After writing an article on Rating Baiting, and generally being fairly outspoken on the subject of age ratings in media (and videogames especially), it seemed only ironically natural to sit down with the beta version of Carmageddon: Reincarnation at EGX Rezzed.
For those who don't know, the original Carmageddon game was originally released on PC, then ported to the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 back in 1997. It was a racing game that, controversially, gave you bonuses (like extra time) for wrecking other cars and mowing down pedestrians, the developers admitting to being heavily inspired by the film Death Raxce 2000. Much like Mortal Kombat back in the day, this caused a lot of concern - the original UK version of the game was released with the pedestrians replaced with black oil robots and green blood zombies, on account of the BBFC refusing to grant the game any rating unless the gore was removed. Oh, how times have changed. Eventually, after ten months of appeal, the gore filled version was given an 18+ rating.
Regardless of some very scathing reviews, the game became a cult hit, and a fan favourite and garnered a few sequels to its name before fading into obscurity. Now, fifteen years after the last game in the series, Stainless Games are getting ready to release Carmageddon: Reincarnation, a kind of reboot for the series - currently only on Steam, but the studio is hoping to port to consoles soon - intended to "reintroduce the series to a whole generation of kids who missed the original games", as one of the devs told me.
As I sat down with the game, the first thing I noticed was how much of an homage the game pays to the original. It must have been tempting, especially with modern hardware, to kick the graphics up to 11 on the realism scale, and drag the game into a gritty, full up gore-fest. In an amazing show of restraint and dedication to mission, Stainless Games have kept the game colourful and vibrant - which assuaged a few of my concerns about the game's content and obvious violent leanings. It's comedic violence rather than realistic.
But how did it play? I was fortunate enough to play two different modes - a classic race through a built up city that required me to mow down so many pedestrians, or wreck opposing vehicles in order to generate enough bonus time to reach the next checkpoint; and an arena based game where drivers compete to be the first to run over a selected pedestrian, the most points at the end of the time limit wins. Part of me feels a little queasy at the concept, I've witnessed and been involved in pedestrian/vehicle road traffic accidents, and they're not pretty. Another part of me found the game great fun. The controls were a little loose, and there were definite camera issues (as the camera swings violently as the car changes from forward to reverse - which considering how wide the vehicles' turning circles are, happens a lot), but the general gameplay, gore soaked as it was, had me enthralled similar to a really bad episode of South Park or something even more offensive. I felt bad for enjoying it, but I couldn't deny that the game itself was fun.
I found myself very much enthralled in the game, wanting to win, ramming other vehicles out of my way in order to be the lucky one who got to paste pedestrian bits over his vehicle, giggling with childish glee as the game rewarded me with wonderful alerts like 'Splatter Bonus' or the ever risqué 'Cunning Stunts'. There were plenty of vehicles to choose from, even in this beta build, and I could see plenty of armour, weapon and other upgrades that would eventually be unlockable through the game's Career mode.
I thus emerged from the demo booth slightly confused and feeling hypocritical. I had gone into the experience expecting an outrageous gorefest of poor taste, but instead found a darkly humerous and ironically vibrant game that, if things can tighten up before eventual lauch, might actually succeed in the developers goals of bringing Carmageddon back to gaming as a franchise.