If you haven''t heard of it, go play it. Now. Yes, now. I said now and I mean now. I''ve played many of this genre(and if anyone wants to buy me an X Box I''ll play Cel Damage, speaking of X Box, Gun Valkyrie looks really really cool). I''ve loved all of them regardless of, well, everything(but the worse was probably Vigilante 8). So I don''t have much in the way of objectivity.

uhhh ummmm...

Frantic. Fairly balanced. Tons of power-ups, but worth commensurate to access difficulty (place best power-ups in most remote and difficult places to get to). Distinctive characters.

[offtopic]
Were you playing CS last night? A friend of mine came onto some server somewhere ("LovealotBear", I think) and I saw your nick. One of the other players said he must be "hax". I assure you he wasn''t; he''s just that good (plus he uses some fairly simple but very effective techniques).

And you guys suck, of course...
[/offtopic]

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Thanks to Kylotan for the idea!

Twasn''t me.

It think there are a few different "key" items to a good game of that nature:


1) Pace
He mentioned it above, but it''s very important that the pace is kept high. The game should play almost fantically. This means keeping level design small and intelligent, and the interface simple and un-obtrusive. This is one of the major faults of the later Carmageddons, they play slow and boringly.

2) Diversity
You need to have a myriad of power-ups, weapons, vehicles, etc... to allow for a large mixture of attacks and defenses. Level design can also play a part here, by creating an environment that a player can use against another player.

3) Over-the-top
The game needs to be over the top in all aspects. Unbelievable speeds, weapon effects, sound effects, and physics all play a part in making people jump and shout when they bitch-slap another player (computer or otherwise) into the next week. I know it doesn''t really apply to this Genre, but when four people are playing Super Smash Bros (on either the 64 or Gamecube) the shouts and curses that come flying out of peoples mouths are the exact reaction that I think you want in a game like that. This is another big fault (if you ask me) of the second and third Carmageddons, the fact that when you slam into someone you might see a few pieces of metal fly and leave a little dent, when there should be all sorts of sound and graphics and damage to the vehicles.

--Ben