[Tetlee]

Now just look at this and try telling me it doesn't look fun?

N+ co-dev Slick Entertainment announces XBLA racer 'Scrap Metal'

Slick Entertainment has one of the best Xbox Live Games on its resume, having collaborated on N+ with Metanet Software. That's why we'll be watching the developer's new game, Scrap Metal, so closely! Scrap Metal for Xbox Live Arcade is a top-down racing game reminiscent of Super Off Road or Rock 'n Roll Racing, except, of course, with a modern physics engine.

Scrap Metal features combat racing against not only your friends in local and online multiplayer, but "track bosses," plus the game includes various missions, as well. It'll be shown off at PAX -- possibly in 3-D! -- and is expected out on XBLA sometime next year.

Love these types of games and this one is looking great already. Another XBLA game to add to my list, shame about the "sometime next year" though, I want it now!

[EDIT]Just discovered the official website http://www.slickentertainment.com/ou...s/scrap-metal/

[trapdoor berk]

I was just on my way over here to post the same thread, you beat me.

Yeah looks cool, reminds me of Supercars 2 (on the Amgia).

[Noggleboggleman]

Looks great fun!

[UPLOADER]

looks like poo we want something new not old school

[sparkrite]

What's not to love !!! .... looking good

[Noggleboggleman]

Originally Posted by UPLOADER

looks like poo we want something new not old school

Who cares? It looks like it should be great fun - isn't that what people want in a game. Surely it doesn't matter if it's based on older games.

It could be argued that the majority of modern day games are based on past glories anyway!

[weetibix]

Looks like a souped up version of Atari's Super Sprint from way back
Super Sprint - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Looks good

[iainl7]

Ooh, it's Mashed again!

[Tetlee]

This is being released in March as part of the Block Party season(along with Toy Soldiers and Perfect Dark). Has also been confirmed as 1200 points(was hoping it'd be 800).

[Crovon]

1200 pts?

Its not worth that much! Its shocking how much they are charging for XBLA games these days. I didnt buy many before but I deffinately wont be buying anymore until they sort the pricing out.

[jason g]

i remember playing super sprint on the arcade, the guy who emptied the money put me 20 free credits on it.

[Crovon]

Originally Posted by jason g

i remember playing super sprint on the arcade, the guy who emptied the money put me 20 free credits on it.

Youve always been a jammy sod tbh.

[runam0k]

Originally Posted by trapdoor berk

I was just on my way over here to post the same thread, you beat me.

Yeah looks cool, reminds me of Supercars 2 (on the Amgia).

+1 for the Supercars ref.

My only concern is it all looks a bit busy. I hope they strike the right balance - I need to be able to see and control my vehicle!

[Rorifett]

Originally Posted by runam0k

+1 for the Supercars ref.

My only concern is it all looks a bit busy. I hope they strike the right balance - I need to be able to see and control my vehicle!

*wince* Somebody has passed 30

[runam0k]

Originally Posted by Rorifett

*wince* Somebody has passed 30

haha, it's true.

[Tetlee]

3 Page preview here with some good description of stages, bosses, weapons etc.

Scrap Metal [EDIT]not sure why I can only link to the official site and not the neoseeker preview[EDIT]

Anyway, a few of the details....

The game has a 3D mode -- we kid you not. It even works in multiplayer. Apparently during the game development Nick looked into it and found that it was pretty easy to implement.

The tracks, and bosses for each are below.

#1: The Garage & Billy Bedhead

* Two training levels set in the family garage get you used to the game controls. A showdown with family friend Billy Bedhead driving a station wagon with a mattress on top is your first taste of a boss battle. If you don't beat him, everybody will laugh at you.

#2: Awesomeland & Mr. Awesome

* A bizarre carnival packed with crazy clowns and psycho drivers, Mr. Awesome rules it. His suped-up ride is fast, has buzzsaws mounted on the sides and can recover health by driving through the circus tents full of freaks. Put him down fast!

#3: Gastown & Track Boss Sal

* This was actually the first track built for Scrap Metal, but ended up tough enough that it got bumped to the third track to make sure drivers would know which end of the steering wheel was up before they hit it. Track Boss Sal drives a big stompin' bulldozer with a spike-studded steamroller wheel on the front. Get in his way and you're scrap. Once you get his truck, this is the only weapon with no reload time.

#4: Coal Harbor & Semi Slapshot

* Docks, crates, big loads and big rigs. Semi Slapshot drives a rig so big, bad and beefy that you can't actually damage him with your standard weapons. Instead you have to pop his minions like ripe grapes, snag the special weapons they drop, and rattle his rims with those.

#5: Motordome & Alex Alternator

* A mud-packed stadium with a crowd to cheer you on. Alex Alternator's monster-wheeled vehicles give her an edge, and so do her multi-directional rocket launchers. Not only that, she shows up twice - first in a monster truck, then again in a monster van. Boom? Boom.

#6: East District & Petrov Piston

* A snazzy part of town with lots of room to race. Petrov doesn't shoot back, but he drives a grand prix race car and if he laps you, it's all over. Use Nitro to stay on his tail and hit him hard when you can.

#7: Wetlands & Cletus Clutch

* Got swamp? The mulletheaded Cletus drives around in an airboat that lets him ignore oil slicks and other terrain obstacles. He's also packing a double shotgun and has an aura of swamp flies that can damage you if you get too close.

#8: Downtown & Ricky Bricktop

* This is the final track - a chunk of the downtown core that, somehow, doesn't have a Starbucks anywhere. Once you've got Ricky Bricktop himself involved in the action you'll find him here, roaring around in his monster tank. The 360-degree turret means nowhere's safe and his respawning gangster goon drivers will keep you on your toes.

In addition to these bosses, there are mini-bosses along the way, like Rotten Johnny, an old friend gone bad and in need of a fender to the dome. When he shows up you can forget about winning the actual 'racing' portion of the game -- just blow him apart to win.

There are four -- well, five -- modes available for multiplayer. Each one is about three minutes long; points are racked up for blowing cars apart; everybody respawns if they get crunched, and the focus is really more on destroying things than on actual driving skills. Here are the details:

Race: It's a race and the first car across the finish line wins it. This is the most driving-centric of the modes and how most of the single-player game works.

Demolition Derby: No racing, just explosions. Pick a car and get ready for destruction.

King of the Hill: This also has racing, and the lead racer earns a pile of points for keeping the top position, but you can still rack up points by blowing everybody apart.

Gas War: Everybody gets a Mad Max style fuel tanker truck covered in buzzsaw blades and armed with a badass 360-degree flamethrower. The AI racers get buggies and trucks but are basically there to get blown up like so many B-movie bad guy minions. Torch, shred or just plain drive over as many other drivers as you can to score big.

Tank War: Everybody gets a massive tank and a lot of ammo. Roll around, blow stuff up, and help everybody else have a blast. It's just that simple.

Each game also has piles of different special weapons that will sometimes appear when you crush one of the four AI racers. Here's a list of what can drop and what they do:

Missile: A race-leader-seeking (or the next car if you're in the lead!) missile with enough firepower to one-shot anything but the tank.

Quad: A Quake-inspired weapon damage multiplier with a short duration.

Health: Some repairs for the vehicle on the go. Early versions of this didn't restore any of your car's missing parts, but that lead to skilled drivers racing around with nothing but tires and maybe a door, so the final version puts the blown-off vehicle parts back on too.

Shield: A few seconds of invulnerability before the shield 'canna take it any more and shuts down.

Oil Slick: Drop one of these to send anybody skidding except Air Buggy drivers.

Nitro: Another shot of nitro for when you've absolutely, positively, gotta go fast.

Mine: Drop this to make the next car to drive over it go kerblooie.

Thumper: Like a mine, you drop it on the track. The next vehicle to drive over it gets to experience the joy of flight. Briefly.

Different tracks have more of less of each of these appear so keep that in mind as you're playing. Oh, and you can pick these up by driving over them, or by shooting them!

Still not quite sure how much I'm looking forward to this game, the first video I linked to at the top of this thread looked fantastic, but some of the others I've seen I'm not so sure about. Either way I'm looking forward to trying it out next Wednesday, hopefully will be something special

[sparkrite]

might just get this as a little birthday treat to myself on Weds

[Tetlee]

The teamxbox review is already out, they liked it and commented on it being a real fun game, but overall I get the impression they feel it's overpriced(somthing I expect other reviewers will echo).

Scrap Metal Review (Xbox 360)

Oh, they gave it a 7.7/10 BTW.

1200 points may be a bit steep for this title, but if you have fun with it (or better yet, a bunch of people have fun with it playing multiplayer) why not? There’s much worse out there, and even though Scrap Metal may not rise too far above the heap, but it’s definitely up there, on pure fun alone.

Hopefully the demo will be enough to tell me if I like it enough to part with the 1200 points, or if it'll be yet another case of "maybe when it arrives on deal of the week". Personally think microsoft are shooting themselves in the foot with the "deals of the week", in that they often put games on there too soon after release, rather than going through the older games, has two negative effects IMO, 1. the release day buyers feel they're constantly getting a rough deal, and 2. people just keep holding off new releases waiting for the inevitable price drop.

[Rorifett]

I fully echo your thoughts there mate, I know that if Shadow Complex et al from the Summer of Arcade promotion hadn't received such big discounts within 6 months or so of release I wouldn't be thinking so much about holding off the recent releases. I think that as well as shooting themselves in the foot with promotions I think MS and the developers as well have shot themselves in the foot by pushing the 1200 price point. I'm not impressed with just a wee bit of jazzy graphics to splash out on a game which doesn't push the boundaries of gameplay as well in some sense.

I'm waiting to see how this one pans out but I reckon, more due to the way I've been burned with early purchases previously, that I'll hang back on purchases just now.

I hate to think how much I've spent on MS points, I'm sure it's probably more than I paid for my elite (£165 with, and I swear down I'm a jammy bastard for getting this all included but here goes! extra controller, pure+lego Indiana jones, Forza 3, Need for Speed Shift, if I'd sold off F3 and NfSS at the time I could've gotten £60 back too lol! was laughing my arse off about that one anyways I digress)... And I don't want to be paying loads in points just now if I can hold back for a few months and make those points count a whole lot more.

I did really enjoy all the wee top down dirt track racers on the old game gear, ****ed if I can mind the names of the games like but they were good fun with the old turbo boost upgrade after the races etc, will be good to see how turns out, hopefully more impressed than I have been with recent releases.

[DJSigma]

After trying the demo, this is another pass for me. It seems like there's quite a lot of content there, but the gameplay feels dated and it just wasn't that much fun to play IMO.

[Rorifett]

Oh aye this is Wednesday... Jeezo I totally can't get used to Mon-Fri... Will try this when i get home and see how it is, not looking so great for the Block/House Party games though just now

[jason g]

just tried it and it's rubbish, very bland and would get boring very quickly imo.

[Rorifett]

Super (in a way!) I really hope the latest batch of games fall flat on their arse and MS take this as the community saying no to 1200. Do you guys think you would've been more forgiving in your appraisal of this and toy soldier had it been at 800points?

[sparkrite]

had a quick blast on this...bit underwhelmed at first look....may give it another go later

[Tetlee]

Had a little go on this before dinner, was ok and would have been a purchase at 800 points, but 1200 is 400 points more than I would value this game so will wait and see if it gets reduced later on.

A couple of the reviews I've read have suggested the pro controls(left and right triggers) are confusing due to staying the same when racing downscreen etc. For me I didn't find any issue with this what so ever, have these reviewers never played a top down racer on a console or something

Personally I think I'd prefer a straight up top down racer as opposed to a top down combat racer, can only imagine how great a new iron man or skidmarks for instance could be with a HD lick and live multiplayer.

[Rorifett]

Originally Posted by Tetlee

A couple of the reviews I've read have suggested the pro controls(left and right triggers) are confusing due to staying the same when racing downscreen etc. For me I didn't find any issue with this what so ever, have these reviewers never played a top down racer on a console or something
.

Or used a remote controlled car? Or driven? ****tards lol I thought this game was ok, think it would wear thin quickly though. It's definitely too highly priced to entice me to purchase, if it's 800 in a few months I'll see if I buy it then but think even at 800 I'd have to think about it.