Fatal Inertia (Xbox 360)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.0 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brian Ekberg
• Reviewed on: 09/17/2007
• Released on: 09/11/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Fatal Inertia (Xbox 360) Review

Futuristic racing games really only need to get one thing right in order to succeed: an awe-inspiring sense of speed. Oh sure, things like excellent course design, tough-minded artificial intelligence, and sleek vehicle design don't hurt, but the one thing you want to do when racing in the far-flung future is actually feel like you're racing in the far-flung future. Unfortunately, despite the occasional burst of fun, Koei's attempt at a Wipeout-like sci-fi racer often feels stuck in neutral.

The Fatal Inertia combat racing series, as it's known in the game, features a series of hovercraft, built and sponsored by megacorporations, that are raced around the world. There are four different models of hovercraft in the game, and all feature slightly different attributes and handling. Some are nimble but pokey, others are bulky but tough to damage. Which craft you choose depends not just on your personal piloting style, but the various events you will enter in the game, and the setup of the courses you race.

Events in the Fatal Inertia series are divided among three skill levels--beginner, professional, and elite--and each series contains three or more race events such as combat races (straight dashes to the finish line using any weapon you pick up along the way); knockout races, where the last racer in each successive lap is eliminated; and velocity events, which feature simple courses and fewer available weapons. One of the best race types, magnet mayhem, features just one weapon--magnets, of course. Here, you're given a more or less endless supply of magnets that you can blast at opponents ahead of or behind you (by pressing the RB or LB buttons). These magnets attach themselves to your enemies and eventually explode; and with that many magnets flying around you, the action can be quite harrowing and produce more than a few white-knuckle moments.

In fact, in some cases, the weapons are the best aspects of Fatal Inertia. Weapons like the time dilator (which temporarily slows down time for every craft but yours), the EMP (which blasts your opponents with an electromagnetic wave), and the aforementioned magnets are all fun alternatives to your typical rocket launcher and machine guns found in other games of this ilk. The cable has perhaps the most uses: You can attach it to other opponents to drag them down, or use them to slingshot your way around tight corners. Unfortunately, nailing a perfect cable turn seems more a matter of luck than skill most of the time, a phenomenon that seems to crop up all too often in the game.

Part of the problem has to do with the game's extremely aggressive AI. Once you zip your way through the beginner series, you'll find plenty of challenge for you throughout the rest of the game. The opponent craft aren't just quick around the corners, they're smart with their weapons--so you'll quickly realize that no lead, no matter how large, is insurmountable in this game. That said, luck can play to your hand as well; it's not uncommon on some of the longer courses to go from worst to first during the course of a single lap. Where the frustration really sets in with Fatal Inertia is the sometimes-confusing and often cheap-feeling track design. There are multiple turns on some courses that seem purposefully designed to cause you to fail in any race craft but the Mercury class (the most agile in the game).

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