Motor Mayhem Hands-On

On a recent visit, Infogrames brought us a playable alpha of its upcoming car combat game, Motor Mayhem. Taking obvious cues from games like Twisted Metal and WDL: Thunder Tanks, Motor Mayhem is set in a fantastic postapocalyptic world--a world where demolition derby-like deathmatches have become a popular from of entertainment. In these events, the contestants--which include all manner of cyborgs, mutants, and humans--pit their heavily armed vehicles against each other in gladiatorial combat.

Unlike the bulk of the car combat genre, in which the actual characters are only represented on a vehicle selection screen, Motor Mayhem puts its characters in the spotlight. Each character is highly visible in his or her vehicle, fully animated and seemingly having a reaction for every occasion. Infogrames showed us three characters from the game's edgy cast, each amusingly conceived and rendered. There was Grok, a huge mutant made of volcanic rock who hurls magma and drives a kind of hot rod/tank hybrid; Corvalis, a cyborg who drives a fast, well-armed jet bike; and Volcana, a human woman who pilots a heavy flamethrower-equipped tank. Infogrames informed us that there will be eight characters selectable from the outset, with several more locked for release during play. Standard fare, it seems, as far as car combat goes.

The game, in its alpha state, seemed to play decently. Steering is mapped to the left analog stick, which seemed to make certain types of turns a bit trickier than they had to be. The right stick controls the rear-view camera, which is useful in the deployment of rear-release weapons. The weapon controls are mostly mapped to the shoulder buttons, with each character's special attacks focusing around the use of L1. The L1 button, in tandem with a number of different button combinations, releases some visually impressive and totally destructive attacks. Volcana, for example, releases a blanket of flame from the rear of her tank, covering the ground with destructive wrath, while Corvalis releases a cluster of energy charges that swarm around his enemies. Also interesting is the hover mode--by pressing all four face buttons simultaneously, you can make your vehicle hover, which, although it makes it a bit harder to steer and maneuver, causes it to lose much less speed than it would on its wheels, treads, or what have you. All in all, the game's control scheme seems functional and full of potential. It needs merely to be tightened up and perhaps take some cues from both other car combat games and traditional racers--separate controls for forward and backward acceleration, an easier method for activating the hover mode, and more responsive steering in general would really help its cause.

Even at this point, though, Motor Mayhem's high production values shine through. The character models, as mentioned before, are nicely detailed and full of life. The vehicles' designs are interesting enough, and they seem to boast rather decent poly counts. The arenas are simply huge, and many of them are multileveled. Each one is also rife with interactive elements, such as gravity lifts and various destructible components. One level in particular--a sort of enclosed arena--featured a giant collapsing JumboTron, which gave way after a series of lively bombardments and proved fatal to most of the combatants caught under it. According to Infogrames, each stage will feature one such major alterable element in addition to its handful of lesser ones. In terms of performance, the game still needs to be optimized--the frame rate in particular needs attention. Infogrames assured us that, before the game ships, it will run at a steady 60fps, and since the game is still in its alpha phase, we have no reason not to believe them.

So it looks as if car combat fans have something to look forward to, later this year. The game is set for release in the second quarter of 2001.