“First I'm gonna take your ride, then I'm gonna take your girl. Get ready for that.” – Clarence “Razor” Callahan, Blacklist #1

Welcome

Hello drifter! Welcome to my personal home page on the World Wide Web. I enjoy writing about my favorite video games, hobbies, and practicing hand coded HTML and CSS. This site is very simple to use, just use the navigation menu below to check out my video game reviews. They are typically based in the driving and racing genre or related to vehicular themes. More content is planned for the site, however please be patient while I work slowly as these things will take time. You can add a bookmark or follow this site along with (counting...) others to stay up to date. Be sure to sign my guestbook and let me know your thoughts. See you around!

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Index

Notice: This website is (always) under construction!

Half-Life Rally (2004)

A total conversion mod running on Half-Life's GoldSrc engine.

Date: May 31, 2019
Version: Windows
Developer: Half-Life Rally Team
Genre: Arcade (Cars)
Players: Single-player, 32 player online

Did You Know?

One of five mods to be featured at the 2002 Half-Life Mod Expo in Dallas, Texas.

Convincing driving physics implemented in an engine intended for first person shooters.
Half-Life flashlight repurposed into working headlights. New car reflections, exhaust backfire, and dust trail effects.
Interior, exterior, and TV camera options. Modeled cockpit with moving gauge needles. Full LOD rear view mirror.
Mouse steering possible in addition to keyboard bindings. Controller support may require setup in console or config files.
Circuit and point-to-point race modes. Course variety span different seasons and time of day.
Upgradable speed, acceleration, and handling stats. Earned money and parts last until server map change.
Hot Potato is a negligible arena-based game mode. Development time could've been spent elsewhere.
Some quirks in acceleration and grip physics, particularly on sloped terrain.
Server-side bots are underdeveloped with broken navigation AI. Bots don't work on some courses.

Should You Play This?

Try! Half-Life Rally is one of the many examples that showcase the Half-Life modding talent as it ranks in the likes of DOOM and Quake. Ceased development after its beta release left much to be desired.

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Rage Racer (1996)

A darker take on Ridge Racer with more grit and attitude.

Date: May 5, 2019
Version: PlayStation
Developer: Namco
Genre: Arcade (Cars)
Players: Single-player

Did You Know?

Debut of Ridge Racer's mascot race queen Reiko Nagase.

First in series career mode. Fair money management with help from repeatable race payouts.
Varied selection of cars to purchase, from roadster and truck to muscle and endurance.
Car class upgrades change visual bodywork. Adjustable tire physics between drift and grip.
Color options for car livery. Custom text on windshield banner. Paint editor for team logo also changes environment billboards.
Courses specially designed for high torque or tight cornering. Lots of elevation changes and vertical details.
Accelerated day and night transitions. Dream-like dawn and dusk skies.
Unlockable reverse courses, mirror mode, secret cars, and extra music.
Essential analog steering is enabled only through NeGcon compatible controllers.
Quicker to take corners without drifting in a drifting focused game.
Some cars are locked to manual transmission.
No returning multiplayer mode from the previous game.
Drifting physics have a high learning curve. Recovering from drifts may stall the car.
Overtaking around corners and tight spaces is frustrating. Unreliable collision hitboxes.

Should You Play This?

Play! Rage Racer is a substantial leap from the quick race, coin-op arcade style of the previous Ridge Racer games. Just make sure you're using analog steering.

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Motor Kombat (2007)

A kart racing minigame included in Mortal Kombat Armageddon.

Date: Apr 23, 2019
Version: Wii
Developer: Midway Games
Genre: Arcade/Combat (Karts)
Players: Single-player, 4 player splitscreen

Did You Know?

Second Mortal Kombat minigame to use "big head" characters following Puzzle Kombat.

Uncompromised 4 player splitscreen multiplayer experience in 60 fps and progressive scan.
Wii remote, nunchuck, GameCube, Wavebird, and Classic Controller are all supported.
Mortal Kombat inspired projectiles, snares, traps, and shield abilities.
Item placements often bait into death traps complete with a fatality announcer.
Only 10 playable characters out of 63 from the fighting game.
Single races across 5 courses may not sustain a longer playtime.
Driving feels swimmy, though serviceable for a parody minigame.
Wii port lacks online multiplayer compared to PlayStation 2 and Xbox predecessors.
Cheap AI reminiscent of klassic arcade difficulty.

Should You Play This?

Try! Motor Kombat allows 4 Kombat fans to get together for a brief distraction. However, the PlayStation 2 version is limited to 2 player splitscreen.

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