Ballistics PC

Ballistics, bills itself as the NASCAR of the future. Well, that’s not exactly true. However, this is a game that is all about speed and reflexes. Ok, the sound isn’t much, but the graphics are can be very intense when you are flying past them at more than 260 miles per hour.

This is a futuristic racing game. As the driver, you are strapped to a machine that hovers above, but is connected to a winding tube, which serves as the track. Apparently there is a magnetic field, which keeps you attached. The idea is to steer your way through the twists and turns, avoiding the hazards that have been placed in your way while outmaneuvering and outpowering the competition. There are power-ups, of sorts, along the tracks, which will cool your engine or give you a power boost.

More likely than not, these nice little adjuncts are close to impediments which, if real, would break the neck of any racer. Imagine going 300 mph and hitting a wall while clinging to a runaway motorcycle.

The challenge with this game is that, even at the rookie level, any clipping of the obstacles will slow you down while the other racers will blow on past, seemingly oblivious to all the interesting diversions the track has to offer.

There are several ways to play the game: as a single player, in the competition series of races, or multiplayer. Forget the tutorial – this is managed by the game, and players get very little chance to test out their skills. The tutorial is a verbal explanation, without benefit of hands-on experience, of the game.

As with a lot of racing games, if you enter the campaign (career) mode, you can win enough money to upgrade your machine, which will enable players to compete at a higher level. When it comes to control elements, and even though it is a driving game, forget any peripherals that you may have installed. You can do rather nicely with either the keyboard/mouse controls, or a gamepad. It only takes a steady finger on the accelerator, as well as an occasional tap on the directional key to alter the course and help players avoid the major threats to your fast track to success.

Ballistics is, by no means, the next generation of driving game, but it is a romp through the hyper zones of speed, with the key element being the reflexes of players.

This game is rated for Everyone.

Last updated on 10 December 2007