| Fatal Racing |
Article Index for Fatal |
Website Links For Fatal |
Information AboutFatal Racing |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FATAL RACING | |
| racing video games | |
| dos games | |
| 1996 video games | |
| vehicular combat games | |
Fatal Racing, known as ''Whiplash'' in the USA, is a 3D stunt car racing game developed by Gremlin Interactive and published in 1996 for the MS-DOS OS . Fatal Racing can be considered to be a hybrid of Stunts and Destruction Derby . The player picks among a broad selection of cars and drives through tracks with loops, corkscrews and insane jumps while trying to smash into other cars to destroy them and at the same time cross the finish line first. There is a variety of different camera views available in the game, "in-car", chase-cam, etc. Multiplayer is supported by IPX/SPX network and modem, in addition a split screen option is also available. Fatal Racing supports graphics resolutions of 320x200 and 640x480, the latter being very demanding on the hardware available at the time of the game's release. The names displayed for drivers of cars in the race not controlled by human players all come from famous robot or computer characters from science fiction movies and television ( Kryten from Red Dwarf , Slave from Blake's 7 , Robby from Forbidden Planet , etc.), though this can be changed within the game's options. THE TEAMS ;Auto Ariel - ). ;DeSilva - and Slave (from Blake's 7 ). ;Pulse Engineering - and Ash (from the Alien movie series). ;Global - and Voyager (from Star Trek ). ;Million Plus - and Vincent (from The Black Hole ). ;Mission Motors - and Eddie (from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy ). ;Zizin - and Kryten (from Red Dwarf ). ;Reise Wagon - and Gort (from classic 50's sci-fi films Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still ). GREMLIN CUP Le Grande Royale is the simplest of all courses, featuring a turn which features two alternative roads, various series of winding turns, and a hairpin. The longest circuit of the game (not counting the Bonus Series), taking just slightly over a minute to complete a lap. This is easily the easiest circuit in the game as the course offers no real stunts - thus, if driven through well, pitting may not even be required. Snake Pass is a short and winding course which has extreme height changes and jumps which constantly change in slope. The final turn and the third to last turn are the most difficult to take for any car, thus pitting is almost mandatory. Big Dippa takes features from '''Snake Pass'''. However, this course features a big jump which often goes over the changing ramp slopes, several hairpins, and even more extreme height changes from Snake Pass. The ramp slopes, while only placed after the first turn (which, after that has a very large jump which can avoid these), cars that are too slow can catch some airtime, which can lose a lot of time. Death Drop is a maze of sorts; this course has various paths which have a huge impact on laptime. This track has two "roundabouts" which extensively feature this, the first one having a ramp which can vary in slope, the second holding one of two pit areas in the middle. The pit area is located off to the right after the two round abouts and the second to last turn. Because of this, it's very difficult to defend your position here because the paths on this course are unpredictable. Tsunami Twister is a course which feature a jump which causes the car to barrel roll in mid-air. Due to the poor pitting AI here many of the AI drivers will often end up getting eliminated. The pits are located to the left of the first turn, which is quite narrow and short, thus causing some problems when pitting, moreso in the faster cars. The Bridge is a multiple path oval-like circuit which features a bridge that drops and rises. Next to '''Le Grande Royale''', this circuit is one of the most simplest. Like Tsunami Twister, this course also has its pit area off to the left on the first turn, but is nowhere near as narrow or short. Siamese is a circuit featuring two loops, a hairpin, and a 270 degree turn. This course's pits are at two locations, similar to '''Death Drop''' - one after the first loop, the second after the second loop and the 270 degree turn. Gateway is the final circuit in the series. It introduces a corkscrew and combines much of the above mentioned circuit's features into one. This course is mostly left-hand turns. After the loop is a large jump, which if taken poorly can cause badly damaged cars to miss the pit area after it. PREMIER CUP The Reaper This course is packed to the gills with jumps. Similar to '''Tsunami Twister''', a lot of competitors end up getting eliminated due to the multitude of dangerous jumps. Widest, but one of the longest. The pit area is located on the seventh turn, off to the right (and like '''Tsunami Twister'''), it is very narrow and short. This course is one of the few courses where destroying all the competitors before going the full race distance is possible, but it is extremely rare. Free Fall has a course shape similar to '''Gateway''', except there is a huge "forked" curl which merges into a single road about midway into it. The course also features a small jump that may sometimes cause the car to suddenly drop. This course features four turns, not including the loop. The Crab has a completely unique feature, making a half loop before leading into a barrel rolling drop which may sometimes cause cars to land on their roof provided they go too fast or going too far off to the left of the track. the pits are located just before the starting line to the right, and due to its dangerous location make for some nasty side-on collisions. Driving this track in the reverse direction straight to the half-loop will cause a divide-by-zero-jump, which, if jumping too high, can crash the game, but otherwise fatalities, especially the less durable cars, instantly on hitting ground. The Switchback utilizes 2 corkscrews and a balcony on a lower part of the circuit. One of the longest tracks, it takes about 45 to 50 seconds to lap the circuit. The pits are located off the left after the first corkscrew. Though it seems like falling off the balcony near the end of the lap is a bad idea, it can shave off valuable time and seconds on the final lap. Fly By is a figure of eight which has a similar jump to '''Tsunami Twister''' in the middle of it after the first turn. It also features a fork which in the middle and the edges cause the car to crash. This course is nowhere nearly as difficult as its Gremlin Cup counterpart '''Tsunami Twister''' due to the track being far wider in many areas, and is also easier to make a pit stop on. Here, the pits are before the first of four turns. The Coffin Run is a circuit which features a corkscrew followed up by a small jump as well as several narrow bends. The start of this course is the same as the Bridge, except it is much more extreme. After that section comes an area with a left hander which leads into a long right-hand turn, which have walls that can flip a careless driver's car. The pits are located off to the left on the starting grid. Devil's Hairpin is a circuit which features a small part of the track where it is possible to land on another part of the course, and end up falling behind in the process. This course composes of four turns, the second having an area which is narrow and if taken off to the left of the track, can cause a car to fall very far behind and even flip the car over. Nemesis shares similarities to Gateway, but are now taken to a much higher extreme. The large jump of '''Gateway's''' is now gone, but now there is a dip in the road which if taken incorrectly can cause damage. BONUS CUP The Bonus Cup is a secret, hidden cup that only becomes available once the Premier Cup has been beaten at the highest difficulty level. None of the races have names, they are simply referred to as Race 1, Race2, etc. Each one is an extreme, physics defying course in which the race is usually ended through the destruction of all competitors rather than driving the full distance. Examples include a small high-walled circular course with an average 10 second lap time, and a long T-shaped course with randomized jumps causing huge levels of damage where pitting to repair is usually required every other lap. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BEHAVIOR When the player (or other AI car) inflicts a large amount of damage on them, at the next given opportunity they may strike back. Behavior is also team dependant; Global tend to be more aggressive than the others, DeSilva tend to try to impede other racers, Million Plus may sometimes try to go the wrong way or simply stand in the way. The player's AI teammate can also follow (or disobey) his or her orders. ENHANCED 3D VERSION Later, there was an enhanced 3dfx Glide version of the game made. This was bundled with some Voodoo Cards as "Fatal Racing 3D". There was also a patch available, however it was only for the American variant of the game (Whiplash). This enhanced version is however hardware specific, so it requires a Voodoo I Graphics Card to function correctly. MUSIC Like some DOS games, Fatal Racing had an exclusive soundtrack built into the CD for realistic music performance. It can be chosen as a music option in the Sound and Music setup program. This was used to replace low-quality MIDI choices. EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|