It’s always interesting to see how a legacy franchise will reinvent itself, especially when its genre isn’t as popular anymore. Far from the heyday of vehicular combat games, like Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby, 34BigThings is now looking to rejuvenate the Carmageddon franchise with Carmageddon: Rogue Shift. Featuring solid post-apocalyptic racing and some fun weapons, the racing game manages to feel fresh thanks to its roguelike nature.
At its core, Carmageddon is still a racing game as you race around rundown zombie-infested locations. However, going faster than your opponents isn’t your only option, as you can sidebash into cars, boost into them, and use a variety of weapons to get an edge. There’s a nice variety of stages, along with optional objectives that’ll net you upgrade points, so sometimes you’ll be looking to focus on dealing damage, and other times you’ll want to go as fast as possible.
As with any roguelike, finding a proper balance in Carmageddon: Rogue Shift is key to success. If you are too banged up in races, then you’ll be in no condition to take on the challenging boss fights. Likewise, if you get greedy and take on an elite event, where only the winner moves on, your promising run can end quite early. Your overall strategy in getting to the boss (relatively) unscathed and then making sure you have the firepower to be effective is just as important as anything you can do on the gameplay front.
It takes a bit of time to realize that, though, and the first couple of runs of Rogue Shift will likely feel helpless when you get to the timed boss fights and are barely able to do any damage. The game’s long-term progression mechanic, where you unlock stat bonuses, plus different cars and weapons, is essential to having a chance. Once you’ve sunk in a little time, however, it becomes quite fun and addictive since failure is due to your mistakes rather than the deck being stacked towards the computer’s favor.
The game’s first impression isn’t its finest, as the initial cars spin out easily and don’t control all that well. Getting used to the drifting is actually quite fun, as picking up shields and ammo gives you natural race lines to use, but the game really becomes fun once you’ve unlocked some better vehicles and weapons later on. With 15 vehicles and 13 weapon classes, there’s a lot to upgrade over time, and those who stick with Carmageddon will have the most fun.
Another shining aspect of Carmageddon: Rogue Shift is its implementation of the zombie-like creatures, called Wasted. While they’re easy to run through at first, massive groups can certainly slow down your vehicle and start doing damage, so you’ll want to avoid them. But it’s the special types of Wasted, such as ones that explode when shot at or ones that lunge at your car as if you were playing Left 4 Dead, that add to the gameplay and set up some cool moments. I’ll never forget shooting an explodable Wasted that then wrecked an opponent in front of me. Those are the cool moments that really make this game shine.
Carmageddon: Rogue Shift Review: Final Verdict
Carmageddon: Rogue Shift takes a few runs to really shift into gear, but once you’re using better vehicles and upgraded weapons, it gets quite fun. Developer 34BigThings has done a great job of adding to a classic genre and making it appeal more to modern sensibilities while not abandoning what made the original 1997 game fun to begin with. This is an update done the right way and one racing game fans will want to check out.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a PlayStation 5 copy for our Carmageddon: Rogue Shift review. Reviewed on version 1.200.000.
