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Stranglehold ³⁶⁰

Review

Fatal Inertia

6.0

Format Xbox 360

Developer KOEI

Publisher KOEI

Genre Racing / Driving

10-Sep-2007 The swanky curves of anti-grav racing return... but is it style over substance?

It's been some three days since the review copy of Fatal Inertia, Koei's take on the anti-gravity racing genre, arrived in the office. Two of those days were spent blasting around the tracks, unlocking craft upgrades, trying the different play modes. Today, however? The game disc is tucked firmly in its case. We're pretty sure that over the course of the review, we won't be stopping to have a sneaky go purely in the name of 'research'.

And that's the problem. The racers that stick in your mind, the Burnouts, the Ridge Racers, the WipEouts...they're all adrenaline-fueled escapes from the real world. Legalised drugs whose addiction has us perfecting that lap time to the last decimal point, or drifting our way out of the mundane, the boredom, of our everyday lives. They're the drugs we seek out - eagerly, feverishly, pulling them out of whatever drawer or cupboard we've secreted them in for a quick fix.

Fatal Inertia's kick is swift to fade, condemning the game box to a lifetime of gathering dust or an exchange for newer, more substantial thrills, somewhere down the line. A racing addiction that is easy to get over can be terminal for the drug, or rather the game, of choice.

Despite the anti-gravity racing genre passing the torch to newer, sleeker racers more than a decade ago, it still holds a special place in our hearts, so Koei's nod to the genre's illustrious past - intentional or not - should have given the developer's wares immediate entry into our good books.

It's a double-edged sword, however. Despite being billed as a title closer in heart
to Mario Kart rather than WipEout, we can't help but feel the implementation of the physics engine, an integral part of the gameplay, degrades the overall package to the point that it sells it a few leagues short of the current WipEout titles seen on the PSP. It's a great idea, initially yielding an enjoyable and unique gameplay structure.

Each racecourse is mapped along the natural contours of terrain, meaning your craft will bob and bounce a few feet off the ground, whatever shape and curve it takes. You adapt quickly to flipping the craft sideways as you turn a corner, to literally buffer off that wall you were about to slam into.

Touchy, Touchy
Unfortunately, at times the engine appears over-sensitive, flipping you uncontrollably
if you collide with any of the track debris. By the time you've worked out up from down, you've dropped from pole position to last in the field and it becomes increasingly impossible to regain any ground before the race is over.

Because the single-player game primarily revolves around these multi-tiered, points-accrued championships, one bad race can bury your chance of placing in the top three. It's the same with many a racer, but it feels unfair here, with one mistake forcing you to restart a championship from scratch.

It's a problem that gradually worsens as the top speeds increase, with the craft often handling like a hydrogen balloon with a rocket strapped to its back.

You're fighting just to keep the craft on the course, without having to worry about the other competitors trying to knock you out or avoiding the debris that litters each course. The play mechanic becomes the game's own garrote; the physics engine slowly strangling the game as we unlock more craft and better upgrades. It detracts from channeling that energy into winning races, into enjoying the lush surroundings, into enjoying the game, period.

As a single-player game it's too vacuous to be anything more than a light bite between bigger gaming meals. It's a pity. Ultimately this anti-grav game is just too light, and could have benefited from a little extra ballast to add some weight to the decent structure that's already there.

Gillen McAllister

Rocket Power

The weapons are another factor in the physics-based control system. They're not weapons in the conventional sense; they're not designed to destroy your opponent, only immobilise them. Each has a duel purpose: the rocket, for instance, can be used as a brief speed boost, or attached to a competitor's side and fired to spin them out of control.