Carmageddon II

Infobox VG| title = Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now


caption=
developer = Stainless Games
publisher = Sales Curve Interactive
designer =
released = November 30, 1998
modes = Single player
genre = Vehicular combat, Racing
series=
ratings = ESRB: M (Mature)
USK: 16+
ELSPA: 15+
OFLC: MA15+
platforms = Windows, Mac OS, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Game Boy Color
media = 1 CD-ROM (WIN, MAC, PS1)
1 cartridge (N64, GBC)
requirements= 200 MHz CPU, 16 MB RAM, 2 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 6.0, 200 MB available hard disk space, Windows 95 (WIN)
input=Keyboard, mouse, or gamepad

"Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now" is the sequel to the computer game Carmageddon, released on November 30, 1998. The game was developed by Stainless Games and published by Sales Curve Interactive. It has been released for both PC and Macintosh.

Like its predecessor, "Carmageddon II" was subject to criticism for the level of violence portrayed in the game. It is rated 15+ by ELSPA. In some countries, the pedestrians (and animals) are zombies, and blood is turned to green slime: In Germany, aliens replaced the pedestrians. Internet released 'blood patches' restore the original human pedestrians. The blood pack was later released in the United Kingdom in 1999, earning the game an 18 certificate.

It features a heavy metal soundtrack with songs from Iron Maiden and instrumental tracks from Sentience.

"Carmageddon II" was one of the few racing games at the time to feature deformable models on its cars, making for more realistic dents and crashes. In fact, the player's car can even be bent in half, leaving the player to drive with only the front wheels on the ground. The car can also be sheared in half, causing retirement from the race if the damage is not repaired before the vehicle touched the ground.

As with "Carmageddon", there are 3 ways to finish most levels:
* Complete the race, passing every checkpoint before the time runs out
* Destroy all the opponents
* Kill every zombie/pedestrian in the levelAs the player progressed through the game, they would unlock 'sets' of levels (10 in total), consisting of 3 standard "Race, Wreck, or Wreak havoc among the zombie/pedestrian hordes" levels, followed by a mission. Each mission has specific tasks that must be completed before unlocking the next set.

The time limit in the game is generous, and the player can kill pedestrians, crash into opponents, or do tricks to gain time as well.

The other games in the series are:
*"Carmageddon"
*"Carmageddon TDR2000"

oundtrack

*Iron Maiden - "The Trooper"
*Iron Maiden - "Aces High"
*Iron Maiden - "Be Quick or Be Dead"
*Iron Maiden - "Man on the Edge"

Movie and real life influences

Themes, cars, and ideas from many popular movies are present in the game:
*Death Race 2000 is the source of much of the ideology of the game. A game character "Silvester Stallion" was named for Sylvester Stallone, and a powerup in the game, "Oil slicks from your ass" is one that Sly's character can be seen using in the movie.
*Back to the Future is the inspiration for the inclusion of the otherwise rare DeLorean "DeGory'un" car.
*The Blues Brothers is the source for the cop car, and features a quote from the movie to describe the car: "Its got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant. It has cop tires. Cop suspension. Cop shocks..." Additionally, a level requiring the destruction of 12 cop cars - the number of Bluesmobiles used in the making of the movie - exists, with the level description "Trashing that donut shop was a big mistake...", which refers to the event in the mall car chase scene in that movie. The powerup "Oh dear, bodywork trashed" produces an effect that strikingly resembles the scene in which the bodywork simultaneously falls off of the Bluesmobile in the movie.
*Herbie the Love Bug is undoubtedly the source of the VW with the curly-lettered "Hate" emblem on its side.
*The purple TVR Cerbera in the game was based on the car driven at the time of development by Stainless MD, Patrick Buckland and was used without the permission of TVR, much to their irritation.
*Two cars featured on the game are based on real life racecars, the Porker 2 is based on the Konrad Motorsport Porsche 993 GT2 from the BPR Global GT Series and the Tashita2 is based on the Hasemi Sport Unisia JECS Nissan Skyline GT-R from the Group A era JTCC series, competing between 1991 to 1993 and was driven by Masahiro Hasemi.

Ports

"Carmageddon II" has been ported to the Macintosh (1999), Nintendo 64 (Carmageddon 64, 2000) and Game Boy Color (Carmageddon, 2001). The game titles suggest that they are ports of the original "Carmageddon", but the maps and opponents are from "Carmageddon II".

A PlayStation version of "Carmageddon" was only released in Europe.

External links

* [http://carmageddon2.hoho.nu/ Tribute to Carmageddon]
* [http://www.cwaboard.com/ CWA Board (Carmageddon Webmasters Alliance)]
* [http://www.stomping-on-kittens.co.nr/ Stompin' on Kittens - Razor's Carmageddon II site]
* [http://coffey.polygonized.com/ Coffey Cup's Mac Carpocalypse]