Rollcage by ATD/Psygnosis

d_brennen · 10 Feb 2011 at 23:37

As you can probably tell by my sig I live in the past gaming wise

Anyway, I had a strange notion to play Rollcage again today. Back in the PS1 days it was a favourite of mine and I spent many an hour playing with mates.

From Wikipedia

Rollcage is an arcade-style racing game for Windows and PlayStation, developed by Attention to Detail, and published by Psygnosis. The Windows version was released in the UK on March 24, 1999. The game's selling point was its unique physics engine, in which cars could drive on walls or ceilings because of the airflow passing over them at extreme speeds. The game also featured an original soundtrack by Fatboy Slim.
The game received very positive reviews and ratings.

And yet it wasn't nearly as successful as Wipeout, also by Psynosis. Personally I put this down to the brilliant (imo) physics in the driving model and difficulty level. Every bump and incline effects your cars trajectory and velocity, something which wasn't common for games of the time. It could also be incredibly cruel, punishing a TINY mistake by plummeting you from first to last in a couple (read: 2) seconds. Absolute commitment to memory of each of the tracks nuances was mandatory to succeed on all but the easiest of settings. Some of the weapons put Mario Cart to shame for the sheer cheesiness of them, like the homing missile that seeks out the pole position car and wrecks it

The game (not sure about it's sequel) is now abandonware, so if you didn't play it in '97, or even if you did, give it a bash. Amazingly it actually natively supports my wireless xBox 360 pad, despite pre-dating the console by some 6 years or so let alone the Windows receiver! Bar the L/R triggers though

Edit: Forgot to add, runs on Windows 7 64bit no sweat, thought only at 1280x1024 max

Anyhow, I don't know why I posted this really

MonkeykingZX · 10 Feb 2011 at 23:42

I remember this game, was really good fun will probs download it to give it ago again

PinkFloyd · 10 Feb 2011 at 23:49

Awesome game in its day. Would love a modern version of it to be made like Wipeout HD

Shamikebab · 10 Feb 2011 at 23:53

What a game, also I'm amazed how good it looks for such an old game!

Now if only I could get Wipeout 2097 working on Windows 7

d_brennen · 10 Feb 2011 at 23:58

Shamikebab said:
What a game, also I'm amazed how good it looks for such an old game!

Now if only I could get Wipeout 2097 working on Windows 7

... Hold that thought...

uv · 10 Feb 2011 at 23:59

Good lord, I actually remember really enjoying this

me227 · 11 Feb 2011 at 00:04

Had a good soundtrack too. A few Fatboy Slim songs.

I'm downloading it as we speak.

d_brennen · 11 Feb 2011 at 00:06

me227 said:
Had a good soundtrack too. A few Fatboy Slim songs.

I'm downloading it as we speak.

The game is abandonware, I don't think the soundtrack is you filthy pirate

Vulcan · 11 Feb 2011 at 00:09

Loved this game, as well as Rollcage 2. The football game mode was a great laugh.

alex24 · 11 Feb 2011 at 00:11

I wasted hours on this, still play it from time to time!

I'm constantly looking for something to fill the Rollcage/Wipeout futuristic racer void in my PC gaming life, but the precious fix remains elusive.

Anything on the horizon? Would have loved Wipeout HD for PC.

me227 · 11 Feb 2011 at 00:15

d_brennen said:
The game is abandonware, I don't think the soundtrack is you filthy pirate

I meant the game, you fool!

d_brennen · 11 Feb 2011 at 00:17

me227 said:
I meant the game, you fool!

I jest, the soundtrack is worth a listen too

Deadbeat · 11 Feb 2011 at 02:37

That's sweet! Loved rollcage back in the day. The times I spent playing at retarded o'clock in the morning, smoking with mates and tilting as the view shifted up the tunnels is priceless. I never did very well in Wipeout - kept trying to climb the walls and race on teh ceiling

orderoftheflame · 11 Feb 2011 at 07:22

Used to love this.

May have to dig my disc out at some point.

Hzza · 11 Feb 2011 at 07:26

Amazing game, anyone know if it works on Vista64?

d_brennen · 11 Feb 2011 at 07:54

Works fine on 7 64 so yeah, should do. Even works with a 360 pad.

After a couple of races on all the tracks, I think if this were released now it would be panned by reviews for being too hard and unfair.

uk_viper · 11 Feb 2011 at 08:27

Forgot about this game was amazing

Hzza · 11 Feb 2011 at 08:42

d_brennen said:
After a couple of races on all the tracks, I think if this were released now it would be panned by reviews for being too hard and unfair.

IIRC it was panned at the time for being too hard and unfair

.

d_brennen · 11 Feb 2011 at 08:48

Hzza said:
IIRC it was panned at the time for being too hard and unfair .

Mostly positive reviews iirc, though it was damn hard! Games back then were so much more demanding of skill. Sometimes, when I hear COD generation kidz moaning about how hard a game is I want to give them a slap and put anything from the 90s in front of them

Anyone remember G-Police?

Kosmiche · 11 Feb 2011 at 11:22

What I liked about this game was that you were constantly wrestling with your vehicle and your driving ability to stay in control, the ai was hard to beat too so you had to drive over any speed boost you could find!