around feeling lonely and melancholy, checking out each waste disposal company and every nightclub (can't be too hot, no line outside) with the tempting option of hitting the gas and leaving that kissable cosmetics billboard siren in the wake of your exhaust.
So, once you have the speed thing wired and acceptable scenery, what makes one racing game better than another? Vehicle dynamics, realistic or at lease very interesting physics models, better driving music…Yeah sure, I don't fall for that! These are fairly represented in Motorhead and, to be honest, other racing games. The answer I was looking for is emergency road dividers.