HOT TOPIC
THE NEED FOR SPEED
The team discusses futuristic racers
RETROBATES MULL OVER THE SCENE’S MOST INTRIGUING ISSUES
DARRAN JONES
NICK THORPE
TIM EMPEY
» [GBA] F-Zero Climax was released in 2004. That’s a long time with no new F-Zero game to play.
While numerous racing games are great for giving a rush of adrenaline, the sub-genre of futuristic racers takes the concept to obscene new levels. Nick, Darran and Tim, strap in and talk Rollcage, F-Zero and why we’ll probably never get a new WipEout on home consoles.
DARRAN
What does everyone look for in a futuristic racer (besides the obvious of course).
NICK
Typically, I’m after extreme levels of speed that exceed what you’d find in a conventional racing game, and some combat element. Death Race 2000 and Rollerball taught me that every futuristic sport should be violent.
TIM
Yep, it’s got to have some sort of destruction going on – the WipEout series had some brilliant weapons in it, especially the Quake Disruptor.
DARRAN
My earliest introduction to futuristic racers was probably F-Zero and there weren’t any weapons in that. To me it’s really all about gut-wrenching speeds. I’d say bizarre characters as well, but outside of F-Zero and Episode 1: Racer, I can’t really think of any good examples. Why do we think WipEout made such a big deal?