Carmageddon Max Pack

Carmageddon is a superb title that still holds up well, me thinks. There's no denying there's a heavy load of 90s cheese smeared all over it, from character names like "Die Anna" and "Wanda Lust" to the games general attitude, but that's by no means a bad thing. It at least has a personality. The game itself is a demolition derby style racer, but with a twist: Instead of private courses with pedestrians safely cordoned to the sides, they are left in the streets and the player is rewarded with time and points for mercilessly running them down! It's tasteless but it is at least self aware and done in a silly manner, from the animals clearly voiced by some office intern to details like the flag waver being impaled by - of course - the flag. The wonky physics, while taking some time to get used to, add to the fun - it is perfectly normal in Carmageddon to fly and slide willy nilly while crashing like mad into other racers and pedestrians, it's chaotic but unquestionably fun. There are a lot of maps to play through, even if some do feel like they are just flips of previous maps and certain themes and textures do get repetitive and it isn't exactly a great looking game for 1997. Nonetheless, this is a very entertaining ride and one of the more chaotic and memorably silly combat racer games of its era.

Good game!

...but quickly boring. This game has so many problems that makes it frustrating better than fun. First, the progression system. You have to progress from rank 99 up to rank 1. To do so, you have to collect credits in each mission, varying with the difficulty setting. I admit I have cheated the main game data file to progresse faster. In normal mode, I couldn't rank up more than once per race up to 77 ! With the credits you collect you can respawn and repair, but it costs to eyeballs each time ! You gain 3k credits wasting an opponent in normal mode, it costs 2k to respawn, and as you end upside down for almost each jump or collision you do, you paying a total 30k just to be able to play, thanks to a weird management of physics. Overall manoeuverability is mediocre, it's hard to take any turn or just make 180° in this game, whatever your vehicle is. Cars unlock REEEEEEALLY slowly. Through the 99 ranks, you can mostly unlock around 5 cars. Useful cars are unlocked towards the end of course, but you'll mainly use the starter car which is too well balanced besides other cars. When you finished the game, you unlock the 25 other cars by default, which of course are more useful than those unlocked through game's course. AI is really dumb, seriously. The game's mostly a competition based game, with bot AI rather than basic NPCs, but while they should hit anyne within their range, they team up against the player, ending with the player bouncing from an opponent, to a police car, to another opponent. Races are shortly timed, to gain time you can either crush peds, ram cars or hit green barrels, but sometimes you're just stucked between opponent cars at the beginning, you can't gain time, you lose in 30 seconds. How fun. To end this, the last course I had took me ONE HOUR AND A HALF, because I tried to wreck an unwreckable opponent, and ended finishing a 12 laps, wario stadium lenght like race. Alone. Seriosuly, fun the first half, boring the second.

Now, not everyone knows about this, but the expansion Splat Pack is standalone; you can't join it with the original Carmageddon (unless GoG did it, somehow), which is probably what most people want! Then, there's the Splat Patch, which does just that. It takes both parts of the game and combines it into a wonderful, ultimate package. Wanna race a Splat Pack car in the original tracks, or the other way around? Wanna race all the tracks from both parts into one enourmous campaign? Well, now you can! Unfortunately, however, the version at Wasted! is totally broken and corrupted, and I lost my own copy a decade ago, so unless GoG or the devs can add the Splat Patch as an Extra, this will not be possible. There's also the chance someone makes their own version of the patch, who knows. Until then, enjoy one of the greatest racing games in history, and BY FAR the best in the series.

Carmageddon is probably the best racing game of all time. Seriously...practically limitless freedom, incredible physics that still makes your jaw drop today, and some of the most creative gameplay of any racing title. It set the standards, and after a quick playthrough once more of the GOG release, I can say that it still stands up to the test of time. Granted, I play in a special hi-rez setup, but seeing this on GOG just means that a true classic has finally been given it's just due. If you have never played Carmageddon, stop what you're doing right now and get it! You will not be disappointed! And here's to Carmageddon: Reincarnation! I can't wait to play! Big love to the Stainless guys! You are the bomb!