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E3 '07: Death Track Hands-On

By Aaron Thomas, GameSpotPosted Jul 12, 2007 9:44 pm PT

We bypass World War III to get to a time where it's perfectly fine to have a machine gun mounted on your car.

If you were a PC gamer during the 1980s, you might remember the car-combat game Deathtrack. At least that's what developer 1C is hoping, because it's bringing the franchise back to the PC (and most likely the Xbox 360 as well). We snagged some hands-on time with the PC version of the game at E3 2007.

Death Track (yes, two words this time) is set in a post-World War III world where people have seemingly decided that regular racing is boring. So in an effort to spice things up they've mounted weapons to their race cars. Of course, these weapons aren't just for show. After all, the easiest opponent to pass is one whose vehicle is a smoldering wreck on the side of the road.

Click to enlarge!

As with pretty much all racing games, the objective here is to finish first, but you'll want to look good doing it since you earn points for doing stunts off the ramps found on each course. These points will open up shortcuts on tracks and they can also be used to purchase new weapons and upgrades. The car we drove was equipped only with a machine gun, but it was enough to take out several opponents who had the nerve to get in front of us. While we made our way around the track we snagged some nitrous pickups as well as what appeared to be score multipliers.

Death Track isn't expected to be released until mid-2008, which is probably a good thing because the demo was a bit rough around the edges. The keyboard controls worked fine for basic maneuvers, but tight turns were difficult and controlling a car in midair didn't work very well. These issues led to several occasions where we were brought to a screeching halt by a seemingly innocuous encounter with a wall. There were also a few times when our car landed on its roof and just sat upside down for several seconds after a jump.

The game did have a nice frame rate, though there wasn't much going on to tax the graphics engine. The design of our car was cool, but it didn't cast a shadow on the road and there wasn't any car damage in place just yet.

Our brief experience with Death Track was underwhelming, but with so much time between now and the game's tentative release date, we're hopeful that 1C is able to realize the game's potential.

13 Comments

  • askforgreg

    Posted Apr 16, 2009 6:20 am PT

    thank god this game bombed.

  • deckeon

    Posted Feb 27, 2009 11:53 pm PT

    www.darkwind.com

    Car wars on computers. Some people might like it.

    (MY user Id is :14230 if you need help in the game)

  • shamandgg

    Posted Jan 23, 2009 12:59 am PT

    I have played the classic Deathtrack game Liked it a lot.

  • The_Dragon_Wolf

    Posted Aug 21, 2008 6:06 am PT

    Tried the Demo, it was very fun, if you like racing games with a twist ( after getting bored to death from realistic racers ) and very interesting track designs wait for this one when it comes out.

    But i gotta admit there were few minor glitches and stiffness in the controls, but that doesn't detract from the fun one bit and it is understandable since it is still under-development, i have been playing the demo single track over and over for a week and it is still fun, the Track design is that good ^_^

  • msudude211

    Posted Jul 14, 2007 8:05 am PT

    I like racing games, but not ones like this.

  • magicmo

    Posted Jul 14, 2007 7:34 am PT

    I like combat racing better than just car combat. At least it gives you a goal to shoot for.

  • icytower Site moderator

    Posted Jul 14, 2007 7:25 am PT

    Reminds me a bit of Rock N' Roll Racing.

  • KiLLer_ba

    Posted Jul 13, 2007 12:46 pm PT

    Never heard of this game, but it sounds like something I would play. Really hope it arrives on the 360

  • DouglasBuffone

    Posted Jul 13, 2007 10:17 am PT

    Death track looks very cool, even though it is very early in the development cycle

  • Pete5506

    Posted Jul 13, 2007 10:15 am PT

    sounds different I will be watching it

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Jul 13, 2007 12:03 am PT

    hope to see more of it in the near future

  • sens_rocks_40

    Posted Jul 12, 2007 11:03 pm PT

    wow, coming from gamespot's usually incredibly optomistic hands-on previews, this game must be absolutey terrible, which is too bad, cause i was looking forwards to a new car combat game

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jul 12, 2007 10:18 pm PT

    Still very early in development I see. Mid 2008 does give them a lot of time, but 1C is also working on another game(forgot the name though), which should cut their time a little bit. I hope they make it good though.

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