I came in like a wrecking ball….
Game: Carmageddon: Max Damage
Developer: Stainless Games
Publisher: Sold Out
Reviewed on:
(Review code provided by publisher)
There is no doubt I love a bit of destruction in games. Remember the carnage and nostalgic memories that Destruction Derby brought to our screens? I actually learned that Carmageddon goes right back to 1997, with a more recent release coming to the PC. Carmageddon: Max Damage was my first venture into the series and you know what, it is fun, if you take it with the lack of seriousness that it requires.
Fun is a word you’ll probably read a lot in my review for this game. Basically, if you like driving safely, like to stop for all the pedestrians and be a good Samaritan, this probably more than likely isn’t the game for you. This game is about pure destruction, whether it’s machine or man, nothing can and will stop in your way to ultimate success. If you see it moving in the game, there’s a pretty high chance you can kill it. What is even worse is that you get points for actually running over people resigned to a Wheelchair. Damn you Stainless Games you wicked lot!
No, everything I have just mentioned just adds to the overall fun, with Carmageddon: Max Damage aiming to bring back those nostalgic memories of past games to the PlayStation 4. There are over 30 cars for you to drive, sorry, destroy, with 10 environments for which your carnage and chaos will take place. Unfortunately, I did feel pretty underwhelmed with the visual side of the game. For me personally, this looks like a low end PlayStation 3 title. I know the visuals aren’t exactly what the developers are pushing when it comes to talking about this game’s strengths, but a better visual performance would of pleased me a bit more.
There are a variety of different modes available in the game, with multiple ways for you to ‘win’ an event. One of the modes is to simply race three laps in order to win. Sounds simple right? No. You can also steal your opponents laps by simply destroying their cars; saves a lot of time and effort, believe me! Another similar mode is one where it is the first to reach 8 checkpoints in the game. Again, same as before, you can steal these checkpoint points off your opponents by wrecking them (Now you get my terrible pun at the beginning?!?) and therefore stealing their points. Don’t worry if you get damaged however, a quick tap of the triangle button will soon see your car or truck parts quickly fly back together and off you go once again. Perhaps one of my favourite modes in Carmageddon: Max Damage and one where I think players will have so much online with is Fox ‘n’ Hounds. This reminded me so much of the Destruction Derby days where everyone would be after me. The aim is in the name of the mode basically. One of you is marked as the Fox where the rest (the Hounds) will try and smash you into pieces. Can you stay away long enough to win?
Causing damage, destruction and deaths to pedestrians is of course, the main draw with Carmageddon: Max Damage, and you’ll certainly have some help doing so. Across the maps, there are a variety of different weapons and aids in which you can collect along the way. If you mix in Mario Kart and a little bit of Grand Theft Auto, you’ll catch the idea here. Having a speed boost to run over a crowd of pedestrians. You’ll find yourself getting bigger combo point scores the more kills you make and the more explosions you cause. Do not worry, unlike Grand Theft Auto, the police are no where to be found!
I think with a game like this, especially if you’re going to want to stick to a more single player experience, the AI of your computer controlled opponents has to be key. Unfortunately, I really found the AI of my opponents to be really odd. In races and any other modes, the cars I was facing just became rather dumb. I did realise I was on easy so switched it up to normal and hard to see if it made any difference and no, they seemed exactly the same. What was annoying was when one of my targets was to crush my enemies, they would stupidly drive off the side in to the water or miss a very easy jump. This would not only cause me to crash, but the stage would become increasingly frustrating and more time-consuming than it should be, due to the fact that the AI is so weak. I really hope that the developers can patch this in the coming weeks and really make the AI a force to be reckoned with, resulting in highly charged and more fun sessions of play.
VERDICT
If you’re feeling rather destructive and just want some fun for an hour or two at a time, you can’t go wrong with Carmageddon: Max Damage. It really is all about destruction and did bring back many nostalgic memories I had playing games of a similar fashion such as Destruction Derby back in the day. It can get quite repetitive and boring quite quickly, so unless you play solely online, you won’t find yourself drawn to this in the long run. However, the developers have done a good job in creating a fun and chaotic experience and for £30, I would recommend you purchasing it.
