Interstate '76

Interstate '76 is a computer game company Activision in 1997, which on the basis of MechWarrior 2 - Engine elements of action and racing game combines. For Interstate '76 there was an add-on ( Nitro Riders ) and a sequel called Interstate '82 .

action

The backdrop to Interstate '76 is an alternate story scenario from 1976. The United States was hit even harder by the 1973 oil crisis , which led to huge increases in the price of gasoline and petroleum products . As a result of this crisis, crime rises, especially a kind of motorized banditry is in vogue. Against these motorized bandits sit so-called vigilantes to defend, Selbstjustizler which claims to be the of corruption permeated police want to help, but they are also controlled by it. Bandits as well as police officers and vigilantes have equipped their vehicles with all sorts of weapons with which they fight on the interstate highways , the "highways" of the United States.

The player takes on the role of Groove Champion , who comes from a racing family. His father won the Daytona 500 , Groove and his sister Jade (called Speed Cat ) are involved in racing. But Jade joins the vigilantes and fights crime on the street. In doing so, she gets on the track of the smuggler and drug dealer Antonio Malochio , who has the plan to finally shut down the American oil industry with an atom bomb in order to exacerbate the oil crisis and destabilize the country to the point of anarchy . But during the investigation, Jade is shot. Groove then takes her place and her car and, supported by the black poet and civil rights activist Taurus and the mechanic Skeeter, takes on the fight against Malochio and the corrupt police.

The plot has fundamental parallels to the James Bond film Goldfinger . Here, too, the villain in the United States wanted to irradiate an important raw material store ( Fort Knox ) for his own benefit, here too a woman fell victim to the villain's research, and above all Bond stood in this film for the first time with the modified Aston Martin DB5 Firearm equipped car available.

Game content

The core of the game is a campaign depicting the Groove Champions campaign of revenge. Although the missions are mostly limited to "drive from A to B and kill all opponents", these are set in scene with cutscenes and radio messages. A motivating element of the game is the possibility of recovering weapons and equipment from vehicles that have been shot down and installing them in your own car.

In the campaign you are always in the same vehicle (a Plymouth Barracuda ), only before the final duel against Malochio and his Chevrolet Corvette you have the choice between three other vehicles and a helicopter. In the multiplayer mode, on the other hand, various vehicles can be selected and modified in many ways. The selection includes numerous American passenger cars from the 1970s, primarily muscle cars , and also buses, buggies and trucks. With a cheat it is even possible to control tanks and helicopters . However, the game's developers did not acquire a license to use the original vehicle names, so all vehicles and brands can be found under fantasy names. For example, the Volvo 240 in the game is called Vikea 420LG , Chevrolet is called Coucherval and Lincoln is now called Jefferson .

The choice of weapons is quite conventional and includes machine guns , machine guns , rockets , flamethrowers and mortar . In addition, the passability of the road can be restricted by the dropping of oil silt, napalm or landmines . When equipping vehicles with weapons and armor, the weight has a negative effect on driving characteristics.

technology

The graphics engine corresponds to that of MechWarrior 2 . What is particularly striking is the monotonous but realistic depiction of the desert landscapes of the American West, in which only the vehicles provide a variety of colors. On the other hand, the barren landscape together with the rest of the atmosphere and the blue sky in the background creates a suitable, moving Western feeling, not least due to the many contemporary style elements. The very detailed representation of the interior of the vehicles is also remarkable; the cockpit view gives the player a particularly realistic projection of himself into the world of Interstate '76 . The cut scenes are kept in the game engine. The state of the vehicles in terms of armament and damage is largely taken into account.

An update from the beginning of 1998, which was published parallel to the add-on Nitro Riders , made the graphics Direct3D- compatible.

The soundscape is dominated by the background music. This also goes very well with the 1970s Western atmosphere and includes instrumental pieces of the styles funk and soul (in CDA format on the game CD). Engine and gun sounds are very authentic; the voice output in the form of radio messages and comments from Groove, Taurus and various supporting roles also takes up the style.

The multiplayer mode is intended for network and Internet and offers up to eight players the opportunity to assert themselves as "asphalt cowboys".

Criticism and reception

Thanks to the competent implementation and the novel scenario of the 1970s, which had just come back into fashion at the time, Interstate '76 was able to inspire critics and gamers. The game achieved high ratings in all trade magazines and was named Racing Game of the Year 1997 in the Power Play . A critic of PC Action also put his enthusiasm into words as follows: "I will probably only let go of this high-speed action when the on-board cannon for my Vespa is finally delivered."

Overall, however , Interstate '76 remained a niche product. The successor Interstate '82 from 1999 represented a technical update of the game and relocated the scenario to the no less clichéd 1980s, but could not repeat the success of its predecessor, so that the series disappeared into oblivion. A large community never formed around Interstate '76 .

Web links

Interstate '76 at MobyGames (English)
Interstate '76: Nitro Riders at MobyGames (English)
Review of the Power Play