Reader Reviews
Your reviews of Interstate 76, Far Cry, Super Mario Sunshine, Soldner, Shining Force, TOCA Race Driver 2 and Space Invaders Anniversary. More to come later this week.
Star Review: Interstate '76 (PC)
by Peej
If I carry on at this rate, people will start to accuse me of being a PC-centric gamer with an attraction towards games involving cars, weapons and smashing [you know mate, you're a PC-centric gamer with an attraction towards games involving cars, weapons and smashing! -Ed]. But once again I delve into the depths of PC gaming history to dig up another classic old fossil that is seriously worthy of some idolisation, I'm talking about Activision's classic "Interstate 76".
When I first bought this game, my "dream" machine was a Pentium 2-350 with an Orchid Righteous 3D card (with a whopping 32MB of memory, faint!) on board. Interstate '76 was later patched to take full advantage of the 3DFX chipset, and this is when the game really came into its own. But enough about sterile technical details, what about the game itself?
It's the basic story of good vs. evil but given a disco flavour, and big-assed 70's funk, in fact you'd be forgiven for thinking that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was the first game that had a retro soundtrack that fitted the game perfectly, well nuh-uh, Interstate was there first.
You play Groove Champion, 70's uber-slick dude and vigilante drawn into a murky world where Petrol is as priceless as gold, and bandits inhabit the highway hell bent on turning you and your car into a pile of twisted smoking metal. Alongside your partners, the superbly funktastic and dangerous afro-daddy Taurus and nut-twiddling mechanic Skeeter, you wage a battle against an evil organisation run by the Mafia wannabe, Antonio Malochio. The nasty dastard has kidnapped Groove's gorgeous sister Jade, so this time it's personal (oh god don't you just love those movie clichés!)
Anyhow, the important stuff, the game play, oh god the game play. It's a vehicular combat game harking from the stone age and yet (like Carmageddon) it features superb physics, an excellent damage model (why oh why can't developers get this right, even nearly ten years after I76!) and a bunch of muscle cars that will have you drooling. You could think about almost any 70's gas guzzler that the US put out and the chances are you'll find its clone in here somewhere, as well as a wealth of other vehicles like vans and pick-up trucks.
Each vehicle has a set of hardpoints, which you can fix up with all manner of death-dealing weaponry. Bear in mind though that the game has an element of micro-management with this fiddling and the balance is pretty fine. Should you install a heavy cannon and risk a massive weight gain for your vehicle, making it unwieldy? Or should you just go for something speedy and lightweight and out-manoeuvre your opponents? The choice is yours. When you first start the "Take a trip" mode, you will be limited in what you can use but as you progress, Skeeter has the ability to upgrade your vehicle with more and more goodies, and can even fit out other vehicles "stolen" from the battlefield.
Combat is nicely handled. The I76 engine was a hybrid based on the old Mech Warrior engine (but don't let that put you off) so firing and targeting weapons is done in a very similar way. Of course, the auto-tracking cannons make dispatching enemies a breeze, as do the various nasty little things you can drop from the back of your vehicle like caltrops, mines and oil slicks.
Graphically (with the 3DFX patch) the game is still superb even by today's standards. The stylised "chunky Polygon-o-vision" cut scenes are superbly done and add atmosphere, while vehicles and vistas are nicely modelled. Add in a killer wah-wah soundtrack and some brilliant presentation touches (the menus and vehicle configuration screens are wonderfully done) and it's a game that adds together into a rather delicious package.
There were two further updates to the series. "Interstate 76: Nitro Riders" featured a storyline and characters set directly after the first game, this time using Jade as the lead character rescuing her brother. Then Activision had to go and spoil it all by releasing "Interstate ‘82", a poorly realised and abhorrent sequel set in the 80s which visited I76's grave and whizzed all over it before pausing to lay a curly shiny one right on top of its headstone.
Revisiting I76 might prove tricky for all but the most dedicated retro PC buffs. Stupidly, the game will only run in Windows 95 and to get any kind of graphical performance you will need one of those creaky old 3DFX cards. "Nitro Riders" might well work on newer operating systems but as someone stole my disk a long time ago I can't try it to see. But is it worth the journey down retro lane to try this game? I'd say so…either that or pray that the franchise's owners see sense and release the game for a modern audience with all the whistles and bells we've come to expect of late.