Lead foot
| Lead foot | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Screamer |
| developer | Milestone |
| Publisher | Virgin Interactive |
| First title | Bleifuss (1995) |
| Last title | Bleifuss Offroad (2000) |
| Platform (s) | DOS , Mac OS , Windows |
| Genre (s) | Racing game |
Lead Foot (engl. Original title: Screamer ) was the name of a number of PC - racing games that the Italian developer Milestone 1995 to 1997 on Virgin Interactive released. Two other titles with the name Bleifuss also appeared, but were developed by other studios and only published in German-speaking countries under the well-known name.
Published titles
Bleifuss (1995)
The first part of the series appeared at the end of 1995 and, similar to The Need for Speed , offered car races with sports cars against computer opponents on public roads and racetracks. In contrast to its direct competitor, Bleifuss was designed to be more action-heavy and vaguely reminiscent of Ridge Racer . Graphics and driving physics couldn't keep up with the competition either, and most recently Bleifuss only offered vehicles that were similar to reality, such as. B. Bugatti EB 110 and Chevrolet Corvette C4, while NfS could score with licensed models.
In contrast to the later parts, the Milan- based developers still operated under the name Grafitti when programming this game .
In 1996 a version of this game shortened to three selectable tracks and a playable vehicle was sold under the title Martini Racing at a price of approx. 30 DM. The background was the 25th anniversary of Martini & Rossi's motorsport sponsorship activities . The CD also contained extensive documentation of the racing history with video material. The playable vehicle was modeled on the Alfa Romeo 155 with which Nicola Larini and Alessandro Nannini competed in the 1995 DTM season .
- Reviews in trade journals
- PC Games 1/96: 88%, receiving the "PC Games Award"
- Power Play 1/96: 84%, award "Simply brilliant"
- PC player 1/96: 82%
Bleifuss 2 (1996)
The second part appeared just one year after its predecessor and, due to competition from Electronic Arts, implemented a completely different and more convincing concept. Instead of road races, the focus was on vehicles and tracks with rally characteristics. It was driven on circuits in Egypt, California and England. Additional routes (Finland, South America, Switzerland) could be unlocked in championship mode. The player could choose between four fictional car types. The engine was also heavily redesigned and now looked much more realistic. Like its predecessor, Bleifuss 2 also ran under MS-DOS in the available resolutions of 320 × 240 and 640 × 480 pixels, but also offered a high-color mode with 65,336 colors.
A glide patch was later released that allowed the game to run on Voodoo cards.
- Reviews in trade journals
- PC Games 11/96: 88%, receiving the "PC Games Award"
- PC Action 11/96: 84%, awarded "PC Action Gold"
- Power Play 11/96: 84%, award "Power Play direct hit"
- PC Player 11/96: 4 stars (corresponding to 80%)
Bleifuss Rally (1997)
Another year later, the third part appeared with Bleifuss Rally , which continued the game content of its predecessor and also relied on international off-road driving. The lead engine, which has been further revised and can now also run under Windows 95, was used . This could also be operated with the then very popular 3dfx accelerator cards using more modern texture filters and at higher speeds. Despite excellent reviews, Bleifuss Rally marked the end of the series, which had recently dared a dubious balancing act between serious rally simulations like the rally championship series of Magnetic Fields and fun racers of the Need For Speed fashion. Milestone later developed the Superbike World Championship series for EA Sports and Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo .
- Reviews in trade journals
- Power Play 1/98: 82%
- PC Games 1/98: 81%
- GameStar 1/98: 79%
- PC Action 1/98: 76%
- PC Player 1/98: 75%
Bleifuss Fun (1997)
Under the name Bleifuss Fun , Virgin Interactive also marketed the Funracer Ignition from the Swedish development studio UDS Interactive in 1997 . The game itself was a simple racing game controlled from a bird's eye view in front of exotic scenarios and with a hodgepodge of bizarre vehicles such as. B. a police car, a school bus or a monster truck.
In France, the game was sold under the name Fun Tracks .
- Reviews in trade journals
- PC Player 10/97: 4 stars (corresponding to 80%)
Bleifuss-Comic (1998)
Under the name Lead Foot - The only wa (h) re Formula 1 Comicmagazin who started Bleifuss-Verlag 1998 a comic book about Formula 1, which later Ehapa was expelled. The license rights with the protected title Bleifuss went back to the author in 2001.
Bleifuss Offroad (2000)
Another release of a game under the name of the renowned series is Bleifuss Offroad , developed by Clevers in 2000 under the actual name Pathfinder . Here, the player drove an off-road vehicle and had to find a way through the wilderness under time pressure.
In the English-speaking world, too, the game was named in the context of the series and appeared under the name Screamer 4x4 .
- Reviews in trade journals
- PC Joker 1/2001: 79%
- PC Player 1/2001: 73%
- PC Action 2/2001: 73%
- PC Games 1/2001: 69%
Web links
- Bleifuss at MobyGames (English)
- Overview of the lead foot / screamer series