Carmageddon 2 : carpocalypse now

Review by : Mr Brain

Format : PC, PSX, N64

Type : Racer

Players : 1

Are you angry? Do you hide a lot of frustrations inside? Do you feel that you have no way to just-let it all out? Well, i have just the right solution for you, and that solution is : CARMAGEDDON 2!

CARMAGEDDON II may look like an ordinary racing game on the outside(except for the raving loonytick at the front of the package, aka Max Damage) but once you get to play it (or reads the package more carefully) you will find out that this is a "one of a kind racing game". The only similarities to an ordinary racing game is that there is a bunch of cars to race in, and a bunch of track to race on! Then the similarities stop! We can start with the cars : your first car is the Eagle III. It has a good blend of enginepower, strength and smashingcapabilities (I will get to the last part later). You get more money, by winning races and...other things, you can buy other cars. Some of these are ordinary racingcars, other are weak buggies and some are huge 10ton trucks. Now here is the trick (and the fun bit) : all the cars are smashable! Im not talking dents in the side or a deflated tire, im talking doors falling off, windows getting smashed in, car getting split in half, eksploding and leaking oil-smashable!! The controls are very realistic too.

Now you're probably (not) thinking : "Gee this sounds like the most psycotic game ever made!" And you're right! But wait, there's more! We have all, or some of us at least, tried to play a racing game and thought about how cool it would be to be able to run over the bystanders! In CARMAGEDDON 2 you can! Even though there are no bystanders, just innocent pedestrians minding their own business... before they are run over by a monstertruck in a cloud of blood, flung into the air, pushed up against a wall, having their arms, legs, and head cut off and landing with a splat! And they are all there : Fat guys, black chicks, hospital patients, clowns, daredevils, mounties, pilots, penguins, farmers and policemen, just to mention a few!

Something that really annoys me about other racing games is the tracks! They can be oh so nice, and have so many trees and waterpuddles and tunnels, but i feel so confined! If it bugs you too you will enjoy CARMAGEDDON 2 a lot. You have this amazing freedom-feel to it! You don't have to follow the pre-laid track, you can just turn left instead of right (or the other way around) and og your own way! You wanna go through that house? Surething! Or do you want to rob the bank? Go right ahead! There is about 10 tracks, from city to airport, even a funfair(Have fun killing the elefants!).

Smashing cars, killing pedestrians and driving on the tracks. Those are the three ways to complete a race. Add the mouthwatering sound of roaring engines, dying people and twisting metal, some nice graphics (even though the game is two years old), freedom to do whatever you want to and some great rock 'n' roll music from Iron Maiden and you have yourself a great game! Unfortunantely you have to complete a mission after every three races! These could be completing five laps, or killing all the clowns (they are evil you know) in six minutes. These missions are rather annoying and usually pretty hard. But you can just type "SMARTBASTARD" and it is complete! If you want to complete them without the timelimit you can type "LAPMYLOVEPUMP" (cute huh?) and press F8. This will freese the timer and leave you with plenty of time.

Sound         : Nice and gory, and Iron maiden kicks ass

10/10

Gameplay    : A very original raceing game

  8/10

Difficulty     : Three difficulty levels so do not worry

9/10

Graphics      : Starting to show their age, but good enough

  7/10

  9/10

Overall         : A great game but could do without the missions

Review by : Mr Brain