This is one of the cases where a 'sequel' has not much to do with the original. Yes, the graphics are a step up, but it still feels lifeless. Yes, there are more cars and different races, BUT the point of the first game was racing with nitro-powered, heavily armed and armored muscle cars. Not happening here - battle races require you to rent a special car for a special racing circuit. What we've got here is a run-of-the-mill arcade racer. Compare it to the Carmageddon series, which came out at the same time and did the 'violent racing' much better. Maybe because it was developed in Germany, which has quite the history with censoring "violent" games... this feels toothless. Again, maybe one for the nostalgics. Everyone else will probably be disappointed.
Back when I started gaming, this was one of these cool things you saw in the gaming zines. When I finally got to play it, it was rather meh. Pro: Rather creative race tracks with loops, jumps etc. Cool idea of setting Con: limted car choice (Chevy Impala '57, Ford Mustang, Dragster with rocket boost) The further you advance, the less opponents on track (with the Dragsters, it's one-one-one) Limited graphics and sound (I remember the machine gun sounding rather like a popcorn machine) No multiplayer (fine for me, but I see this is an issue when it comes to racing games) No damage model Certainly nice to see one of "my" games returning, but in today's day and age quite outdated. One of those for nostalgia collectors.
It feels and plays just like some 1990/2000 classic, along the lines of Quake or, more modern, Ion Fury. The optics are fittingly old - the cultists are indeed the old "models" before the 2020 redesign, same goes for the Chaos Space Marines. If you are into WH40K and especially Space Marines, you will probably feel right at home. The enemies behave like expected from tabletop, your weapons do as they should. So far the best game that came out of the grim, dark future of the 40th century. Bonus points for including a truly Tzeenchian map that is really able to erode your sanity.
It plays like naval combat in space - only turning left and right, firing broadsides. Not what one expects from this kind of game. And controls are very obviously laid out for console gamers. Plus a lack of some obvious options - no in-flight inventory control/freight management, for example. But strangely, these deficits don't even matter when you're flying across this galaxy, looking for bounties (and selling their stuff). This game works excellently, plain and simple.
