Fastlane Carnage

Released

Release Date: November 24, 2005

Fastlane Carnage is a powerful arcade simulator of illegal prosecution with showcases armed to the bumpers. Set in the near future, it offers great, old-fashioned entertainment packed in modern audiovisual packaging.

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Fastlane Carnage is a powerful arcade simulator of illegal prosecution with showcases armed to the bumpers. Set in the near future, it offers great, old-fashioned entertainment packed in modern audiovisual packaging. Anyone who has played DeathTrack or Death Rally for hours in the past should have a closer look at the French production from Parallax Factory.

The plot of this racer looks very gloomy. As a result of the strong domination of capitalism, the differences between the social strata have widened dramatically, forcing the majority of the population to live in slums and areas where the rule of law does not exist and drug gangs rule the streets indivisibly. The millionaires, who wanted to isolate themselves from the barbaric homage as quickly as possible, erected huge walls, equipped with numerous "safety measures". Without a sufficient amount of money, you cannot get to a better, civilized world. The situation is therefore quite clear - the player takes on the role of an individual living on the outskirts of the city, who wants to break out of this swamp at any price. Unfortunately, he does not suffer from excess money, and the work of a smuggler, drug dealer or prostitute is not particularly profitable. The only chance is to buy a car (or rather a slightly renovated pile of scrap metal) and take part in underground competitions, in which the only rule is no rules at all.

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I don't think there's a need for more explanations anymore. After choosing a car, we can only afford to enrol in the underground amateur league. The fight on the track is observed from a classic bird's eye view (as in Death Rally or Micro Machines) or from a third person's perspective (a'la Ignition, Rollcage or ReVolt). Each season consists of a series of races, during which we compete on two levels: rallying and destructive. A higher position on the finish line guarantees points in the first one, and a large amount of damage done to rivals automatically translates into profits in the second category, with both points having the same weight and adding up in the general ranking. Of course, in order to be a certain triumph in the league, we have to try to score the maximum number of points in both categories. After each race, we scrape out more or less money, which we then invest in strengthening the car (with a choice of thicker armour, better acceleration, higher maximum speed and more traction tyres) or equipping it with more powerful weapons (from the classic machine gun through grenades and mines to Railgun). Moreover, as befits a self-respecting rally driver, we have our own flat, which unfortunately does not inspire optimism at first. If cash allows us, we bring to the apartment more equipment (TV set, columns, new floor, table, etc.), making it more attractive and pleasing to the eye.

A very important element of Fastlane Carnage is multiplayer mode, offering entertainment on the local network and over the Internet. In this second variant we use the built-in IRC, through which we set up for the next games and exchange impressions from the last match. In addition to the standard league ("Rennen"), for which we set the number of races and starting capital, we can play Deathmatch car (set timelimit and/or fraglimit and the number and order of tracks played, and then we go for bars, or rather masks) or something like King of the Hill ("Highlander") mode - the survivor wins. The murderous rivalry and rapid action is accompanied by great music (hip-hop), performed by artists from the German label Aggro Berlin, such as B-Tight and Tony D (just visit the official game website to experience samples of their possibilities). Visually, the game does not offer shocking effects, but it looks decent and has relatively low hardware requirements.

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