Freaky Flyers
| Freaky Flyers | |
|---|---|
 PAL region cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Midway Games |
| Publisher(s) | Midway Games |
| Designer(s) | Tom Tanaka |
| Composer(s) | David Norris |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Release date(s) | GameCube
|
| Genre(s) | Racing game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer (2 players) |
Freaky Flyers is an air racing video game developed internally by Midway San Diego for Xbox and PS2 while the GameCube version was developed by Point of View, Inc. and published by Midway Games. Freaky Flyers is a humorous, air racing game which incorporates other modes which make the game more open to larger gamers. The game is suitable for up to two players although some modes are not available in single gameplay.
Gaming modes
- Freaky Flyers adventure mode follows multiple character histories, each character has a story which develops as the player completes various challenges and missions.
- Racing Mode can be played by either one or two players, as the game has been designed for comical effect many of the tracks contain impossible missions and unorthodox challenges.
- Dog Fight mode is duelling, this mode is only available in two player mode. The idea is to shoot your opponent out of the sky before they can blow you up.
Mini-games are also included in the game. These involve various challenges such as shooting 'amigos' in the desert or rescuing non playable characters.
Characters
- Mick Bungadoo - Mick hails from the Australian Outback, where he spends most of his time running over random animals and subsequently cooking up roadkill. He's entered the Freaky Flyers competition to promote "Mick Bungadoo's Roadkill Restaurant". An eating establishment he created himself. He is the stereotypical loudmouth Australian bushman and dresses the part, complete with a big hat and even bigger boots.
- Myrna Bookbottom - Myrna Bookbottom is a meek, soft-spoken, well-mannered, cat loving librarian from England. A lifetime of reading adventure novels has left her with a desire to lead a life of real adventure outside of books. This has caused her to enter the Freaky Flyers competition for some real adventure. It is also implied that a lifetime of being ridiculously proper and restrained with no outlet has caused her to develop an alter ego in the persona of Margaret Basher. Myrna dresses in 1940s era female aviator's garb, large round glasses, and keeps her red hair in a typical librarian's bun. During the course of the competition, Myrna develops a crush on "the little chubby" Marcels Moreso Brother, eventually marrying him at the end of her storyline.
- Margaret Basher - Margaret Basher is Myrna Bookbottom's much more violent, outspoken, and downright rude alter ego. It's implied that Myrna developed Margaret after being so prim and proper with no outlet for her more undesirable traits. They share a "Jekyll and Hyde" type of relationship. Anytime Myrna gets angry or frustrated, she turns into Margaret and, in Myrna's words, "bad things happen." Margaret's solution to just about every problem is violence and more violence. The official biography in the game instruction manual states that Margaret has an extensive small arms collection and kicks cats in her spare time. Both Myrna and Margaret wish they could be rid of the other, and both make deals with Pilot X to help him win the competition, provided he helps them become separate. When he reneges on the deal, they challenge him to a final battle in outer space. This ending is slightly different from the other characters, where Pilot X challenges the winner of the race to a final battle for the title of Freaky Flyers Champion.During the course of the competition, Margaret develops a crush on the skinnier Marcels Moreso Brother, following a spirited chase across a European meadow, and eventually marries him at the end of her storyline. Margaret dresses in a black open collared shirt, white pants, knee high black boots, a red tie, and a pair of rainbow lensed sunglasses. Her red hair flows freely with the addition of a black hairband.
- Pauli Atchi - Pauli Atchi is a short crime boss who uses the occupation of a 'Sanitation Engineer' as a front for his operations. While he flies in the race, his mother, Mama Atchi, is busy running the syndicate in his place. This contributes to his ironic ending in adventure mood, where Mama is arrested for being the ruthless crime boss, while he's later arrested for impersonating a crime boss.
- Johnny Turbine - Johnny Turbine is the traditional handsome smiling idiot. Johnny has entered the race in order to gain some publicity and hopefully land a Hollywood contract. He manages to do this, and stars with his biological twin brother Andre Latoilette in 'The Atomic Twins Go To Mars to Save the Girl'. He also has a crush on Traci Torpedoes, despite that she doesn't return the affection.
- Traci Torpedoes - The pinnacle of German discipline, Traci has entered the Freaky Flyers race in order to bring honor to the German Air Force. During the course of her storyline in Adventure mood, she learns from Prof. Gutentag that she was in fact created by as part of the German Air Force's Project: Female Bombshell. She has 100 identical twin sisters who work in the 'Entertainment Industry'. At the end of her storyline, she and her sisters start Torpedoes Away Airlines.
- Andre Latoilette - A big, stinky French-Canadian lumberjack, Andre spent his childhood enslaving small woodland creatures and now uses them as his slaves and ammunition. Andre wants a brother, and discovers that Johnny Turbine is his lost twin-brother, though they look nothing alike now. He manages to land them both starring roles in 'The Atomic Brothers go to Mars and Save the Girl'.
- Cactus Rose - A feisty bandita from Mexico, Rose steals from the rich and gives to the poor...members of her bandit gang similar to Robin Hood. She entered the Freaky Flyers race for the fame that comes with winning. At the end of her Adventure Mood storyline, Rose is pardoned by the governor for winning the race.
- Island Jack - A stereotypical Jamaican Rastafari man, Island Jack is the laid back and mellow native from Danger Island. In fact, he's so laid back and mellow that the only reason he's in the race is because the Chief had him stuffed into a sack, had the sack tossed into his plane and the plane set on Autopilot. At the end of his Adventure Mood storyline, Jack is made the commander of the Danger Island Air Force, in another sack-stuffing recruitment.
- Marcel Moreso Bros - Conjoined twin mimes from Paris the Marcel Moreso Bros. entered the Freaky Flyers race in order to find their long-lost mother. After several false leads, the brothers decide to undergo surgery in order to become separate. Right before the operation, they find the nurse is the mother they've been looking for. Although she decides to abandon them all over again, as she can't stand mimes.
- Sheik Abdul - A billionaire oil sheik, Abdul tries to come off as the man in charge, the fact is he's so badly whipped that his conglomerate, His & Haren, Inc., is actually controlled by his harem!(A harem he would like Traci to join, by the way) Ultimately, the harem has him downsized, and he is reduced to working at Humpy's Chicken Hut, with his camel, Humpy.
- Prof. Gutentag and S.V.E.N. 209 - A brilliant scientist from Switzerland, whose company, Gutentag Industries, specializes in cuckoo clocks, Prof. Gutentag flies on his robot, S.V.E.N. 209. The professor has entered the race in order to prove himself the greatest mind in the world, though he is not above making a deal with aliens like Pilot X. He is also the instigator for the events leading to the Adventure Mode mini games, Intestinal Track and Torpedo Run, using Pilot X's alien technology and his army of flying monkeys. Playing as Prof. Gutentag does not exempt you from these events, as S.V.E.N. 209 misuses the shrink ray and the monkeys revolt.
- Baron Von Slaughter - Crudely sewn together from human body parts ala Frankenstein, the Baron was made, not born, in a small village in western Romania. However, he wasn't made very well, as during many of his Adventure Mode cut scenes one of his body parts falls off. His village entered him in the Freaky Flyers race in order to become an internationally famous and to revive the town's tourist industry. He also wants a wife, which the village makes for him at the end of his storyline.
- Sammy Wasabi - Japan's top secret weapons and aeronautics engineer, Sammy makes planes so complex only he can use them. Sammy is a prankster who plays jokes on several of the other characters, though he ultimately gets his comeuppance in the end.
- Pilot X - An alien from outer space, Pilot X claims to be the greatest aviator in the galaxy. His imposing appearance is only put off by his loud, whiney voice. At the end of each storyline in Adventure Mode, Pilot X will appear before the player in disguise, unmask himself, and challenge the player to a battle in outer space, leading to the final Adventure Mode mini game, X, where the player fights X in his battlesuit, Robo X. X cannot be played in Adventure Mode, where he acts as the final boss, but rather in the other modes, where he flies his black UFO.
Unlockable Characters
- Chef Mick
- S.V.E.N (Piloted by Monkey)
- The Marcel Clowns
- Sambot 5000
- Monkey Pie
- Stewardess Traci
- Sanitation Pauli
- Big Foot
- Andrew B Pirate
- Olga Von Slaughter
- Harem Dogfighter
- Chester Money Maker
- Wally Gremlin
- Atomic Andre
- Atomic Johnny
- Human Baron
- Lt. Island Jack
- La Diablo Chiquita
- Chicken Hut Sheik
Reception
The game received mixed/positive reception from critics.[1][2][3]