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Racing at this speed isn't fatal.
September 18, 2007 | 11:26 PM PSTby: Matt Furtado
AMN's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Fatal Inertia was originally shown off during E3 2006 as a PS3 exclusive title but not soon after the title was announced for the Xbox 360 as well. Fatal Inertia is a futuristic racing combat title where man is no longer bound to the earth with wheels and now has the access to the use of hovercrafts for races. With every race funded by mega corporations, each race becomes essentential to win so you can gain newer technology for your racer and compete at higher levels.
What's Hot
Fatal Inertia offers three different skill levels-beginners, professional, and elite. Each difficulty will offer several different race series that must be completed in order to move on. Within in each series will lay three or more race events. These events will consist of combat races, where you must race to the finish line using a variety of weapons, Knockout races, where the last racer in each lap is eliminated, magnet mayhem, where the only weapon is magnets, and several others. Outside of the single player experience also lays a multiplayer mode. Multiplayer offers both local and online play where players can compete with up to 7 other racers in either ranked or casual racing. Currently there aren't many racers online in Fatal Inertia, but we were able to get into a few racers and the experience was lag free.
Since the title is classified as a combat racing title you can imagine that the weapons are key elements to the title. The weapons offer a lot of variety and are truly unique. Most racing titles will feature the basic weapon like a rocket, which is only used as a defensive action but in Fatal Inertia the rocket can serve as two. You'll have the option of firing the rocket to inflict damage upon another racer or you can use the rocket and a boost. By using the RB or LB buttons you can shoot the equipped weapon ahead or behind you. When firing the rocket behind you, the ship shall receive a boost. Since the rocket offers both an attack and a boost feature, using the weapon can be more critical in tight situations.
Other weapons include the magnets; which will stick onto a ship and eventually explode, EMP; which will blast rivals with an electromagnetic wave, and the cable; which has many uses and is a lot of fun to use. The cable will allow you to attack one end either into an opponent’s ship or the ground. Once the cable is attached to the opposing ship you can either stay attached to the ship or stay in close quarters with them or you can spike the other end into the ground causing a rubber band effect and flinging the opposing ship backwards. The cable can also be connected to the ground and help you take turns. However, this is a lot harder than it sounds.
The game does offer 51 courses to play through and each level looks great using the Unreal Engine 3 technology. Levels will range from ice-top peaks, forest, all the way to volcano tops. Graphically the environments look incredibly solid and some of the environmental surroundings will break apart during the race. In Glacier Bay, the track has several alternate routes that are filled with icicles and if you crash into the ice it'll fall down and stay on the course, which will become an obstacle to avoid on the second go around. The hovercrafts are solid graphically but isn't anything mind-blowing. They crafts themselves are nicely detailed, glossy, smooth, but don't have tons of individual detail that would make them stand out more.
What's Not
Fatal Inertia offers a lot in terms of physics and the game definitely gives a sense of floating above the ground but perhaps it offers a little too much. When racing the game feels a little too floaty and when you try navigating through narrow paths it becomes a lot harder because a slight turn can have you crashing into a wall. Once you crash there is little chance of recovery on your own. The game does feature a quick fix for these situations, where you'll be replaced on the course but it doesn't compensate for the over use of the physics engine.
Most futuristic racers are all about pure speed. Racers like F-Zero and Wipeout are about moving quickly in large courses set in the distant future. Unfortunately, Fatal Inertia doesn't offer the kinds of speed seen in either of those games. The game's sense of speed is slow, even when you boost the game doesn't offer a good sense of speed. With the title being a futuristic racer you would expect to move at high speed but instead you'll feel like you're hardly moving.
Also the courses are incredibly small. Each lap can be done in roughly 30 seconds, which isn't much in terms of a track. One of the achievements is to complete a Time Trail test in less than 36 seconds. That gives you a basic idea of how long most tracks are in the game. No that’s not 36 seconds for a lap but an entire race, which is usually around 4 or 5 laps. Also one of the things that will become frustrating is the game doesn't offer a retry option. So if you are in a race you crash you either have to move onto the next race or quit the entire series and restart the whole racing series again.
Fatal Inertia does offer a bit of customization over your hovercraft that sits in your garage. Through racers you will gain new parts like wings, engines, and paint styles. The wings and engines are the only main parts what will have any affect your crafts performance directly. It doesn't offer much in real customization but at least it lets you change some of the crafts main mechanics.
Final Word
Fatal Inertia offers new and unique weapons and the single player experience is a fun ride even with its problems. The lackluster sense of speed and physics are incredibly frustrating. For gamers not looking for the next F-Zero, Wipeout, or even Quantum Redshift, you'll find an enjoyable racing title here with several good ideas and plenty of challenge. For everyone else, this title may be worth a rental if you have any interest in it.
What the Game's About
Fatal Inertia was originally shown off during E3 2006 as a PS3 exclusive title but not soon after the title was announced for the Xbox 360 as well. Fatal Inertia is a futuristic racing combat title where man is no longer bound to the earth with wheels and now has the access to the use of hovercrafts for races. With every race funded by mega corporations, each race becomes essentential to win so you can gain newer technology for your racer and compete at higher levels.
What's Hot
Fatal Inertia offers three different skill levels-beginners, professional, and elite. Each difficulty will offer several different race series that must be completed in order to move on. Within in each series will lay three or more race events. These events will consist of combat races, where you must race to the finish line using a variety of weapons, Knockout races, where the last racer in each lap is eliminated, magnet mayhem, where the only weapon is magnets, and several others. Outside of the single player experience also lays a multiplayer mode. Multiplayer offers both local and online play where players can compete with up to 7 other racers in either ranked or casual racing. Currently there aren't many racers online in Fatal Inertia, but we were able to get into a few racers and the experience was lag free.
Since the title is classified as a combat racing title you can imagine that the weapons are key elements to the title. The weapons offer a lot of variety and are truly unique. Most racing titles will feature the basic weapon like a rocket, which is only used as a defensive action but in Fatal Inertia the rocket can serve as two. You'll have the option of firing the rocket to inflict damage upon another racer or you can use the rocket and a boost. By using the RB or LB buttons you can shoot the equipped weapon ahead or behind you. When firing the rocket behind you, the ship shall receive a boost. Since the rocket offers both an attack and a boost feature, using the weapon can be more critical in tight situations.
Other weapons include the magnets; which will stick onto a ship and eventually explode, EMP; which will blast rivals with an electromagnetic wave, and the cable; which has many uses and is a lot of fun to use. The cable will allow you to attack one end either into an opponent’s ship or the ground. Once the cable is attached to the opposing ship you can either stay attached to the ship or stay in close quarters with them or you can spike the other end into the ground causing a rubber band effect and flinging the opposing ship backwards. The cable can also be connected to the ground and help you take turns. However, this is a lot harder than it sounds.
The game does offer 51 courses to play through and each level looks great using the Unreal Engine 3 technology. Levels will range from ice-top peaks, forest, all the way to volcano tops. Graphically the environments look incredibly solid and some of the environmental surroundings will break apart during the race. In Glacier Bay, the track has several alternate routes that are filled with icicles and if you crash into the ice it'll fall down and stay on the course, which will become an obstacle to avoid on the second go around. The hovercrafts are solid graphically but isn't anything mind-blowing. They crafts themselves are nicely detailed, glossy, smooth, but don't have tons of individual detail that would make them stand out more.
What's Not
Fatal Inertia offers a lot in terms of physics and the game definitely gives a sense of floating above the ground but perhaps it offers a little too much. When racing the game feels a little too floaty and when you try navigating through narrow paths it becomes a lot harder because a slight turn can have you crashing into a wall. Once you crash there is little chance of recovery on your own. The game does feature a quick fix for these situations, where you'll be replaced on the course but it doesn't compensate for the over use of the physics engine.
Most futuristic racers are all about pure speed. Racers like F-Zero and Wipeout are about moving quickly in large courses set in the distant future. Unfortunately, Fatal Inertia doesn't offer the kinds of speed seen in either of those games. The game's sense of speed is slow, even when you boost the game doesn't offer a good sense of speed. With the title being a futuristic racer you would expect to move at high speed but instead you'll feel like you're hardly moving.
Also the courses are incredibly small. Each lap can be done in roughly 30 seconds, which isn't much in terms of a track. One of the achievements is to complete a Time Trail test in less than 36 seconds. That gives you a basic idea of how long most tracks are in the game. No that’s not 36 seconds for a lap but an entire race, which is usually around 4 or 5 laps. Also one of the things that will become frustrating is the game doesn't offer a retry option. So if you are in a race you crash you either have to move onto the next race or quit the entire series and restart the whole racing series again.
Fatal Inertia does offer a bit of customization over your hovercraft that sits in your garage. Through racers you will gain new parts like wings, engines, and paint styles. The wings and engines are the only main parts what will have any affect your crafts performance directly. It doesn't offer much in real customization but at least it lets you change some of the crafts main mechanics.
Final Word
Fatal Inertia offers new and unique weapons and the single player experience is a fun ride even with its problems. The lackluster sense of speed and physics are incredibly frustrating. For gamers not looking for the next F-Zero, Wipeout, or even Quantum Redshift, you'll find an enjoyable racing title here with several good ideas and plenty of challenge. For everyone else, this title may be worth a rental if you have any interest in it.
November 20, 2009
