Summary: Wow. This game single-handedly almost caused me to fail my ninth grade science project. I'd sit down to play it and the hours would clikc by like seconds. And I still couldn't get enough. I had never even heard of it until I was at a computer show one day about three years or so ago. As I walked along glancing at a lot of mediocre merchandies I saw the box. Not the one with a guy getting hit by a car, just a picture of Max at the wheel and the title. Instantly I grabbed the box and began scanning the back. With headlines like "WASTE PEDESTRIANS FOR CREDITS!" I couldn't resist. This game is just so much fun, even now. I'll never forget the first time I spotted an old lady with a walker and heard her scream, "I was in the war!" right before I splattered her on the road. I never stopped playing the game, that is until I got the sequel, but writting this review is giving me the urge to load it up again.
Rating Reviewed by: Jason Cormier(Unregistered User)
Review Date July 17, 2000
Overall Rating 4 of 5
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
1 votes
Review NaN of 27
, from New Brunswick, Canada
Summary: CARMAGEDDON “Blood and crashes and gore, oh my!”
Let’s get something straight. This game is sick. Sick sick sick sick. But man, is it ever FUN!!! I haven’t played like that since Quake II! Carmageddon, or the Carmageddon series (there are two sequels, see the June issue of PC Gameplay for a full review of the latest) have been some of the most controversial games in gaming history. Instead of racing around a track against other cars trying to move ahead, you get a very different experience. Instead, you have to smash and waste the opponents cars and mow down “zombies” (although they look and act like normal pedestrians) to earn credits (money) to upgrade, repair and buy new cars. This is one game that the focus is ENTIRELY on gameplay, the plot is so bad it is not even worth repeating. But seeing how this is a game review, I better say it. In the near future, the classes have become so separated that the rich have segregated the poorer classes (including middle class) and put them in quarantined areas. The rich built themselves large communities (Subates) that have their own policing force, a la Disney suburbs. To flex their muscle power, the police launched a few nukes into the poor areas and wiped out much of the population, and mutated the rest into zombies. You, as well as the other racers, have deathmatches in these areas. A game is born. The blood and gore portrayed in the game, as well as the complete and utter violence, called for nation wide bans of the game. Despite that, it is still alive and kicking. In the groin. When you mow down a zombie, they will either go flying over your car, splatter into giblets, or get run over with a thud. Your wheels leave red streaks after hitting a few zombies, and you can also slam into some barnyard animals. Completely disgusting? Maybe, but so is every action and shooter game in existence. This is just Interplay’s automotive response to Quake (although in Quake you don’t shoot elderly people and businessmen) If this sort of thing bothers you, don’t read any further. In fact, turn off your computer and don’t watch the 10 o’clock news.(one more note, I do believe that the North American version is quite a bit different than the European version, as in the June issue of PC Gameplay [a British magazine] , snot replaces blood. If you can, get the North American version.) The graphics are quite dated compared to the latest offerings, but the fast paced and addictive gameplay more than makes up for that. If you look past the blocky building textures and chunky cars, you’ll have more than enough fun. There are a total of 36 tracks, each one harder than the last. You start with three playable tracks, and when you complete those you unlock more tracks. To race on a track, you have to have a certain rank (you start at 99) which you get by completing a certain number of races. If your rank is not high enough to race on the next track, you must repeat a race you already completed (doesn’t matter which) until your rank is high enough. Every track has a time limit, but going through checkpoints and earning credits give you automatic time bonuses. The only way you can complete a race is by wasting all the other cars before the time runs out. Constantly checking your map for the heading of other cars is necessary, as tracks are large with many areas. You will get lost easily the first few races. The damage models are excellent, with parts of cars crumpling and bending, as well as smoking heavily and sometimes catching on fire! A nice touch is that smoke leaves heavy soot on your car, even after repair during gameplay. An excellent feature is the wreck gallery, in which you can view the damage you and others did to your and your opponents cars. Another nice feature is the wide variety of cars. There are 25 in total, from your little racer that you start with to a lumbering garbage truck. However, before you can buy more cars, you need to amass many, many credits. No easy feat. You can earn credits buy slaying zombies and your opponents, but also by performing cunning stunts. A good example of a 2000 credit cunning stunt is as follows: Hitting a concrete barrier while going 135 mph, doing three turns in the air, driving on the side of a building twenty feet above ground for a moment, and then landing wheels down with minimal damage. YEE HAW! It is even more impressive when you didn’t notice that barrier and went into it with the brakes squealing. Most of your stunt credits will be earned by accident or with a lot of luck, no skill. Who said racing games were predictable? The cars are rather sensitive, and tip over quite easily if you strike an object. This makes it easy to tip over an opponent and push his car over a hill or into a building, laughing the whole time. The cars handle like real cars, though. Unlike some games, performing a 180 degree bootleg take some practice and a lot of momentum. Cars need plenty of space to turn around, and tires will squeal and leave tread marks if you take on too much of a bend. All the more fun! Something never before seen in racing games (unless you play Carmageddon’s wimpy little cousin, Streets Of Sim City) are powerups. In Carmageddon, you will come across barrels and compressed liquid cylinders in odd spots. They come in different colours, and some have O’s on them, others ?’s. When you hit these, they explode and give you a bonus or strange ability. For example, you may get turbo pedestrians, where for a limited time zombies run twice as fast, and hitting them gives you six times more credits. Or hot rod, when your car goes twice as fast, and sticks it’s front end up in the air while driving. These make the game even more hilarious and enjoyable. The environment is trash-able, with lots of lampposts, telephone booths, and street lights to knock over. But it is not as easy as it sounds. Objects feel very solid, as that should. It will take a whole lot of smashing to take down a lamppost, or at least bend it at an angle. If you do manage to knock over an object, or get a parked car in your grip, you can ram them and send them sliding into zombies for even more credits! Not a whole lot can be said about Carmageddon. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, it’s sick. You should get many hours of enjoyment out of this game, for months to come, as well as a great frustration reliever after a hard day at work. If you think Doom was appalling, then avoid this game like the devil. 3 1/2
TIP: If you want a speed boost, enemies can help. Just get an opponent to ram you from behind and accelerate! Zombies beware! And watch out for some powerups! They can do more harm than good!
Summary: When I first played NFS I was like: woah, this is soooo real. After several hours of constant nfs, I got bored. When I bought my new pc, a demo of Carmageddon came with it. I was amazed! The freedom of choice, the freedom of movement. I was free to do what ever I want. Carmageddon is the ultimate driving rush! It pumps up adrenaline as you drive! Kill, maim, splat and trash is the moto of this game! If you are the type that wants freedom, this is for you. If you like going through checkpoints, go buy NFS! Carmageddon features full 350 degrees levels, total driving freedom, 3dfx support, realistic game physics. Let me get to the important stuff:1. Graphics -------------Keep in mind that this game is not nfs2 or nfs3, it was never meant to be. In lo-res it looks ok, but in 3dfx, blows your head away. I always amaze myself on the blood effects I see!2. Sound ------------This is the fun part: the sounds are cool, realistic screams, shouts, gestures and gore sounds. You will love em all. There is a granny that walks around, and shouts: "I was in the war" - ain't that sweet? NOT!!! KILL KILL KILL (you might think I'm crazy, but I'm not, I'm addicted to this game). The music is by Fear Factory, very dark, and it urges you to drive on, and kill!3. Gameplay ------------Addictive, very! Once you start playing, you cant stop. With 3 difficulty levels, it lives up to all the players out there. I play on hard! Most challenging. You start with only one car, and steal others as you play. You upgrade your armor, power and offensive level as you advance. The AI is good, better or baddest! This depends on which difficulty you are playing.4. Multi player -------------Well... It ain't that good, since you can only play in a LAN network. No TCP\IP or modem multi player is supported5. Total -------------Overall, a great game, very addictive, good graphics, 3dfx support, great sounds and good AI. All of that makes this game a kick-ass must-have. Its been rated a "classic" by PCZone, and scored 95 (compared to quake, which scored 92) I suggest buying Carmageddon instead of NFS
Summary: Carmageddon is the shit and Carmageddon 2 is the bigger shit.If you have a 3Dfx video card I recommend to download the drivers.But one of the things that I don't like about Carma is the network play.I gaurantee to you that if carmageddon came out with any more I would buy it.
4 of 5
5 of 5
