Once dubbed a PlayStation 3 exclusive, Fatal Inertia’s road to release has been an interesting one to follow. Due to problems with the CELL processor, getting the game up and running on Sony’s console seemed too complex and was put on “indefinite hold.”
Now Fatal Inertia has secured exclusivity on the Xbox 360, bringing together elements of past racers such as Wipeout, MotorStorm, and even the N64 version of Star Wars Episode One: Racer.
It’s the 23rd century, and combined with future technologies and mankind’s general attraction to the extreme you find yourself in the middle of the desert flying and shooting your way through an epic race to the finish line. You do so in what can only be described as futuristic pod racers that are almost easy enough to maneuver through the demo’s Monument Valley-esque setting, which looks surprisingly similar to the PS3’s MotorStorm, while lacking some of it’s graphical fidelities.
Flying through the level feels comfortable enough, but may take some getting use to. With practice you will likely find your groove and not hit just about every single crest or mountain pass as I did — but then again, I am the guy in Forza 2 who doesn’t like to brake and ends up smacking into the first or second turn.
Flying over circular platforms while racing will reward you with weapon power-ups, which can then be used to lay out destruction to your competitors and even affects the environment upon impact.
You may also stumble upon a few hidden paths of the tracks that offer up a competitive edge when taken (I found out the hard way, after ricocheting off an overpass.)
The demo comes with three different types of Single Player races, including: Exhibition Combat Race, Elite Combat Race, and Elite Velocity Race — of which I can tell no discernible difference. The basic gameplay seems to be to get to the finish line as fast as possible while taking down as many enemies as possible — though the Combat Race does seem to offer more aggressive enemy A.I.
As terrible of a performance that I put on, I still managed to have quite a bit of fun with the Fatal Inertia. While the demo doesn’t offer nearly enough depth to satiate my gaming palette, the promises of online multiplayer seem very enticing. It’s worth a download permitted you’re interested in the arcade racing genre.
Fatal Inertia hits store shelves for the Xbox 360 on September 11, 2007.
