Reviewed: July 17, 2008
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
KOEI
Developer
KOEI Canada
Released: June 19, 2008
Genre: Racing
Players: 1-2
Online: 8
8
8
7
8
8.4
Supported Features:
Fatal Inertia EX has finally arrived for the PlayStation 3 as a featured download title. Previously released last year on the Xbox 360, KOEI Canada brings their futuristic racing game to the PlayStation Store complete with new controls, enhanced graphics, and a complete engine overhaul using the Unreal engine.
KOEI is known for several famous brands such as the popular Dynasty Warriors, but you seldom associate the developer with racing games. But for those who simply cannot wait any longer for Sony to release Wipeout HD, this latest futuristic hovercraft racing title will certainly fill the bill. Fatal Inertia EX offers a surprisingly robust racing experience with 50 twisting courses spread across 7 large outdoor environments that, unlike Wipeout, allow you to plot your own path through a sequence of checkpoints, often using hidden shortcuts. It’s not total freedom, but it’s a lot more open racing that you’ll ever get in a Wipeout game.
And while Wipeout offers you multiple vehicles with unique racing abilities, Fatal Inertia EX offers even more types of race craft as well as a garage component that allows you to mix and match custom parts for more than 1.3 million possible visual combinations. And then you have performance upgrades that account for another 15,000 possible ways to enhance your vehicles between race events.
Fatal Inertia EX is a fairly straightforward racing experience. You can either jump into a Quick Race or head into the Career mode where you can start making your way through a lengthy list of event series made up of multiple tracks and race styles. For better or worse, once you start an event series you cannot quit or restart a race within that series, which means no “restarts” if you start to suck. You either forfeit and take the 0 points or you do the best you can and hope your combined score is enough to win the series.
As you finish events and win races you will start to unlock more custom parts for your garage that you can use to enhance any of the available vehicles. Each vehicle has specific attributes for speed, acceleration, handling, and mass and these can all be modified by upgrading wings, noses, and cockpit designs. Your choices will be locked in for the entire series of four races, so you often have to figure out the best blend of speed vs. handling which isn’t always easy since you don’t know which tracks are coming up.
Controls are tight with highly responsive analog steering using the left stick. Fatal Inertia EX also supports the SIXAXIS motion control but it only took about 2-3 attempts to figure out this was highly unreliable and best left turned off. When you are skimming land and sea at Mach 3 you don’t want sluggish controls. The X button is your gas and the Square is your brake. You can do a cool combo press for about 2 seconds to build up a power-brake burst charge that will slow you down for a moment then shoot you forward like a rocket. This is great for a jump off the starting line if you can time it right.
The L2 and R2 act as air brakes, great for sliding around tight turns, but even more useful when you double-tap triggering a barrel roll in either direction – great for dodging incoming fire or dislodging magnetic mines stuck to your hull. The L1 and R1 fire whatever weapon you have loaded at the time. You collect weapons by running over weapon pads scattered along the course. Most weapons have dual modes or in the case of magnetic mines, can be fired forward or behind you. Some modes are rather ingenious like the missile. You can either fire it forward (R1) or tap into its power source for a burst of speed (L1) – quite literally strapping a rocket to your back.
You also have a nice assortment of defensive tactics including an EMP weapon that will stall out nearby racers, a smoke screen that you can fire forward or back to hide a hairpin turn, or a cloaking shield that will offer you temporary invulnerability. The offensive and defense weapon variety is pretty clever and fun to use. If you get something you don’t like or can’t use then tap down on the D-pad to drop it and free yourself for the next weapon pad.
There is one other weapon (or tool) that deserves special mention. You can fire this elastic cable and either attach your own ship to the landscape, allowing you to slingshot around a sharp turn, or you can attach to another racer to slingshot past them. Or, if you want to get particularly devious, you can fire the other end of the cable to stick another racer to the landscape or another racer then watch them struggle to free themselves.
There are several race events including speed trials where all the power-ups are speed enhancements and you are simply sprinting for the finish line to set a record time. Combat points aren’t really an issue in this race type. Then you have Knockout mode where the person in last place after each lap is removed from the race until there is only the winner left. Magnet Mayhem is a vicious race mode where everyone has an unlimited supply of regenerating magnetic mines that you can fire forward and behind. Once these mines stick to your hull you have seconds to dislodge them before they explode and damage your ship. You can knock these mines off by doing a barrel roll or a power-brake boost.
In addition to race points you will also earn combat points based on the effectiveness of your weapons use. This score is tracked separately and used to break any ties if the race points should come up equal between two racers. Race and Combat point records are tracked on their own leaderboards and can earn your special rewards in the garage.
Fatal Inertia EX offers two-player split-screen for local multiplayer racing or you can head online for races with up to 7 other people over the PS Network. The performance of these online races seems to be getting better. When I first started playing the framerate has some issue and there was some network lag. It’s much better now thanks to some performance patches.
Fatal Inertia EX is an interesting mix of rather bland ship designs and uber-cool race environments. Regardless of how much you redesign your ship with custom wings and apply various decals they look like molded pieces of shiny plastic. They lack that edge or realism you get with the racers in a game like Wipeout. There is one racer that looks like a stretch Cadillac taken from the movie, The Fifth Element.
There are some nice camera options available for racing as well as watching the race replays. I tried the cockpit view and while the sensation of speed is amazing it was just too hard to keep things under control, and I ended up going with the chase view of my ship, which not only allowed for much better control, it allowed me to see when mines were stuck to my ship.
The gorgeous landscapes steal the show with courses twisting through lush beachfronts, steamy jungles, freezing arctic tundra, boiling volcanic crust, and dusty deserts. While there are only 7 main areas, the 50 tracks weave original paths through these landscapes, so there is always something new to see as well as familiar landmarks.
There is a modest selection of techno-style race music, which is pretty much what you’d expect from a game such as this. It certainly pales in comparison to the licensed European DJ mixes we’ve seen in the Wipeout titles and what is being promised in the next Wipeout HD game, but it gets the job done and you can always play your own MP3’s if you need something more.
The sound effects are excellent with a nice variety of effects for the weapons and power-ups. Most of the time you simply hear the whine of the engine or the whoosh when you kick in a turbo or boost power-up. The surround mix wasn’t all that noticeable, but there was a good level of bass effects – especially for crashes and explosions.
The solo Career mode will take you a lot more time than you think. It’s a lengthy series of events and by not having the ability to restart a race in mid-series, you will often have to replay entire events just to win, let alone get a perfect score. While you do get rewards for coming in first place, you also unlock special visual upgrades for coming in first in all four races. Plan on 12-15 hours to finish the game and 20-30 to complete it.
The online multiplayer will definitely extend your enjoyment of this racing title once you have conquered the Career mode and defeated all your friends in split-screen races. While the built-in AI is extremely aggressive, nothing can beat a human opponent…or seven of them.
Fatal Inertia EX costs only $30 as a PS Store download, which is half of what the Xbox 360 version cost when it debuted last year. Considering this version has been tweaked and refined to play a lot better on the PS3, if you haven’t already played Fatal Inertia on the 360 then EX has been worth your wait.
Fatal Inertia EX is a solid racing title that offers a slightly unique approach to futuristic hovercraft combat racing complete with large environments, varied course designs, and a limited, yet functional garage element that allows you nearly unlimited freedom in tweaking your race craft, both in looks and performance.
Luckily, this game released before Wipeout HD, because I fear that once Sony’s signature racing title hits the PS Store it will overshadow all competitors in the genre, just by name and reputation alone. But for those looking to hone their high-speed racing and combat skills in the great outdoors, Fatal Inertia EX is a great place to race.