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How Metascores Are Calculated
68
1942: Joint Strike
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
Inspired by combat racing games such as "Mario Kart" this futuristic racing game positively encourages players, gathered around the TV or competing online, to be as devious and imaginative as possible in knocking your rivals out of 1st place. Taking advantage of the extra power that the Xbox 360 provides, Fatal Inertia enables players to bring rock falls down on their opponents, blast through layers of ice to dive into the water below for a sneaky shortcut and totally ruin someone's chance of victory with a little bit of cunning and a whole bunch of ingenious weapons. [KOEI]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 75
Game Informer
Minus the crazy physics, Fatal Inertia really doesn’t advance the genre in any meaningful ways. I like the game, but moreso because it reminds me of other games I enjoy than because I love it in its own right.
 75
Team Xbox
Fatal Inertia isn’t a bad first foray into the racing genre for Koei. It’s got a good look, decent personalization and a unique arsenal that should keep players somewhat entertained.
70
GameDaily
While not everything works well (particularly the small tracks and the insanely difficult artificial intelligence), it is better than expected. The graphics look very good, especially the water effects.
70
Official Xbox Magazine
It takes a minute or so to get used to controlling your hovering, weapon-packed F1 Speedster, but once you do, it's a snap and the entertainment kicks in. [Nov 2007, p.97]
70
VideoGamer
Its excellent weapon set should make for some fantastic and skilled online gaming, and for now it fills a gap on the Xbox 360, which is undernourished in terms of both futuristic and combat racers.
68
Ferrago
Not even the addition of 8-player online and system link multiplayer can help inject the lacklustre race proceedings with any tangible worth in the face of shoddy track design and worryingly slack vehicle controls.
68
Games Master UK
This is a good-looking, fast racer but it's a little limp in the action stakes. [Oct 2007, p.77]
65
Play Magazine
At $39.99, Fatal Inertia might be worth a look but at $59.99 you better eat drink and sleep futuristic racing. [Oct 2007, p.89]
61
GameZone
The game purportedly focuses on “speed” yet while playing the game, you never really get the sensation that you are actually going fast.
60
Gamestyle
Underneath the average graphics, rubbish track design and lack of options there is a decent enough game fighting to get out.
60
AceGamez
If Fatal Inertia came with local four-player gaming then I'd recommend it for split screen play alone, because there's nothing like it on the Xbox 360 at the moment.
60
G4 TV
Fatal Inertia has solid mechanics and graphics, but is almost completely devoid of personality. The storyline is lame and utterly generic, the locations are clichéd, and the game just lacks a memorable sense of enthusiasm. Still, the actual racing is definitely serviceable, the sense of speed intense, and there are enough clever gameplay elements to make it worth playing.
60
Kombo
Fatal Inertia offers new and unique weapons and the single player experience is a fun ride even with its problems. The lackluster sense of speed and physics are incredibly frustrating.
60
Official Xbox Magazine UK
Ultimately this anti-grav game is just too light, and could have benefited from a little extra ballast to add some weight to the decent structure that's already there. [Oct 2007, p.80]
60
Edge Magazine
Fatal Inertia promised so much in its early showings (which claimed to represent in-game footage), but has turned out as a decent but thoroughly predictable racer. [Oct 2007, p.95]
60
IGN
Fatal Inertia's item selection and swappable course circuits and modes simply aren't enough to elevate this game from run-of-the-mill to classic, arcade racing fun.
60
EuroGamer
If you're a fan of the genre, though, and think you're willing to put up with weak framerate and some ill-conceived technical features in return for trying out genuinely interesting tracks and innovative weaponry - then by all means, put Fatal Inertia through its paces. For the rest of us, though, the search for racing carnage should probably lead back to superior franchises like FlatOut and Burnout.
60
GameSpot
Floaty physics and an underwhelming sense of speed add up to a decent, but not great, sci-fi racing game.
60
PALGN
Fatal Inertia turns out to be a reasonably generic futuristic racer with a reasonably generic name that delivers some decent racing without stepping too far out of the genre's boundaries.
60
Xbox World Australia
Fatal Inertia is certainly a respectable racer, for what it brings to the table. Though there are far too many shortcomings for it to really deserve a place in a collection alongside a Project Gotham or Forza Motorsport of current acclaim.
58
Cheat Code Central
While not perfect, Fatal Inertia does keep you entertained for a while, and might even hook you the way F-Zero hooked me. However, I have to warn you, just because you loved F-Zero doesn't mean that you will like Fatal Inertia.
58
GameTrailers
While Fatal Inertia fills a niche that hasn’t been addressed yet this generation, it does so with very little style or substance.
56
Xbox World 360 Magazine UK
A brave concept fails to disguise a lame racer not worthy of sniffing "F-Zero"'s fumes. [Oct 2007, p.84]
55
GamePro
An overwhelming lack of personality.
55
Gamers Europe
A few nifty weapon ideas alone do not a good game make, and Koei would have been well advised to send this ham-fisted, yawnsome bum-up of a racer back for a bit more turbo charging.
54
Planet Xbox 360
Fatal Inertia is an exceedingly generic racer, with a lack of vehicles, races, and variety expected from a Live Arcade title. Speed right on by this one.
52
Worth Playing
The shaky physics, unnecessarily brutal opponents and wild inconsistencies put it strictly in the no-fly zone.
50
GameTap
A completely frustrating game for all the wrong reasons. The challenge here isn’t the good kind of challenge that can be overcome naturally over the course of time as you become more familiar with the game. It’s a cheap challenge where any single mistake almost takes you completely out of the race. It’s worth noting that online multiplayer counteracts, that since your opponents don’t magically catch up with you the second you make a mistake.
40
Boomtown
That's one of the main problems with Fatal Inertia, it feels like a half-baked mod to Unreal Tournament rather than a proper game in its own right.
30
Console Monster
This is the worst 360 game I have played yet. The graphics aren’t bad but a dodgy frame rate along with terrible level design, handling and collisions makes Fatal Inertia barely playable.
Mike M. gave it a7: Aaron gave it a0: |
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