Ignition

Ignition

A 3D top down racing game which offers vehicles from cop cars to buses.

Overview

In 1997 the game was released for the PC by the Swedish developer UDS (Unique Development Studios). It was developed by fewer than ten people in the town Norrkoping. At one point, Codemasters were interested in publishing the game. However, the game ended up being published by Virgin.

On January 10th, 2017 the game was re-released on GOG.com with support for newer operating systems on PC, Mac, and Linux. It was published by Interplay Entertainment Corp.

In February 2017 the game was re-released on Steam for the PC. This re-release was also published by Interplay Entertainment Corp.

Gameplay

The game is played from a top view perspective much like Micro Machines. The gameplay is pretty straight forward. Players control the vehicles with the arrow keys and use shift to ignite a boost. When boosting, the boost meter is drained and takes a few seconds before the player can boost again.

The seven levels available each has a different theme. From the snowy “Yodel Peaks” to the night time city of “Tokyo Bullet”. There are multiple paths on most of the levels which challenges the player to find the fastest way through each map.

Players can control 11 different vehicles; four of which are unlocks. These include a school bus, a police car, and a monster truck.

Modes

Four different singleplayer modes are available:

  • Championship – Lets players compete on all the maps. Players are rewarded with something after finishing first. The four difficulties are: novice, amateur, pro, and mirror.
  • Single Race – Players choose a single map and race on it.
  • Time Trail – Players drive without opponents and try to beat the fastest times.
  • Pursue Mode – The car that is dead last when a lap is completed explodes and can’t race anymore. It goes on until all but one car is exploded and that car is the winner

Multiplayer

Ignition also offers a multiplayer component. It allows players to either play it split screen or over LAN. However, the LAN does not work with Windows XP or Vista due to it not being developed for either of them.