MegaRace

MegaRace is a racing video game developed by Cryo. It features pre-rendered 3-D graphics and over twenty minutes of full motion video of fictional game show host, Lance Boyle. It was released for DOS in 1993. It was then released for the Sega CD and the 3DO the following year. It spawned two sequels, MegaRace 2 and MegaRace 3.

MegaRace
Developer(s)Cryo
Publisher(s)The Software Toolworks
Director(s)Rémi Herbulot
Producer(s)Clive Fort
Steve Hutchins
Designer(s)Florian Desforges
Writer(s)Johan Robson
Composer(s)Stéphane Picq
Platform(s)DOS, Sega CD, 3DO
ReleaseDOS
Sega CD
3DO
  • JP: October 7, 1994
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

MegaRace takes place in the distant future, where the player is a contestant on a game show, called "MegaRace". MegaRace is on the VWBT (Virtual World Broadcast Television) television channel where contestants compete in a live-or-die race match against Hells Angels-like speed gangs. MegaRace's host is the eccentric Lance Boyle (played by Christian Erickson). He guides the player throughout the game, introducing new levels and enemies, frequently discouraging the player.

Gameplay

Megarace is a Vehicular combat game with arcade gameplay, similar to that of RoadBlasters and Spy Hunter. However, it is also a rail shooter, in which the player does not fully control the car; he can move it from side to side and accelerate within a limited range, but cannot turn nor fully stop the vehicle. This is because the speedway is rendered in full-motion video. The player must not only kill the opponents, but must also selectively avoid or run over "symbols" marked on the speedway itself. When driven over, these symbols temporarily improve or harm the car's performance.

The objective in MegaRace is to kill all of the speed-gang members in each race before three laps of the racetrack are completed. The first race starts out with a small number of speed-gang punks, but more are added in each subsequent race. The player can dispatch opponents by slamming them into the sidewall of the track, hitting them with missiles mounted on the player's car, or passing them, causing the opponent's vehicle to explode after the gap between the two cars becomes too great. The player has a limited number of missiles for each race. If all opponents are not killed within three laps, the race is lost and the player must start again from their last saved game. If all opponents are successfully dispatched, the player moves on to the next race. If the player beats Lance Boyle's score (120,000 points), plays for a sufficiently long time, and comes in second, third or (occasionally) fourth, Lance will let him move on to the next track. Usually, coming in any position other than first either ends the game or forces the player to play the "Last-Chance Speedway".

The game has a total of eight cars and fourteen speedways across five worlds, not including two bonus races. The tracks differ in appearance between difficulty levels.

Development

MegaRace features a techno chiptune soundtrack composed by Stéphane Picq of Dune.

Software Toolworks were working on an Amiga CD32 version of the game,[1] but it was never released.

Microïds (Anuman Interactive's adventure games label), owners of the Cryo brand, made the game available on GOG.com on April 30, 2009 alongside MegaRace 2. It also received a version for OS X on June 18, 2013 via GOG.com.[2]

Reception

Reviewing the 3DO version, GamePro commented that the controls are difficult, but that the fun gameplay and impressive graphics make up for this.[5]

Next Generation reviewed the 3DO version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "It would seem that every new piece of hardware needs to proves itself on a racing game, and this could be the 3DO game to compete with Daytona, Ridge, and Cruis'n. Good stuff."[4]

The game sold 330,000 units by September 1995.[6] MegaRace was eventually added to publisher, Mindscape's "Value Classic Series". The box art touted "Over 1.5 Million Sold!"[7]

Legacy

MegaRace also spawned two sequels, MegaRace 2 in 1996 and MegaRace 3 in 2001, the former uses the same pre-rendered method introduced in the original albeit with 3D polygon car models instead. The latter features full real-time 3-D graphics. Lance Boyle also returns for both sequels. MegaRace also came bundled with some Packard Bell, Quantex computers, and Gravis Joysticks during the early to mid-1990s.

In April 2014, ZOOM Platform and Jordan Freeman Group announced conversions of the entire MegaRace Trilogy for mobile and tablet devices along with a reboot of the franchise on PCs, game consoles, mobile, and tablet devices.[8] A teaser trailer followed two months later.[9]

References
  1. "In the Bag". Computer and Video Games. No. 160. Future Publishing. March 1995. p. 55. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2017-01-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Computer & Video Games Issue 155" (PDF) (155). October 1994: 99. Retrieved November 4, 2017. MegaRace soons becomes addictive. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 1. Imagine Media. January 1995. p. 90.
  5. "ProReview: Mega Race". GamePro (67). IDG. February 1995. p. 96.
  6. https://archive.today/20160424194533/http://www.liberation.fr/futurs/1995/09/26/la-financiere-agache-se-pique-aux-jeux-la-participation-dans-la-pme-cryo-traduit-l-interet-croissant_143050
  7. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mega-Race-PC-DOS-Game-New-Sealed-Box-Rare-Mindscape-Title/274088400548?hash=item3fd0f116a4:g:9BAAAOSwkXBdxhnH
  8. https://venturebeat.com/2014/04/17/mobile-game-startup-zoom-debuts-with-the-familiar-face-of-bernie-stolar-as-its-chairman/
  9. https://venturebeat.com/2014/06/18/megarace-returns-with-fmv-lance/
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