We’ve had plenty of kart racers, but nothing has quite recreated the chaos of Rollcage. Until now.
Rollcage is the kind of racer that you rarely hear people reminisce about, which I always found a bit bizarre. Perhaps being more along the lines of Wipeout than, say, Mario Kart dented its popularity. And perhaps the existence of Wipeout hurt Rollcage’s popularity as well; it was a little more user-friendly from the off, at least from memory.
It’s a shame, because Rollcage was a very cool game. It reminded me a little bit of Powerslide as well in the way that the tracks were more interactive, more creative than the standard fare you would get in a racer of this ilk.
But ever since the release of Rollcage’s sequel in 2000, developers have given the breakneck, all-wheel driving formula a wide berth. Fortunately, two of the original creators and a collection of “avid fans” are bringing Rollcage back with GRIP, a new project on Kickstarter.
Not a bad prototype from two people.
“We want most modes to come with various options to increase replay value, such as weather changes and time of day, as well as modifiers that let you enable or disable certain pick-ups and change how they work,” Caged Element wrote on the campaign page.
“Want an explosive match where racers are equipped only with unlimited mines? You can do that. How about disabling pick-ups altogether to make it just about the driving skill? Sure, why not.”
Like Rollcage — and all the other combat racers of that era — the game will sport a pumping trance soundtrack, with Technical Itch, Dom & Roland and Skynet (who contributed to the soundtrack for Rollcage Stage 2) on board.
Caged Element has already promised to include homing missiles, machine guns, railguns, proximity mines, mini-rockets, rear-facing shields, an AOE pulse weapon, EMPs, nitrous and more as the usable weapons, which is more or less what you’d expect from a racer like this.
They’ve also promised to make sure the tracks span a vast variety of environments, including icy wastelands, military installations, urban areas, jungles and, as can be seen in the footage above, stifling deserts.
“Should we receive enough funding via KickStarter, the development of GRIP will continue directly from our prototype phase and straight into full-thrust development. From our very carefully considered schedules we anticipate that the game will be complete some time before the end of 2016.”
There’s just one catch with the project: it’s after a fairly sizable chunk of money. With 28 days remaining, GRIP has only raised C$55,705, well short of its pledged C$657,000 target. In exchange for your support, however, backers will be able to vote on additions to the game should funding reach certain stretch goals.
“Once a stretch goal is hit, the backers will post in the comments what stretch goal they most want to see happen. We’ll then pick the stretch goal with the most votes and cross it off the list.”
It’s an interesting idea, and I really hope GRIP gets the support it needs. Looking at it now I’m reminded of games like the Quarantine series, Carmageddon, Wipeout — things we just don’t see these days.
That makes me sad. I want my balls-to-the-walls racers back. And if you’re the same, then go check out GRIP’s Kickstarter page now.
Comments
10 responses to “GRIP Takes Rollcage And Brings It Back Into 2015 Where It Belongs”
I remember that, was great fun.
But why does Kickstarter still not accept Paypal? Surely it’s not hard in this day and age.
*sigh* I don’t know. I wish they’d sort that out.
I think it comes down to you not paying immediately when backing something, since they dont actually take any money unless the kickstarter reaches its goal. Harder to make an endless list of fake credit card numbers and submit fake backings for a project, rather than a stack of fake paypal accounts as well?
OMG! Okay I personally loved rollcage as a kid and will be defintely backing this 😀
I wouldn’t even care if they did take the money and just refunded it if it didn’t succeed.
Yeah, I’ve been mulling on this one, and it looks too good not to back. We do need more arcade racers. Sims are great and all, but they don’t give you the instant pick-up-and-play satisfaction, nor the subtle onion effect of arcade gameplay; in most cases, there’s a depth there if you’re willing to look for it.
Besides, visually, there’s nothing nicer than a pretty arcade racer. Seeing the same real-life track rendered in slightly more detail every couple of years gets boring.
Yep, gonna back this one for SURE 🙂
Wow what a coincidence. I was just thinking of Rollcage earlier today.
Holy smeg! *throws money at screen*
Rollcage Stage II was one of my best random bargain bin purchases and one of the favourites I keep coming back to (also helped by how fantastically future-proofed the game seemed to be apart from a bumpmapping bug fixed by an eventual patch, and predating Xinput by too many years to have modern gamepad support) – sooo much content in the game! (even a very basic Rocket League style car soccer game)
Fuck Yeah!!! This might just be my first foray into kickstater territory. Rollcage was a fave in a few share houses ive lived in.
At the time of Rollcage’s release – my parents owned a small convenience store which also rented out films and games. If a game wasn’t rented that night, I could play it. Ah – those were the days. Rollcage was awesome, and often led to small competitions and tournaments among friends. When I heard of a second one being developed, I begged my parents to get it for the store – it was the only way we could afford it. Once again – it became a great go-to game. I miss those days – crowding around the lounge and drinking soft drink, eating cheesy chips and having all nighters. Of course, Mario Kart later filled that void – but Rollcage was something special. I’m backing this one!
I actually found my old PC Rollcage disc last weekend while cleaning up my garage. Man I loved that game, I think I had it on PS1, along with the sequel. One of those games that I wish would be remade for latest gen, and it looks like my wish may come true!!!