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Mad Cars: A Review

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Started 3 years ago by Whiterabbit-uk
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Whiterabbit-uk

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This received 90% of nearly 200 votes with only 18 thumbs down the first time it was given away and then only 57% from 324 votes the second time it was given away back in January of this year. You can check out the comments from both by following the links below:

Jan 07:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/mad-cars/#comments

Jan 08:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/cars-gone-mad/#comments

The Game:

Try a commercial combat of extremes! Mad Cars is not a simple race. It’s a way to snatch out a small picture of unpredictable future. How is your car going to look like after WW III? What is going to happen with the famous races? Who is going to set the rules? Earn your wealth on what you can do best, whether it’s insane driving, mad fighting or sneaky protectiveness.

Reference: http://www.realore.com/madcars/ accessed 14th Nov 08

There are three game modes Championship which is your basic Racing Game, Arena, which is like stock car racing, but not quite as you face off against one opponent, with no holds barred; and then there’s online play that’s similar to the single player championship game except you can either play with a friend on the same computer using the same keyboard, (or if you have a usb gaming board then you can both have a keyboard each) or play online against others around the globe. You earn bonuses and money so that you can upgrade your cars, choose from more powerful cars and then wipe out your fellow racers or death arena challengers. Earning money also gives you access to nine other tracks all with different scenery and styles. You can see what these look like by going to the multiplayer mode and select the online play option. Following the prompts will take you to a track selection screen where you can see all 10 tracks from a top down view. You can also choose from five different characters, all of which look mean in a cartoon sort of way. Check out the html read me document located in the games folder to find details of all the cars and the different maps (You can see this when the set up wizard finishes provided you leave the checkbox ticked, or go to the start menu and click on the appropriate shortcut). If you just want to get right into the game you can return to the read me via the start menu shortcuts or go directly to the games folder and click on the html document. All the game controls and other info that I’d normal write in my reviews will be found there. There’s also a four page help to be found in the main menu.

Game Features: (taken from the read me as I’m pushed for time)

• Ten tracks: city, military, industrial and other unexpected places.
• Drive 9 mad cars, such as totally equiped bat, furious ranger, insane hunter and more.
• Each car can be equipped with an onboard weapons system of your choice.
• Choose your preferred weapons: mines, spikes, guns and armors.
• Feel like in reality show with perfectly made damage effects.
• Take bonuses of speed-boost, get additional money and collect extreme weapons.
• Find your way through three modes: Championship, Death Arena and Multiplayer.
• Choose among 5 mad characters: savage Dick, crazy Sara or belligerent Max.
• Multiplayer
• Play full screen or windowed

You can see around 30 in game screen captures (though I used a few images I found via Google as I don’t have time to properly play the game today) Though I did play this the first time around and despite the poor controls, enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks BuBBy for the link to the gamepad converter, though I have a Wolf King gaming keyboard which is almost as good and requires no extra programs to make it work.

All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Mad%20Cars/?start=all

Slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Mad%20Cars/?albumview=slideshow

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

• Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
• Processor Pentium 166 or higher (Pentium II - recommended)
• DirectX 3.0 or higher
• Video card with 1 Mb video memory
• 12 Mb RAM
• 17 Mb free disk space
• Sound card - optional, but recommended for the music!

Conclusion:

NiteRaven comment #11 from the Jan 08 comments section has hit the nail on the heads as far as I'm concerned. Not being a racing fan (apart from MotoGP Racing, Auto Assault (Which is loosly a 3D version of this) and Need for Speed Carbon, oh yeah! and the 'Free' online game called Darkwind: War on Wheels (anther 3D real time strategy and Racing game very loosly based on this game.

http://www.dark-wind.com/

NiteRaven hit the nail on the heads as far as I’m concerned when he said:

“this is a good game that could have been great. I would say its worth the download. If you’re a racing fan and can get past the arrow keys thing you’ll love this. If you don’t like racing or can’t deal with multiple keys with both hands.. steer clear.

Not being a racing fan despite having several titles such as MotoGP Racing, Motocross Madness I & II, Auto Assault (Which is loosly a 3D version of this) and Need for Speed Carbon & Pro Street, A few Colin McRae rally games including his last called Dirt, Race 07, GTR2, Test Drive Unlimited, Crashday, Flatout: Ultimate Challenge oh yeah! and the ‘Free’ online game called Darkwind: War on Wheels (another 3D real time strategy and racing game that I was involved in during the Beta testing and very loosely based on this game) ……phew, needed a long breath for that……… I do think this game can be a lot of fun once you've got used to the controls as I did the last time it was given away, though if you really want some thrills go for the free online Darkwind or buy Crashdays which has the Arena fights and the racing but from a 3D perspective. You can buy this game in the UK from Game.uk for less than $10 which is outstanding considering the amazing game play. If you had to buy today’s game, I know which one I’d buy first, of course Crashday, which should play on most computers built in the last several years. You only require a video card with 64Mb of memory.

Still, I'll probably stick to the ones I’ve got above. It's a fun game so in my estimation is worth a reasonable 6.5 out of 10 or maybe a 7 due to the ability to play against a friend or to go online. The games AI is okay, but once you've got used to the controls it's easily beaten even when setting it on the hardest difficulty setting (of which there are three).

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Other Similar Games:

If you like this game or missed the giveaway check out the following free games. The first one is to a post I started several months ago called Wheeled Games that contains loads of racing orientated games for free. The Gametop and freegamepick games do open your browser when you close the game down, but otherwise are okay. Gametop have recently introduced the same system myplaycity use wherby yout browser is actually hijacked, but this can be stopped simply by watching the installation process and ensuring the box that asks whether you want your browser changing is unchecked.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2574

Real Racing:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/racing/

This is the same as Intense Racing below and it was also given away over on the game giveaway site as Race Cars: The Extreme Rally

Mad Truckers:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/driver-truckers-download/

KGB Hunter:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/car-kgb-hunter-download/

Extreme Racers:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/extreme-racers/download.html

Mad Race:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/mad-race/download.html

City Racing:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/city-racing/download.html

Intense Racing 2:

http://freegamepick.com/en/games_intenseracing2.html

Intense Racing:

http://freegamepick.com/en/games_intenseracing.html

Real Racing:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/racing/download.html

Star Racing (3D space)

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/star-racing/download.html

one of the classics that you can now get for free Grand Theft Auto I & II can also be downloaded from the following address:

Oh yeah and here’s the link to Darkwind:War on Wheels, the online game I mentioned in passing above:

http://www.dark-wind.com/

And finally; here’s a link to what probably started the violence related racing games:

Grand Theft Auto:

http://grand-theft-auto.en.softonic.com/or
or
http://freegamepick.com/en/games_gta.html

Grand Theft Auto II:

http://freegamepick.com/en/games_gta2.html

You can get both of these directly from the developers site at Rockstar, but you have to first subscribe to their news letter:

http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/index.html

please note, the rockstar version is in my view the better alternative because you don’t get the nag screens that you get with freegamespick, I’ve nmpot tried the softonic version though. Also with the Rockstar download you also get a third game called Wild Metal, which is a bit dated now, but still worth checking out. The download includes all three games and is 344Mb in size

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Other useful information:

Regarding the lack of control configurability with respect to only being able to use keyboard controls for this game? I’m sure many find this annoying as I do, because I’d much rather use a controller or Wheel (or even a joy stick). Thankfully BuBBy posted a link to XPadder which should enable you to use a console controller such as an Xbox controller.

I only found out this summer after I’d bought the Beijing 2008 Olympics game, that you required a controller to play it. Someone recommended that I bought an Xbox controller which I though would only work with an Xbox console, but it can actually be used on your PC as well. Anyway, here‘s the link BuBBy posted for the XPadder:

http://xpadder.com/

It allows you to configure any “keyboard only” game to work with your game controller.

Posted 3 years ago #
wizzard_of_ozz2004

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Games Master

Hey Stephen, I just checked out the xpadder site and it says that the site is up for sale. Though the program is still being linked to, I thought it may be a good idea to give a direct link to the download since this may not be the case for too much longer.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wnogdiuggwy

Should you decide to use this software, beware that it is a 37mb download. Those of you still on dial-up may have to wait awhile for this one to download.

Thanks for the great review, I'm off to try this one out.

Posted 3 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk

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Games Guru

Thanks for the new link. I didn't actually check it out as I assumed it would be olay after BuBBy posted it, though that was nearly a year ago, and a lot can happen in a year as far as the web goes.

I did repeat myself in the conclusion. A case of cutting and pasting from the original review I made back in February, but I forget to edit it. I'd initially forgotten to reference the fact that Niteravens comment was from February 2008. Yeah that's another mistake I made, saying that it was January 2008. I overslept this morning and when I posted this I was still in that half sleep stage, plus I was in withdrawal from my opiates (as I am every morning when I wake up - boo hoo), so I'm sure I can be forgiven for the mistakes. :(

I really hate the way these forums are set up so that you can't edit your own posts after an hour. It would make things much easier and tidier if we could.

regards

Stephen

p.s.

If you haven't already, try some of the gametop games. Despite the annoying browser opening at the end, the games are well worth it for free. I just tried the latest addition Star Racing, It's oaky as racing games go, and with the space theme, makes it a little different from the rest. It reminds me of chromadrome a little, though you don't get the psychedelic colors.

Posted 3 years ago #
wizzard_of_ozz2004

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Games Master

I actually have Star Racing loaded onto my pc, and thoroughly enjoy it (as far as racing games go.) I downloaded the xpadder, and tried it out with todays game. I thought it did an ok job of converting, however I got really confused when it started saying I could use spacebar (left trigger for me) or right shift (X button.) Then I started the race, and for some reason when I mapped the new keys it took off my up and right mappings so I had to go back in and change it again. Perhaps with a more intuitive game, I might not have had so much trouble. I will definitely keep the program though because it will help alot with some of my old dos games.

Posted 3 years ago #
thewebmaster

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Member

I'm downloading Star Racing, (mainly because wizzard(it's really wizard) of oz got it, and cause it was 3-D-I only download 3-D games you know) the screenshots look nice. Just in case you're wondering "How does thewebmaster download it with only dial-up?" It takes patience.

No patience is the reason the came up with broadband. That and some genius decided all websites had to have BIG pictures and BIG files. Now it is almost impossible to download anything with Dial-Up. Every mega bite takes about ten or five minutes. My download speed goes-at the greatest-five KB a second.

WHAT?! Five KB a second?! How does he survive??????????? Well, these forums dial-up can handle surprisingly well. Still, someday, broadband for me.

webmaster

Posted 3 years ago #
wizzard_of_ozz2004

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Games Master

lol I know what you mean, it took my family (I'm still a bit of a young'un) a long time to upgrade. I begged my parents for years, and finally I'm downloading at close to 200mb/second. I cautioned about the xpadder for dial-up because I remember how a 5mb download would take a little less than an hour for me to download on dial-up.

I realize that its really only one z for both wizard and oz, but I use this name because it is the nickname for my favorite baseball player Ozzie Smith. I guess I just assume that since his name is two z's, I should use two z's.

Star Racing and Trackmania Nations are by far my two favorite freeware racers. If you want webmaster, if there is a large game that will take you awhile to download, I can download the installer and zip it up for you so it will be quicker for you to download. I may end up doing this anyway and uploading the files to storage site and link there instead of download pages. I realize the kind of following that Stephen has garnered here at GOTD, and I want to try and live up to his following by making it a little easier on people to access these games.

Regards,
AH

Posted 3 years ago #
thewebmaster

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Member

200mb a second! Heh, it sounds to me like the year 3000. Ha ha. Thanks, that would be nice, if it wouldn't be much trouble!

I downloaded it (low and behold), and I find it to be quite enjoyable! Only thing, is that even with a 2gb RAM computer that is XP, it was slow and sluggish. I tuned down the graphics, then I started having fun!

I wonder, is it the RAM, or the processor?
I don't know, but after I tuned it down it worked fine. At the beginning of every race you hear an announcer's voice, but I can't ever hear what he says. It sounds like it's backwards...
Anyways, Thanks Oz, if I can call you that!
-Webmaster

Posted 3 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk

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Games Guru

Hi Webmaster, firstly, check your PM's. As for the RAM, with 2Gb you should certainly have enough. As you cvan see the specifications are pre millenium:

• Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
• Processor Pentium 166 or higher (Pentium II - recommended)
• DirectX 3.0 or higher
• Video card with 1 Mb video memory
• 12 Mb RAM
• 17 Mb free disk space
• Sound card - optional, but recommended for the music!

The only thing I could suggest is that you have too many background programs running, though I'm sure you've already considered that. Other reasons could be old drivers or your hard drive needs defragmenting. Until I bought one of those programs that degrag's in the background (Diskeeper 2007)I was always forgetting to do regular defrag's and consequently, my computers were always slowing down significantly.

Regards

Stephen

Posted 3 years ago #
thewebmaster

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Member

Thank you for the info Whiterabbit, I'll try it out.
Thanks,
-Webmaster

Posted 3 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk

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Games Guru

No problems. I hope it helps.

Chris Comment #16 posted details of an old DOS game that's remarkably similar to today's giveaway, Death Race.

You can actually download the original version for free via several abandonware sites. The following is one of the better ones. You do need to use the DOSBox to run it though, which may put some off trying the game. I highly recommend trying DOSBox as I will be posting more games during the coming weeks that rely upon this excellent emulator..

I've explained how to use the DOSBox previously in another thread. If you go to the Games discussion main menu (by clicking on the Games Discussion link near the top of the page) and search out the first few posts I made for the free weekday games, you'll find the details there; or alternatively search for some tutorials on the net. I do think there's a read me with all the information you need to get DOSBox up and running.

Death Rally

http://www.squakenet.com/abandonwarering/site.asp?idgame=219&idsite=85&url=http://www.old-cans.com/en/death_rally/

DOSBox:

http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1

Urgent note

Axecut pointed out that today's version is actually a new version over the one we got previously. That is v1.06 as opposed to 1.04, so for those who like this game and still have the original download, go get this one now. there's only 6 hours left......

I've just compared the original download with the latest one and I cannot find anywhere that says it's a new version. In fact if you go to the read me file found in the doc folder it says both are v1.0 (though that could just be an oversight on the part of the developer with respect to not updating the read me)

Posted 3 years ago #

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