Less Than Lethal
Fatal Inertia EX isn't quite a knockout, but it's nowhere near as terrible as you may think.
Published: June 22, 2008
Other things, like the tether that can be fired into a ship and then into another ship or a wall (alternatively, you can use this to make insanely tight turns if you're good enough), showcase some of the more playful ways physics are harnessed. Most of the other weapons, frankly, are standards of the genre; rockets, speed boosts, shields, etc. That doesn't mean they aren't fun to use, but it's mostly filler between checkpoints rather than something that's intensely strategic -- at least until you get into the later races in the game, which are almost mercilessly difficult. The AI absolutely adores tag-teaming you, though you can certainly do the same, and some of the end-game craft are so fast that most of the races are incredibly tense affairs.
That's actually one of the big plusses of FI EX's races: they're usually very close. Modes like Elimination mean staying out of last place is a constant worry, and that sense of nail-biting finishes lasts all the way up the chain of leagues; as you become more familiar with the tracks (though in the game's defense it very, very rarely recycles exact courses, instead opting to use variations or reversals to mix things up across the five dozen or so different races), the racers are too. There aren't a ton of shortcuts or alternate paths, but the variation in ship handling means that even taking the same corners isn't quite the same between manufacturers.
This can actually come in quite handy during the Magnet Mayhem races because the bigger, heavier ships can unload an absolutely massive number of magnets (which consequently explode if they aren't shed by doing a gas/brake power boost or by barrel rolling, further showcasing some of the physics model because those magnets can actually be dumped on trailing racers), which makes actually blowing up the other guys almost as much fun as trying to finish in first.
Visually, Fatal Inertia EX is a little uneven. There are some tracks, like the tropical lagoon with its impossibly blue waters or the ice fields with iceberg tunnels, that look gorgeous even at insane speeds. Others aren't quite as nice, like the canyon courses or the jungle environments. It's not that any of them look bad exactly, but the game's Unreal Engine roots are readily apparent in things like the water effects and normal mapped rocks. Luckily, thanks to a solid framerate and good sense of speed, you'll spend more time concentrating on taking corners than worrying about blurry ground textures in the lava levels.
The audio too is fairly decent. The ships sound understandable futuristic, replete with little warbling anti-grav engines and the metallic thunk of magnets sticking to the ships themselves is really quite nice. The music, a mostly generic blend of electronica loops, tends to just sort of lie in the background, but there are a few standout tracks, and I rather enjoyed the fact that you'll hear more of the finishing theme depending on how you place, with first getting what sounded like the "full" range of instruments.
I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed Fatal Inertia EX. It's not that it's an absolutely incredible game, but the willingness to go back to the drawing board and tweak or change some options (stuff like removing the free-point races, for instance) meant the game turned out far better than the original release. The online multiplayer is decent, the game actually comes with a handful of Achievements (oddly enough, they're actually called Achievements instead of the usual PlayStation equivalent) and at half the price of the original game, it's actually not a bad deal. I'd definitely suggest checking out the demo (which includes multiplayer, by the way), and if you feel like supporting the guys for actually listening to the fanbase, throw 'em 30 bucks. They deserve it.
