Rollcage Developer: Attention To Detail Publisher: Psygnosis Category: : 3D Combat Racing System Req: Pentium II 266 MHz with 32Mb RAM. 200 Mb hard disk space 8x CD-ROM. 3D accelerated card. Might look like: Dethkarz, SCARS Date posted: 15 June 1999 Written By: Geert - This game was reviewed on an AMD K6 200 Mhz, with 72 Mb Ram, Win98 and a Voodoo2 12 mb - We also test other games on "PlayDevil.com Game Machine" Introduction It seems the art of cloning has come to the race-gameworld. Of course, we all know that "Command & Conquer" is the most cloned baby in the real time strategy genre, but for a couple of months, things were very quiet in the boxes of the arcade racers. Well, until now. In a short period, several of pure arcade race-games have been released. A short enumeration: "Dethkarz", "Powerslide", "Mad Trax", "S.C.A.R.S",... At this moment, another non-simulation race game has hit the streets: Rollcage. Has Rollcage enough horses under the bonnet to stand up against the heavy competition? Lets Rollcage! The crappy manual tells us that the pilots in Rollcage ( called "rollcagers") are renegades who've made a conscious effort to make their sport as violent as possible after it achieved widespread popularity. Huh? A story isn't that important after all in a race game, so why bother? The Menu After a nice intro, the menu already set the mood. No slow moving or long loading times with those menus, no, fast and heavy action in the menu. First of all, I adapt the option menu to my favors. Nice! Rollcage has no problem with all the buttons on my MS sidewinder gamepad (in contrast of many other games). Even the graphical options menu gives no problems. Allright, let's start the game! The options to race are very like other arcade racers (what did you expect?). Arcade (single race), League and time attack. If you want to try out all the circuits before starting a league, you have to choose the arcade mode, where you can jump in action against five or seven competitors. The leagues differ in length: the harder you take the difficulty setting, the more races are included. The time-attack mode doesn't need an explanation I think (for the people who really want one: try to beat the best times on a certain track).    So, what's new here? Choose one of six vehicles and get ready for high-speed action at its best! The freedom to drive anywhere you want is expanded in Rollcage. While there are boundaries on the side of the track they are usually set a good distance from the track and are delimited by terrain (walls or fences) and force fields that light up when you hit them, making them much more believable than the sometimes arbitrary-seeming boundaries in other racing games (if you have played "Need for Speed" or "Screamer" you know what I mean). First remarkable thing: the wheels of the cars are abnormal big. A couple of minutes later I understand why: Rollcage adds a new dimension to race games: "flippable cars". If you turn over you can just keep going upside down. This comes very much in handy, because sometimes after a spin your car will be completely out of control, and drive up against the walls. When your car lands, you can immediately race further. Another advantage of the flippable cars: if you're stuck behind the leader in a tight tunnel, just climb the walls and zip by on the ceiling!    The meaning of each race is of course to finish first, and to accomplish that goal, there are several ways available. Thanks to the fully 3D environment, all the objects on the track are completely destructible: buildings, trees, even the finish construction. To destroy these objects, you have to ride against it, or you can use a power-up. Power-ups are scattered along the track and you can pick them up by simply riding over it. Homing missiles automatically target the weakest part of structures, letting you bring the walls tumbling down without slowing your own car down. By blowing up these structures, you can at the same moment, hinder the other cars. You can also target a vehicle in front of you and flip it out of control. The time warp slows down every car on the track except yours, a brilliant power-up. Leader missiles take out the lead car - DON'T use this when you are first :); the driller bores through almost everything in its path; an ice sheet makes opponents lose nearly all their traction; and the wormhole lets you leapfrog past the car directly in front of you. And power-ups aren't limited to offensive weapons, either. Turbo boosts your speed until the scenery is just a blur, and the shield protects you from enemy weapons and decreases the chance of spinouts after collisions. The weapons are all well chosen. At first, when I found out there wasn't a standard built-in weapon, I sadly thought at those lovely times with Dethkarz. After a short period, however, you don't want it, or need it anyway, because the power-ups are so great. Most of the power-ups have never before appeared in a game, and I wish these wonderfully power-ups could come in every game. Just fantastic! Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. 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