| Carmageddon | |
|---|---|
European cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Stainless Games |
| Publisher(s) | SCi, Interplay |
| Series | Carmageddon |
| Engine | BRender |
| Platform(s) | DOS (1997), Macintosh (1997), PlayStation (1999), Nintendo 64 (2000), Game Boy Color (2001) |
| Release date(s) | June 30, 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Vehicular combat |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: M, T (GBC) BBFC: 18 OFLC: MA15+ ELSPA: 15+ (cut) USK: 12 (cut) |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM |
Carmageddon is the first of a series of graphically violent vehicular combat video games produced by Stainless Games, published by Interplay and SCi. It was inspired by the 1975 cult classic movie Death Race 2000.
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In Carmageddon, the player races a vehicle against a number of other computer controlled competitors in various settings, including city, mine and industrial areas. The player has a certain amount of time to complete each race, but more time may be gained by collecting bonuses, damaging the competitors' cars or by running over pedestrians. Races are completed by either completing the course as one would a normal racing game, "wasting" (wrecking) all other race cars, or killing all pedestrians on the level.
The game featured instrumental versions of songs from Fear Factory's album Demanufacture, with the song Zero Signal being used in the game's intro. The other songs from the album that appear are Demanufacture and Body Hammer.
The game that became Carmageddon started out as "3D Destruction Derby", a Banger racing sim prototyped by Stainless Software. This was signed by SCi in 1995, but the banger-racing angle was soon dropped and for a while the game was to use the Mad Max license. This fell through, and was replaced by the Death Race 2000 license, as a sequel to the original film was at that time planned (it eventually emerged as a comic book).[1] This introduced the running-over of pedestrians into the game. When this license also fell through, SCi and Stainless took the decision to proceed with the game anyway, creating their own IP. The name "Carmageddon" was coined, and development proceeded with the designers allowed unusually free rein with regard to the content of the game.
Carmageddon was originally released on the PC (for DOS) in 1997, but was eventually ported to Microsoft Windows (1997), Macintosh (1997), PlayStation (1999), Nintendo 64 (2000) and Game Boy Color (2001). The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions of Carmageddon are more similar to Carmageddon II. The Nintendo 64 port was ill-received, being N64 Magazine's lowest rated game at 8% from 1999 till 2004. A port of the first game was in development for the Gizmondo, but was never released due to the system's demise.
| Carmageddon | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 89.60%[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| GamePro | 4/5[2] |
| Game Revolution | B+[3] |
| GameSpot | 8.8/10[4] |
| PC Zone UK | 95/100[2] |
The game was notable for its ground-breaking physics and in-game movie making features. It was also one of the earliest examples of sandbox 3D driving games, and may have influenced other later games including Driver and the Grand Theft Auto series. According to the co-founders of Stainless Games, the Carmageddon series sold around two million copies in total.[1]
In many countries (including Germany and, for a short time, the UK), the first release of the game was censored. They contained zombies with green blood or robots with black oil instead of people, as running over the non-human figures was considered more acceptable by their respective ratings boards. In the UK, SCi wanted to gain publicity for the game by submitting it to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to get an 18 rating, even though this was not necessary as the game contained no video footage. This backfired when the BBFC refused to certify the game unless all blood and gore was removed. After 10 months of appeal, the BBFC certified the original version.[5] In some countries, the game was banned completely, including Brazil.[6] In Portugal and Australia the game was passed completely uncut with an +18 and MA15+ rating, respectively.[7]
The Carmageddon Splat Pack is an official expansion pack released in 1997. The expansion pack included new tracks, vehicles, environments, network levels and 3Dfx support. The Carmageddon Max Pack, also released in 1997, bundled the original game and its expansion pack into one package. As a bonus, it also included a strategy guide, mousepad, and a leather car key chain with Carmageddon's logo on it.
The game was successful enough to become a trilogy. The other games in the main series are:
SCi had originally planned Carmageddon 4 for a late 2005 release. Little to no information was released about the game, then SCi (now owned by Eidos) put development on hold for unspecified reasons.[9] SCi and Eidos went on to focus on other projects, while Square Enix Europe obtained the series IP rights. On June 1, 2011, Stainless Games revealed that they had re-acquired the rights to Carmageddon. A new title, Carmageddon: Reincarnation, is in early development for a 2012 release.[10]
In July 2011, the City of Los Angeles launched a massive media campaign under the title "Carmageddon" to warn drivers about a major closure on the 405 Freeway during the weekend of July 15–17.[11] Stainless Games capitalized on the coincidence to promote the new release by announcing on the official web site during that time that "L.A. Celebrates Carmageddon" and "Yes, it’s official! The news that Carmageddon is back has been such a hit in California, that the authorities have decided to dedicate a whole weekend to the game!"[12]
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