Game Review - by Jeremiah Pratt
Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now, the sequel to Carmageddon brings back all the blood, gore, and other goodies back from the original. Only this time the scenes are clearer, more elaborate, and bloodier. The game parents hate and every kid wants to play. This is a racing game with one objective, which is to kill. You drive a selected vehicle and your object is to win races 3 ways: Kill all pedestrians, kill all opponent cars, and complete all checkpoints. Killing pedestrians is easy, just run over them (of course there are ways for more elaborate deaths with powerups). Killing opponents can be done various ways: tricking them into running into objects, ramming them at full speed or using various powerups to hurt their car's condition. If you don't feel like killing, you could just follow the track and complete all the checkpoints.

Storyline:
Haha you want a story, well it's short and sweet. You are the main man Hawk, racing in his big red car of death in a new tournament which is more gruesome than before. Hawk grins at the chance to run over more pedestrians, and smash more cars.

Features:
This sequel is more action packed with full 3D racing environments to conquer, including some areas that feature live sporting events to disrupt and destroy. Full 3D polygon pedestrians (no more flat sprites) - their limbs fly off in stunning detail when struck at high speeds. 40 different cars that crumple, break up, and split in two. Windshields that smash up. Bumpers that break off and swing from the car and doors that fly open. Fully manipulative environments with glass windows and small buildings to drive through. Drone cars, moving trains, even airplanes to avoid or destroy. More pedestrian reactions - they dance, run away, beg for mercy, and jump off structures to avoid you. Fantastic graphic details such as particles shattering from cars, windows, buildings, and objects upon impact. Dirt flies from tires and more.New secret bonus areas and games within games like "capture the flag". 90 different power ups like mines, flame-throwers, and a spiked ball and chain. Out of box support for 3DFx and complete Microsoft D3D support makes this game look wonderful.

Gameplay:
The Controls in Carmageddon II are very easy to learn. Move with the Num. Pad brake with the spacebar. If you're pretty good at this game, these are the only keys you'll need. But of course, there are other ones. Such as "[" and "]" which select powerups you wish to use, and hitting ALT will execute these powerups. No racing game would be complete with out a sharp U-turning feature that can be done with the push of a button. Other then that all you have to do is seek out your opponents and run into them as hard as you can. Also there is a map which can be brought up with the TAB key. Of course you can avoid all this by getting a racing wheel. Better yet a force-feed back wheel. That's when things start getting interesting. When you sustain damage to your car, you lose steering control. In turn which makes you an easy target. Another big time pet peeve in the game is the actual steering. To control you car at high speeds is a task that feels impossible. Even the small fast speedy cars have steering problems.

Graphics:
Even Carmageddon II without the 3dfx graphics is a real improvement over the original. But most impressive are the improved graphics of pedestrian casualties. No matter how many times I play this game, I always laugh at the strange ways the pedestrians die. Instead of pedestrians all dying the same way, a pedestrian could get hit but still be living, or just loose an arm or leg, or explode completely. There are so many different types of ways a pedestrian can die; you never get tired of seeing it. With 3dfx all vehicles, floor textures, building textures, etc are crystal clear. There was no clipping at all, even when a lot of action was happening at one time. Also improved is the way your car looks when you sustain damage. In Carmageddon II, you can get so totaled that half your car will be missing, but your still not quite wasted yet. Like Carmageddon I, the sequel allows you to watch instant replays of any carnage you've just created. But unlike the first one, Carmageddon II has almost 10 different types of camera angels you can view from. From overhead views, to a panning view, to an Action sequence camera. Nothing is funnier then watching pedestrians getting slammed into a concrete wall in slow motion with the instant replay.

Sound FX:
Some of the sounds are the same from the first game, such as the voices of pedestrians screaming. But there are a lot of new sounds too. Cars ramming into each other that actually match those of real life. Pedestrians getting squished into the pavement really sound like it is real (don't ask how I know haha). Over half of the sounds in this game sound very realistic. Something that I miss about the sound, was the absence of the voice of your character speaking. In the first game, your character would speak in certain events. Which I thought was very funny, because that's like real life when someone rams you. You're gonna react with certain profanities.

Overall:
Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now is an almost flawless game. The first Carmageddon was just long and involving. But Carmageddon 2 does a good job of maintaining interest. With improved graphics and sound, you now have your new controversial title this year. I still can't get over how fun they made this game. It is definitely a good game to play if you had a bad day. Although it seems sick there's something really funny about running over these pedestrians. And on top of that if you're really sick run over them again. Sigh, too much violence, too much violence.