BreakNeck

Pros • Mines • Straight-race or cheat-city-rat-bastard combat mode • Abso-freakin’-lutely beautiful • Rockets • Guns • Weapon sound effects	Cons • You might want to double that stated system requirement... • Still a bit too “on-road” • Limited view modes
Bottom Line It’s SouthPeak, it’s gorgeous, it’s good---and yes, the Antichrist is coming. If I was to take every cheap shot the industry sets up for me, we’d be here a damned year---but even the most warmhearted and forgiving have to admit that, up ‘til now, SouthPeak hasn’t exactly carved a Glowing Name for itself. Well, in every tide that turns there’s always a first wave, and BreakNeck comes in like a fresh-water Tsunami gleefully cackling Wwwwwiiipeout..! For every arcade-racer gamer who’s ever cursed through his/her teeth, wishing---to God or the devil or Cthulhu or whomever might be listening---for just one measly heat-seeking missile in that last stretch...this Bud’s for you. It’s Killer Time.

If I Had A Rocket Launcher, Some Sonofabitch Would Die

Racing. Combat. Two great tastes that taste great together, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of mechanical competition. it’s not startling news to the gaming world, of course; it’s just that it’s usually done so badly that nobody cares. The real beauty of BreakNeck---beyond the immediately apparent graphical dazzlery---is that you can play the game as a straighforward dumbass arcade racer, a more in-depth sim, or as the vicious evil twin of either one.

BreakNeck won’t warp your mind and curve your spiritual spine as quickly and efficiently as, say, Carmageddon---the violence here is limited strictly to the other cars on the track, with nary a splattered/smeared pedestrian, equestrian, bovine, canine, mime, meter-maid or even lower creature to be seen. Still, it’s a satisfying chaw-wad of automotive evil: While you’re ripping around those 24 gorgeous tracks---Germanic villages, portside courses just begging for a pirate invasion and starkly-lit Arizona ghostowns & formations, all presented in various conditions and times of day, as well as mirror-image alts for a total of 96 versions---you’ll have lots of opportunities for direct and indirect car combat. Gatling guns; road spikes; Bond-esque tire slashers; land mines (oddly, hitting one of these isn’t always such a bad thing, especially if the resultant tumble through the air lands you properly). Ballistic and heat-seeking missiles, of course (that satisfying hiss, roar and boom of a properly launched and connected rocket is at least two points of this pretty game’s rating, right there). There are some very specific opportunities to use each weapon on the oft-narrow tracks, and half the challenge is being quick enough on the weapon-switch draw to recognize the appropriate tool and select it in time. After that, things start getting a little silly---with weapons that add to your opponent’s gravitic burden, for example, or irritating EMP weapons that affect your forward target and nobody else---but remember, all this is on top of the fact that BreakNeck is a great racing game. If there’s a prime flaw, it’s that these eye-goggling environs beg for free-roaming exploration, and with few exceptions you’re stuck on a track. Oh well.

Of course, I’m grossly overemphasizing the combat options because that’s the kind of guy that I am, but if you want a straight racer---”straight” except for the fact that you can race stock rally cars, Formula Ones, Mack Trucks, Delorean-style tech jobs, euro-fruit commuter boxes and the like---you’re more than welcome, in either the game’s goofy, Rush-esque arcade mode or the more serious sim end (featuring tweaks for suspension, brakes, tires, cup-holders, etc...). Just remember to block out Eddie, your friendly neighborhood gearhead and ear-muncher---you’ll know what we mean when you get there. Sorry, but some things just have to be experienced.

Like I say, it isn’t Carmageddon---it’s a notch or two less violent but arguably a whole lot prettier, and much more a straightforward racer, where concepts like “lap” and “cornering” usually apply no matter what rotten thing you’ve just left back at the last hairpin for the poor schmuck behind you. As a racer-inclined PC gamer, you owe it to yourself to give BreakNeck a try.

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