Reviewed: October 12, 2003
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Midway

Developer
Midway

Released: August 4, 2003
Genre: Racing
Players: 2
ESRB: Teen

8
8
9
7
8.8

Supported Features:

Of course I am talking about Freaky Flyers, Midway’s latest multi-platform racing game that combines some of the most hilarious animated caricatures in the history of gaming with one of the most solid airplane racing games since Plane Crazy. Everything about Freaky Flyers screams high budget, high profile production values starting with the opening number that had me checking the credits to make sure they hadn’t gone and hired Weird Al.

The opening movie, crazy cast of 15 original characters, each with their own story told through brilliantly designed movies, classic game show announcer style narrations, and a solid racing engine make this a must have for racing fans on any system even though today’s review will cover the specifics of the Xbox version.

Races are exactly that. You are up against the entire Freaky Flyers’ cast in a three-lap race around some of the most original aerial courses in racing history. You’ll be flying through the Wild West in one level only to find yourself on a tropical Danger Island full of pirates and voodoo or a Japanese inspired Monster Island full of guys in rubber suits stomping on miniature buildings.

The tracks are massive; just watching the fly-through during the opening narration can take upwards of a full minute. There are multiple paths, secret passages, and hidden shortcuts all over the place as well as power-ups, and plenty of mission-based challenges. Each track has six objectives. These are optional challenges that will either unlock Boost Ring Highways or add power-up slots to your plane for the remainder of that race. Challenges might include picking up a preset number of iconic items, shooting down three enemy racers, or performing some level-specific act like putting out fires in Chicago by shooting fire hydrants.

It’s usually impossible to complete all the challenges and still win the race so you have to weigh your choices carefully and do as much as possible without going too far out of your way. Your finishing position at the end of the race is the only thing that determines if you advance to the next race. Unfortunately, completed goals are reset if you choose to retry a race, so it could take a very long time if you are determined to complete all the goals and place in the race.

Power-ups range from damage repair to offensive and defensive gizmos like shields, rear-firing missiles, lock-on swarm missiles, rockets, smart bombs, and turbo boost. You’ll never know what power-up you are actually getting since you fly through a generic icon and trigger a slot machine-like window that spins the power-ups until you press the button. It spins so fast it’s purely random what you end up getting. You always have your default machine guns and even though they can overheat, the ammo in infinite.

Between races you are treated to hilarious movies that are nearly as entertaining as the gameplay. Also, between races (depending on your previous performance) are assorted mini games. These stray from the normal race motif and have you defending a fort from Mexican banditos or an aircraft carrier from enemy ships and subs to name just a few.

The other game modes are limited to levels you have unlocked in Adventure mode. Race mode allows one or two pilots to race in any available level and Dogfight allows you and an opponent to duke it out in open sections of racetracks. The Mini Games were a bit of a disappointment since they are the same games that serve as intermissions during the races in Adventure mode.

Freaky Flyers is all about the presentation, a fact that is driven home during the opening movie as newspaper headlines spiral onto the screen proclaiming proud moments in history along with historical references about “spinning newspapers”. Once you pick your character you are treated to some of the most innovative (and slightly naughty) animations of recent memory. If you think Lara Croft has curves just wait until you lay your eyes on Traci Torpedoes voluptuous flotation devices.

All of the characters in Freaky Flyers are exaggerated to extreme proportions whether it be the powerful lumberjack with the 90-inch chest and 12-inch waist or the schizophrenic Myrna Bookbotttom who transforms into the wickedly sexy Margaret Basher. Often these characters will interact with each other in the movies establishing wacky relationships and rivalries.

Gameplay is locked in at a third-person chase view, which is perfect for this type of game. The draw distance is clear out to the horizon with no pop-up or fogging. You can clearly see upcoming power-ups and other target items giving you plenty of time to plot your course. A few of the levels take place at night or inside dark areas and these can cause a few visual problems, but nothing too terrible.

There is an abundance of special effects like colored lighting, smoke, fire, explosions, water, and all sorts of detailed landscape textures, trees, buildings, and other items to flesh out the massive and incredibly complex racing environments. One of the most impressive levels has you flying through a body much like the movie Fantastic Voyage where you must avoid white blood cells and constantly pick up air molecules to keep your air meter filled.

All of the characters are voiced with just as much care and precision, and combined with the hilarious script easily give this game a true cinematic value. I can easily see an animated series spinning off this game if somebody had the ambition to pursue it. I know I would watch.

Sound effects are as varied as the visuals they accompany. Machineguns have the trademark rat-a-tat-tat while rockets and missiles launch with appropriate swooshes. The cast will yell out humorous taunts and complaints when you fire on them and cry out when their plane goes down in flames. There are all sorts of environmental sounds like wind, weather effects, roaring waterfalls, bubbling lava, and more.

The music really steals the show with level specific themes that are just as creative as everything else in this game. The Mexican cantina band, perched on a nearby cliff performs the theme music for one level and can actually be shot, and you get some prohibition ragtime theme music for the gangland Chicago level, but perhaps my favorite piece in the entire game is the catchy tune that goes with Torpedo Run. The lyrics had me laughing so hard I had to pause the game.

Freaky Flyers is surprisingly difficult and a few of the missions are real stumpers. Defending the fort took me nearly a dozen tries before I figured out the best tactic and the Torpedo Run took me more than three hours to figure out and even on subsequent replays with other pilots, I had to develop new strategies. Plan on at least 10-15 hours to get through the game the first time and substantially less for each of the other characters. Those of you planning on finishing will all 15 characters can look forward to 40+ hours of gameplay.

The multiplayer dogfighting and racing modes are also a much welcome diversion and allow you some additional gameplay enjoyment after you have exhausted the single player content from this title.