Carmageddon 64

Review

by Joe Ottoson

Why do some people insist on creating zombie gasses? It always seems like such a grand idea right up until it ruins the world, the town, or somebody's weekend holiday up at the lake. The zombie motif is handy at times, though. What better way to get a population of expendable citizens? As long as you have them, you might as well sponsor a race that involves running these zombies over in souped-up death machines.

That's Carmageddon 64 for you. Senseless violence aside, Carmageddon 64 is very similar to the PC version (except that the pedestrians are now zombies) and it has the same go anywhere, do anything approach that the PC version offered. You'll find yourself doing absolutely absurd things like driving straight up cliff walls, executing 400-foot jumps, and more all in the name of causing harm to the opposing racers and zombies that wander around the levels.

The more stylish, or at least, the more brutal the attack, the more cash you'll earn to apply towards new cars. Calling Carmageddon a race is a bit of a misnomer though. You can win by running a straight race, destroying all the opposing racers, or killing all the zombies in a level. Some races have preset wining conditions, however, so you'll have to stay on your toes.

In the porting process, little has been lost from the PC version. All the levels are intact and they look very close to their source material. The game also runs at a smooth frame rate, and there's no apparent clipping or slowdown. The cars themselves look like they've retained a similar polygon count. When you take damage, your call will deform in relation to where you were hit, and ramming your opponents will result in similar relational damage. This is a nice touch, and it gives you an instant visceral feedback that encourages you to instigate further collisions.

For action that involves ruining the careers of the other racers and running over zombies, Carmageddon 64 managed to assemble an entertaining mix of tunes. Most are fast-paced techno or rock-styled tunes, and they fit the pace and chaotic futuristic theme perfectly. There are plenty of screams and explosions to keep things humming along as well.

Carmageddon 64 is a solid title that puts out a fine amount of action and variety for your gaming dollar. It's not as well suited for younger players given all the senseless violence it encourages, but the older audiences will find a game with a surprisingly solid physics engine, realistic collisions, and some go-anywhere racing that you don't often see on a console system. Running over zombies is but one of the game's morally questionable charms.