Developer: Stainless Games Ltd
Publisher: Stainless Games Ltd
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Carmageddon: Reincarnation – Review
Carmageddon is back after a successful kickstarter campaign, even though the many backers had to wait quite some time to see the fruit of Stainless Games’ labor. The violent antics of Max Damage and Die Anna reign supreme once again in this controversial franchise. We decided to take our new cars for a bloody ride through this revamped memory lane. Guts, gore and explosions, here we come.
Story
Just like the classic iterations of the franchise, there is no real thick plot to explore. You’ll simply drive around, kill as many pedestrians on your way as possible, wreck your opponents and rack in the cash rewards, in order to become the best of the best. This means it’s pretty simple and straightforward, namely get rid of your stress by giving your digital opponents and bystanders a hefty dose of panic.
Although this isn’t really story related, it’s fun to see that the humor of this franchise remains intact. Even with the rather controversial topic, things are being kept light with funny texts on screen, retro menu explanations and silly antics scattered all over the game. Imagine what a game could do if you discover a whorehouse filled with cows.. oh.. wait.
Graphics
Graphically Carmageddon: Reincarnation leaves us with mixed feelings. Whilst it is very amusing to see this old franchise getting revamped for our modern standards, there are still a lot of rough edges of which we aren’t that sure if they are intended or not. During one of the many rampages you’ll be treated to fairly fun looking vehicles, lots of blood splatters and environments with a decent amount of rubble and sights to be seen. The damage of the vehicles has been handled in a slightly more realistic fashion, which is, if you’re a fan of the franchise, something you’ll either love or hate.
On the other hand, everything looks quite bland, as there is a lack of detail and some things look reasonably dated. If you played Carmageddon II, which was released in 1998, Reincarnation sometimes feels like a blast from the past, as some cars look like the rehashed models from the second installment. Even though these subtle winks and perhaps recycled portions are certainly a fun implementation, a bit of extra details here and there would have been much appreciated.
Of course, we’ll have to take into account that at all times, a lot is going on onscreen. You’ll have active opponents, a lot of power-ups spread across the map and the hordes of pedestrians that will certainly be smeared on the hood of one of your many cars.
Performances aren’t really optimized, as the loading times are actually horribly long at times, even with a decent computer. You’ll notice that high settings will not run properly, even if you are well above the recommended hardware and there are still a decent amount of graphical bugs, even though the latter might actually contribute towards the overall amusing atmosphere of the game.
Sound
Just like the previous games, this one has a heavy soundtrack that goes hand in hand with the carnage that is happening onscreen. Other than the metal tunes, you’ll hear the crashes and the screams of the pedestrians, immediately followed by the blood gushing out of their bodies as your car happens to run into them, over and over again.
Gameplay
Carmageddon: Reincarnation follows its predecessors in the vehicular combat/racing genre and it does so in the same way as it did in the previous iterations. Even though there are several different modes to be explored in the career and multiplayer modes, in the end it will always come back to the same thing, kill, maim, destroy and if you so happen to love to, race a bit on the side.
The career mode in Carmageddon: Reincarnation consists out of sixteen chapters, each with three courses for you to overcome. The objectives are slightly diverse, as you’ll either have to wreck your opponents, race, chase checkpoints or pedestrians and so on, to win the match. Whilst these differences are only little, it’s fun that there is a small amount of variation to keep things from getting too dull.
Unlocking chapters is quite easily done, as you will need to earn a fixed amount of credits in a chapter, before unlocking the next one. Even though each chapter has three different courses, you can still keep playing the one you like the most and earn points to go to the next one. In a way, this makes the credit system rather useless, if you rather skip the racing missions, you can simply bypass them anyway. Nonetheless, it has some charm trying to win on all the different levels.
You’ll be able to add new cars to your garage quite gradually. As you make progress and unlock new chapters, some cars will become ‘steal worthy’ and thus you can add them to your collection of vehicles, if you wreck them during one of the many missions. If you do so, you’ll be able to use the vehicle in all of the missions from that point. The unlocking process might feel a tad too easy, as there is no more saving up for a car that you really like, before trying to aim for the rest of the cars.
Upgrading your vehicles can be done by finding upgrade tokens in all of the different stages. You’ll be able to upgrade your defense, engine and power, in order to live longer, drive faster and deal more damage. Keep in mind that each token will can only be used once, for one car at a time. This means that if you wish to upgrade many cars, you’ll have to do a hefty amount of exploring on all of the different tracks.
Power-ups and funny antics are still heavily present in this title of the Carmageddon series, as you’ll have many items that allow you to deform your opponents’ car, shoot them into the air, spit mines at them and so on. Of course, there are many items that make you stronger or have an influence on the innocent pedestrians. Nothing feels better than blowing up some non suspecting citizens first thing in the morning.
Even though everything feels like Carmageddon II, except for some subtle winks towards the other titles, sadly the controls feel quite dated as well. You’ll have a lot of difficulty keeping your vehicles under control although we can’t help but feel as if this was actually intended to keep things authentic. You’ll notice that steering will be harder than you’d expect and that drifting does not come that natural either, but in a game that revolves around crashing, it is actually quite amusing to see you crash over and over again. That being said, even though some of your opponents will hit you with pinpoint accuracy, you will often see them suffer as well. Nonetheless, it’s fun to overcome the so called ‘shoddy controls’, if it wasn’t for the atrocious camera angle the game often forces you in.
At the time of our test, the multiplayer mode was quite dead and thus we weren’t able to test this to the fullest. Nonetheless, this mode offers exactly the same options as the career or free play mode and thus the gameplay will remain the same.
Conclusion
Carmageddon: Reincarnation offers an enjoyable experience for those who can look behind the small flaws and certain changes that occurred over the years. Whilst some things may be considered incomplete, the game offers a real authentic Carmageddon experience and certain ‘annoying’ features are actually things that contribute towards the atmosphere of the older games. As it stands now, this game is a synonym for mindless fun but we hope to see some updates in the future, certainly to optimize the way it runs.
Carmageddon: Reincarnation - Review,
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