Fatal Inertia EX

"Not the most polished game on the PS3, but undeniably fun. Definitely worth getting."

Fatal Inertia EX has a rather troubled history. Originally announced in 2005, it was planned as a PS3 launch title, which was inexplicably dropped in favor of a 360 version, released in 2007 to generally low critical approval. Then, in late spring of 2008, a reworked edition for the PS3 was released as a download-only title for half of the original's price, hoping to address the original's flaws. The timing couldn't have been worse, though, as Wipeout HD's release was right around the corner, and as a downloadable title as well - for ten dollars less. Being as it was the futuristic racing genre's top dog, Wipeout HD completely upstaged Fatal Inertia EX, and the latter quickly sank from view. As I am an avid fan of the genre, and the games' combined price was about the same as what I paid for my DualShock 3 controller, I received both for Christmas.

I had read many reviews of both games: I knew that I would love Wipeout HD, but Fatal Inertia EX looked to be a mixed bag if the reviews were anything to go by. One critic loved the responsive controls, one bemoaned the floaty steering; reviews alternately praised and cursed the combat system and track designs; it was endlessly (and deservedly) compared to Wipeout HD.

Could it hold its own?

I found out for myself when I loaded it up for the first time.

I waited patiently through the obligatory splash screens before being treated to a slickly-rendered intro showing the racecraft getting prepped for a race at a track in a dese- oh, wait, that was Wipeout. No, the actual intro is just some chick zipping up her flight suit and caressing her vehicle, and it isn't even ten seconds long. It feels like the developers knew that people expected an intro, but they couldn't be bothered to include one until the last minute. Interestingly enough, the game includes copious exposition told through white text before the races. There's definitely enough material there for an intro sequence with a voiceover, and including something like that would have benefitted the game greatly. Seriously, text crawls in a racing game?

Well, now that I have the intro out of the way, I can get to reviewing the actual game.

First off, I was really disappointed that the developers didn't include destructible environments or earthquake physics or anything that they promised back when they first announced it. The original trailer shows a racer burying his opponents in a landslide, but the game itself has zero craft/track interaction besides the odd pole or icicle to be knocked over. It's not that environment-based attacks are required for a game to be good, but it would be nice if KOEI had lived up to their own hype.

Next, it's probably important to mention the game modes, of which there are four. The first is called Melee, and it's the game's standard mode. You basically have to race around a track while avoiding opponents' attacks and using your own - pretty standard stuff. What's nice, though, is the original and quite fun weapons scheme. The idea is that every weapon can be used in two different ways. You can use the grappling rope to tie opponents together, or to catch an opponent on the ground; you can use the boost rockets to increase your own speed, or fire them at an opponent and watch him spin out of control. It's pretty fun stuff. There's also something called the EMP pulse, and it makes the screen go all rainbowy while your opponents lose control and crash, which is always fun to watch. What's interesting is the way that the weapons focus more on slowing opponents down, rather than harming them, although the latter effect is still quite prominent. The magnet mines do blow up, but that's only after they've slowed your opponent and left him some time to shake them off. The rockets don't explode, but they do make your opponent whirl off-course. While not as satisfyingly destructive as the Wipeout series's weapons, they're much more fun to use against human players, and they give Fatal Inertia EX a bit of a Mario Kart-like feel.

The weapons themselves are weighted, which can be seen as an advantage or a flaw, depending on your point of view. Don't expect any boosts if you're in first place; prepare for warp speed if you're last. The guys in the middle get the most weapons and the racers at the front get lots of shields. This works pretty well for multiplayer mode, because it gives the guy in the back the satisfaction of catching up, but it took me a while to warm up to it in single-player mode - after all, it isn't as if bots need the thrill of rocketing from last place to first in a single lap, and it isn't as if players enjoy it when it happens to their opponents. However, in the higher difficulty levels, it makes the game quite forgiving, and I ended up liking it a lot.

After that, we come to Velocity, which is easily the best part of the game. It's essentially Melee, but it replaces all powerups with boosts of various kinds (they can still be used offensively). It's terrible with the shorter, windier courses, but the thrilling sense of speed when flying high over the track in the long, open desert circuits is one of the best experiences that I've had in a racing game. There's little that can compare to soaring over motion-blurred dunes at an easily believable 250 MpH (the speedometer shows a healthy lack of figure-inflation when the boosts are on, but it's hard to believe that I'm going 100 MpH at normal speed). Sure, Wipeout HD has the Phantom class, but it's pathetically slow in comparison (even Wipeout 3 on the original PlayStation feels faster), and the courses are so twisty and narrow that it really isn't much fun without the challenge-eliminating Pilot Assist; by contrast, most of the courses in Fatal Inertia are worth playing in Velocity mode.

The other modes, Knockout and Magnet Mayhem, really aren't worth such in-depth analysis. Knockout is just a variant of Melee that kills the last-place racer in each lap, with enough laps to leave one at the end; it's much more intense than regular Melee, as there's a constant fear of placing last that only increases with each lap. Magnet Mayhem is like Melee with an infinitely regenerating magnet supply on board your vehicle and no other powerups. While I appreciate KOEI's thought in including this mode, it's more annoying than it is fun. Something original and neat, like the Wipeout series's Zone mode, would have been really welcome here.

There's also a time trial mode, but it's so self-explanatory and commonplace that I might as well not even mention it.

But rating a racing game based on its modes is inadequate, as they're merely a vehicle (no pun intended) for the core gameplay. No, the most important things about a racing game are its controls and track design. After all, the whole point is to get your vehicle from point A to point B (B being in most cases A approached from the opposite direction) before anyone else, and if you can't avoid the inevitable obstacles, you might as well not even bother playing.

So, how good are they?

For those used to Wipeout HD's controls, which actively keep your craft from hitting walls and almost make you feel like you're on rails (it even has an autopilot), Fatal Inertia EX's may be unwelcome. Much has been made of the game's physics engine, and the controls are about as realistic as you can get when you're racing jet-powered hovercrafts. In Wipeout HD, you feel like you're driving; in Fatal Inertia EX, you feel like you're flying. It isn't enough just to steer left and right; pitch needs frequent adjustments as well. Angle your craft's nose too far down after jumping a ramp, and you'll lose all of your speed as you hit the ground; point it too high, and you bleed off speed on your way down. It's different from any other racing game that I've played (though it's somewhat reminiscent of the original Wipeout trilogy), but I quickly grew accustomed to it and I now actually prefer it to Wipeout HD's system (although my brother hates it vehemently). Out of curiosity, I tried the Sixaxis motion controls - they were terrible as always. Use the analog sticks instead.

As far as how responsive the controls are, it really depends on which vehicle you use. The Mercury has excellent handling, rocketing around corners quickly and predictably, but is slower than the rest, the Phoenix has average handling and speed, the Aurora is floatier than the others but makes up for that with its speed and acceleration, and the Titan is practically unsteerable. Seriously, I couldn't even get it through the shallow bends in the longest desert course. Why they had to sully a perfectly adequate vehicle selection with this monstrosity is beyond me. At least you can upgrade the handling to something almost passable - albeit still subpar - with the right set of fins.

Finally, there's a neat new mechanic called the "Charge Boost". Basically, holding down the X and Square buttons at the same time revs up your engines until you release Square, rocketing your craft forward at high speed. It's incredibly useful, both for cornering (you slow down significantly while it charges) and for removing attached weapons, and is definitely one of the game's strongest points.

As I said before, though, controls are only half of what makes a great racing game, and that good track design is also essential. Sadly, Fatal Inertia EX's is inconsistent. Most of the tracks are fun and imaginative, but there are quite a few lame ones as well. Several of the tracks are just really short, tight loops with the occasional obstacle to break up the droning monotony (although these sometimes work well in Knockout mode), while others are needlessly tortuous and difficult to navigate. With so many good designs, it's perplexing that the bad ones even made it into the final game.

I wish that I could say that the courses are as good-looking as other reviewers have made them out to be, but I honestly don't see anything particularly special about the graphics in this game. The natural settings, however unoriginal, are a welcome counterpart to the standard urban sprawl that characterizes the genre, but the polygon count is somewhere in the uncomfortable area between the last generation and the current. It isn't bad-looking by a long shot, but the PS3 can definitely do better. I have to give the game credit, though; the ice, water, and lighting effects are amazingly realistic, as are the textures - the game does its best to have a lifelike atmosphere.

And the ships look stunning. They have this cool, Hot Wheels-esque look that separates them nicely from the angular, decaled machines of Wipeout and the anime-influenced vehicles of F-Zero, and the amount of possible customization is incredible. Literally everything about the crafts can be changed, even seemingly pointless details like side panels and cockpit canopies. The paints also look spectacular, especially the pearly ones that change color when viewed from different angles. There's also room for one decal on the hood of each car - erm - ship (sorry, these things really look like flying Hot Wheels), and there are loads of numbers, symbols, and patterns to choose from. They also look much smoother than the rest of the game's graphics, and the damage modelling is excellent.

Of course, these upgrades aren't all available to you from the start. You have to unlock most of them in Career mode, receiving them at the ends of tournaments. Placing higher gives progressively more functional upgrades, and placing first in every race in a series rewards you with special paints, emblems, or bodywork, as does scoring the most hits against opponents. Some of the tournaments are difficult, but the motivation to go back and replay them until you win is strong, and you'll quickly develop strategies for the harder courses. I like this system a lot.

What I don't like is the music. Aside from the fairly awesome Dragon Peak theme (rock with some kind of a Chinese flute playing the melody), and some interesting drums in the Devil's Summit theme, the music is generic, forgettable techno. It sounds exactly like every other racing game ever made. The sound effects definitely make up for this, though, being realistic and substantial. Crashing into other vehicles gives a satisfyingly solid clunk, and the rest of the sound effects are every bit as good.

So, is Fatal Inertia EX a good game? I think so. After all, its only real problems are the inclusion of that hideous Titan vehicle and the spotty course design, and with over fifty courses and three good crafts to choose from, it isn't as if you'll get bored of the good ones very quickly. The customization is wonderful, the unlock system is nice, the weapons are fun to use, and the controls are (in my opinion) very good. There's an achievement system that sometimes rewards you with new upgrades, and the multiplayer mode is superb. I'm glad that I got this game - and, at only $30, you will be too.

Final score breakdown:

Gameplay: 8 out of 10
Graphics: 6 out of 10
Sound/music: 7 out of 10
Environment: 7 out of 10
Polish: 6 out of 10

Cumulative score: 33 out of 50

Average score: 6.6 out of 10

Percentage grade (emphasizing gameplay): 73%

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/09, Updated 12/10/09

Game Release: Fatal Inertia EX (US, 06/19/08)