Latest Previews
Midnight Club: Los Angeles - Hands OnStar Wars: The Force Unleashed - Hands OnToo Human - Hands OnRaven Squad - First LookQuantum Of Solace - First LookUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for FX RacingWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
FX Racing - First Look Preview
Derek dela Fuente
20/01/2004
From the creators of Racing Evoluzione and the Screamer series comes a new multi-format online racer...
There has never been a dearth of racing games on the PC or console but FX Racing has that little something special that could make it stand out from the pack. Milestone, the developer, has a wealth of racing game experience as a company, so this certainly helps ensure that making an exciting and innovative driving title is somewhat second nature. With an exceptionally talented team, including some of the original members of the team that made Superbike, Racing Evoluzione (Apex Racing in the US) and even people from the original Screamer, 10 years ago, appears they have lots on offer! We spoke with David Goldfarb, the Game Designer.
âHere at Milestone we have shipped motorcycle games (Superbike /2000/1/ Championship), pure racing games (Screamer and Screamer 2), and Racing Evoluzione, that was arguably the first of its kind, a genuinely innovative driving simulation which put the player in the dual roles of car designer and driver. So we think we have pretty good breadth and depth in our shipped titles, and we hope to extend that even further with FX Racing.â
Although billed as arcade action racing attention to physics, to ensure the stunts and driving comes over as authentic, also allows for good skill levels for the gamer. There will not be a vast array of silly controls to activate spins, etc. The team made a conscious decision to keep the game playable, simple to understand and fun for everyone.
âFX Racing is a throwback to classic gaming, games like Mario Kart, Rock and Roll Racing, maybe even a bit of Stunt Car Racer. The playerâs goal is to progress through the three different leagues of competition while amassing as much money and sundry other goodies as they possibly can. Weâve filled the game with many unlockables, some of which are very well-hidden.â
To add an extra dimension to the super-charged, race action, players are also able to perform stunts, like jumps, spins, power slides and two-wheeling, which will earn them a variety of weapons for use against their opponents. With 18 challenging tracks based across three visually stunning worlds â“ Egypt, Transylvania and Tokyo â“ there are great opportunities for spectacular stunts. The better the stunt the better the rewards â“ with weapons like Earthquake, Fireball, Timeshot, Thief and Cyclone available to players.
Players earn FX points by collecting them in the course of the race, achieving certain conditions in the race, or simply by placing high enough in the race. The team has foregone the customized vehicle route for FX Racing, as they wanted a simpler and more immediate experience for the player!
Focus on the Mutliplayer aspects via Xbox Live!, PS2 Online or Internet has been a strong emphasis for the team!
âWeâve been careful to add multiplayer modes which do more than just repeat the single-player experience; things like Destruction Derby and Wrecking Ball game types, which take advantage of our robust vehicle damage system while offering the player a different kind of game play entirely. Then there are more traditional modes, which echo the single-player experience (quick race and the like). Hopefully we have struck a good balance.â
There are 11 base vehicle types in the game. Each vehicle type has two other variants â“ a tuned variant and an FX variant, for a total of 33 different car types. These are vehicles that are based on the initial vehicle type but âtweakedâ in both performance and visual appearance.
Two examples of cars and weapons were explained.
âCypress: your basic London Cab with a monstrous engine. Itâs ungainly and doesnât turn well, but itâs terrific for battering your opponents to pieces. Mamba: the Mamba is a high-priced piece of kit to be sure, but its performance is second to none.â
âEarthquake: knocks other vehicles in the blast radius into the air (and frequently off the track), great for pesky tailgaters, since it works in a radius. Flamethrower: sets the unfortunate victimâs car afire. Has the secondary effect of compromising the grip of that vehicle. Melted rubber, anyone?â
Players will perform stunts to earn weapons in the course of the race. They can use these weapons against other players to knock them off the track, slow them down, set them on fire, steal opponentsâ weapons, among other things. There is a pretty fine balance between racing and earning weapons; typically weaker racers tend to gravitate to the pure racing strategy, only picking up weapons when itâs in the racing flow. Better racers are able to execute stunts in the course of the race without losing time and usually are more able to deploy weapons to affect their competition.
Generally speaking all the stunts are things a player can do fairly easily without affecting their racing time, and the more difficult the stunt, the more reward for executing it successfully. Two-wheeling, for instance (driving on two wheels) for a certain amount of time, earns the player the Timestop weapon, which slows time to a crawl in the blast radius for all opposing players.
Crash and smash is a good signature theme - too many games do not have vehicle deformation but FX does!
âThere is some very significant damage modeling â“ pieces flying off into the air, sparks, damage textures, and so on. In fact, this was one of the reasons we created custom multiplayer modes like Wrecking Ball â“ it was in order to take advantage of all the damage modeling work we did. Plus we just enjoy smashing stuff up!â
With 18 tracks and three worlds how pertinent to this is plenty of variety?
âThe worlds do in fact require different sorts of driving skills, since there are different types of surfaces in each, different obstacles, and so on. We would have really liked to focus on environmental effects a good deal more, but it was one of the things we had to sacrifice for performance.â
To many gamers, it is sometimes down to pure innovations and great looks that are the real enriching factors so what have the team to offer in these stakes?
âWe think our physics-based stunt and weapons systems are really different, well-tuned, and enjoyable; the immense variety of vehicles and tracks; the dramatic sense of speed when a player uses nitro, and even our unique Award system. Coupled with a broad array of multiplayer modes as well as Xbox Live functionality.
