Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now

Playing this game is like reliving one of the most important parts of my childhood! ...well... maybe not the most important, but at least one that contains a lot of fun, and a bit frustration at some points! The sequel to Carmageddon managed to to deliver an even better car-crash-dead-pedestrian-mayham experience than the original. There are some boss levels now, there'a zoo with animals just waiting to be handled and a lot of cool stuff to discover! One downside compared to Carmageddon is that there is no more portrait of Max Damage or that Chick (I don't remember her name because I never took her... something with "Anna" I think) and hence no more commentaries. Apart from that, everything just feels better than the first part of the series, and it's so great to see that this title finally found its way to GOG!

The cartoonish physics are still there, but cars no longer just crumble into a blackened heap of polygons; windows shatter, fenders fall off, cars even split in half when hit with sufficient force, and even pedestrians can be torn into bits. Level design is a bit iffy though and some of the maps are just disguised stunt tracks, and while the first game did a great job at world-painting a kind of bleak dystopian urban environments, C2 makes no effort to make itself look futuristic. I also feel that some of the humour of the original has been lost here. But in terms of pure vehicular carnage and manslaughter, C2 is easily one of the best.

Make no mistake, this game is not a racing game. Not really anyway. I mean yes, there are tracks and if you were to race through them and beat everyone else to the finish line of the final lap, I assume you would win. I say "assume" here because I am not sure I ever tried that. You would really have to be aching for some sort of hardcore challenge to be actually racing against other cars in this game. The best means of winning the races in Carmageddon 2 is to destroy the other automobiles. Pull over after the race starts, turn around and drive right at the other drivers. This may sound kind of boring to some, but I assure you it is not. There is no greater thrill in video games than pulling off impossibly acrobatic maneuvers while destroying other vehicles. You earn money and points by performing these stunts and damaging and destroying other vehicles and this money can be spent immediately to repair damage to your own car (by hitting the backspace key IIRC). When you destroy cars in races you are then able to select those cars to drive yourself in future races. After every three or so races you win in the campaign game you must complete a mission. These missions vary from jumping your car across multiple rooftops to destroy satellite dishes to trying to take out people in an air traffic control tower. They get increasingly more difficult as you progress. Some of the latter missions are nearly impossible to complete but you will have a ton of fun trying.

I really liked the first game in the series and its expansion but there's something about the sequel that feels incredibly lacking. For one, the gritty art style of the first game is completely absent. I don't blame the developers too much. This was around the time when everything was going through the awkward 'full 3d' transition and some things were lost along the way. A necessary growing pain but not something you want to be reminded of. This also doesn't excuse all of the poor design choices. While the graphic engine is superior in terms of performance, the 3d civilians are goofy, the car designs are uninspired, the worlds are devoid of personality, and the missions, my god the missions... I don't know how anyone could consider the missions fun or useful to the formula. I understand wanting to introduce some variety but some are so unforgiving, it's more an exercise in frustration than a break from the normal mindless gameplay. Also, the soundtrack doesn't hold a candle to the original. I'm not a fan of industrial or metal, but at least Carmegeddon's soundtrack fit the tone it was going for. Carmegeddon 2's soundtrack would fit better in a Tony Hawk game rather than a game about causing destruction. Some tracks are good but there are some genuine stinkers and a severe inconsistency in tone. I'm not sure if it's exclusive to my version but one of the tracks plays twice for whatever reason. This makes the one song more annoying than usual.