Motor Mayhem
Review of Motor Mayhem
Motor Mayhem is a fight to the finish, futuristic, vehicular war. Battle with the craziest and most demented drivers of the world. All the characters share one common goal - winning the championship title of the VCL. MM has some similarities of Twisted Metal Black and the competitive appeal of WWF. Mangle that together for one insane car combat game called Motor Mayhem.
The story line is very simplified and takes place in the year 2025. The VCL Vehicle Combat League is a new form of entertainment for deranged audiences. Eight Athletes have qualified to compete in the VCL playoff called Motor Mayhem. There are three belts to be won and presently a warrior named BUZZSAW holds all titles. The goal is to outwit, outplay, and outlast you opponents. Yeah…I stole that line from Survivor, but it describes the gameplay pretty well.
The characters are quite interesting. Each of them has their own combo moves and specific vehicles. To get you acquainted, I will give a brief introduction: Corvalis - he is a shell shocked soldier that drives a Burn Cycle. Incubus - A Triathelete in his youth who has gone a bit crazy over the years, he drives a modified version of the Burn Cycle. Grok - An experiment that went very wrong, he drives a Steamroller. Rancor - One ugly and scary dude, he drives a Scorpion Rig. Orion-The guy you love to hate drives a Combat Hovercraft. Chromium - Her specialty is Martial Arts and drives a mirrored sports car. Volcana - Is into anything HOT and sports around in a Fire Engine. Void - Tall, dark, and scary, he drives a black Limo. Last but certainly not least, BUZZSAW. Buzz is a 722 lb very disturbed mutant and drives a bladed Tractor.
Single-player mode consists of Quick Brawl and a Career mode. Quick Brawl is a Deathmatch with some of the computer-operated opponents. The player can choose an opponent, arena, and setup the match settings. This mode has no impact on winning any rankings, and is really considered practice. It is a good way to learn your opponents tactics and get familiar with the arenas. Career mode is really the meat of the game. The player must compete and win in each tournament. The VCL Eliminator is a last man standing type battle. The VCL Deathmatch is a race to kill off opponents. The VCL Endurance is a succession of one on one battles. Survive in order to advance. Sadly to say, single-player mode can get old after a while since there is not much to the game except driving around a track shooting the hell out of your opponents, cracking up vehicles and blowing up things. Luckily the gamer can go head to head with a friend. This mode is called the VS Battle and is played in split - screen style. Unfortunately, the VS Battle has no rankings and is just a Deathmatch like I mentioned for single - player mode.
One of my favorite features of the game is the weapons. While driving around the arena, the player can collect all kinds of goodies like shields, health, and different types of arsenal. To name a few; there are laser guns, cannons, rockets and homing missiles. This strangely reminded me of Mario Cart in a demented sort of way.
The graphics are downright pretty and probably the best I have seen on the PS2 so far (next to GT3 of course). The vehicles and backgrounds are extremely colorful and highly detailed. The character models are very creative with a futuristic flare. The developers put a lot of effort in making Motor Mayhem surreal with collapsing walls, falling boulders, and objects that will explode when shot at. There were cool special effects to mention like bullets ricocheting leaving destruction marks and there are colorful blasts of fire that cover the battlefield as gameplay heightens. On the flip side, the framerate seems to slip a bit when too much is going on. I really did not mind because I was pretty much lost in the excitement of the battle.
There is not much to speak of as far as the soundtrack goes. There is a cool kind of beat but it really does not progress during gameplay. The sound effects of the weapons firing and explosions were pretty impressive. You can also hear the audiences applauding, taunting, and booing during the matches.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Motor Mayhem' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Loretta Mattie © Absolute PlayStation
Click here to view our 9 Motor Mayhem in-game screenshot slideshow
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