Which do you prefer? :-)


I personally was surprised to see Carmageddon 2 get a five-star ranking, while the max pack "only" got a 4,5 one. Maybe it's because of a nostalgia factor and having played more of the max pack as a kid, but Carmageddon 2 simply doesn't do it for me. Running pedestrians over is only half as gratifying, and so is wasting other carss. And Die Anna isn't included :(
The only thing that improved I'd say is some of the missions, but other than that I think Carmageddon 1 is a superior game in pretty much every way.

Love em both but I have to go with #2 and by a large margin, in terms of it being an actual game. For sheer gore and splat factor yes #1 is heads and tails, and dismembered limbs, above the other, but to me it's little more than a casual gore fest, which is fine if you are in the mood for that. #2 while obviously not as bloody makes hitting people a challenge. Even if you get a good smack on someone you make only remove an arm or leg but not actually kill them, and thus you must be diligent to finish the job. I also like the buy car option, the bonuses (minus the tail) of #2, and with the exception of the air traffic controller challenge I like the little games thrown in every 4th race to mix things up.

Of course the X-Factor: I'm an Iron Maiden fiend! :D

For me the best is the first one (in dos, without splat pack), even if the second is really good (and I love it too !)(I would say, it's almost as good, but not for the same reasons).

I love the atmosphere/spirit of the first : in the second, it's a little less "dark-industrialized", and in this aspect, the first is better for me. The soudtrack is sooooo good in the 1st too :D I love it, and it complete perfectly the atmosphere (and : Fear Factory with some of their best instrumental songs !!).

I love the graphisms (yes, with all the big pixels) of the first. Don't know why. Love the pixels, and love the concept art/visuals behind the game.

But, I must say that I agree with tinyE. The second adds very good new things, lots of powerups, big maps, lot of things to do on it, lot of vehicules... But even with this, I still prefer the first. There is of course a big part of nostalgia. But the first is more close to the "core-spirit" of carmageddon that I like : gameplay, visuals and atmosphere.

I must add that the french voices and traductions are REALLY nice in the first (even if they haven't made the work for Die Anna... this is a shame : no traduction for her), and it adds a lot to the spirit for me ; but the original textes/voices are good too. I hope french will be available one day here :)

I love the second, exactly for the same reasons, tinyE mentioned in his post. And although the first one has a more grim atmosphere, the gameplay is what it matters for me..

Carmageddon 2 might not have the same sense of identity in it's aesthetics, but the driving physics are massively improved over the original and this matters so much more. Back in 1998 I would even say the game was ahead of most arcade racers in terms of physics simulation. The AI also improved significantly in the second game. Lastly, the power ups in the second game really makes use of all the physics simulation and make the game go from being fun to being hilarious.

Die Anna IS in Carma2 in more crazy, mature form along with Hawk 3 but design is different and theme color is orange than yellow. You probably noticed that car in couple of races. Now then, default text when you get wasted is called Max because game files but you can be any driver in game with their chosen car not only Max and can even rename driver name which will act like using different profiles between multiple players.

I prefer Splat Pack over original and Carma2 because better maps and cars (also of course because of Hawk II), it has smaller OST but that thing is quite replaceable and new faces old style (Stig, Pussy Lagore etc). Others are even better than old ones (Monster Masher omg) or are challenging to drive and first appear before Carma 2 (Su Borg's Doozer). ;-)

Personally i prefer the original (plus splat pack) over 2. The second game feels more game-y, as people have mentioned, but it feels less 'convincing'.

The maps are far smaller than in Carmageddon one for the most part (i mean, they even reduced Vlad's top speed from 400 to 240!!!!), the use of colors is far more schizophrenic and the polygonal pedestrians just detract from the action a bit (square blood!). Somehow the absence of a driver cam is also missed, though that's far more subjective.

The maps in C2 feel a lot more game-y on their own as well, as they seem to have a lot of nooks and crannies one can explore and find during a race. But as maps themselves, the tracks from the first game feel more like places that got tracks plastered on, instead of tracks which got scenery added on later. The one cool addition from C2 is traffic though.

I would love to see how Reincarnation pans out. It seems to be a remake/reboot of the original, rather than 2... I've always wondered what the original would play like if the roads and maps were a bit smoother (ie: no 45 degree angles at the bottom of contiuous roads onto a slope, or a smooth looping, stuff like that). The angular tracks make for some daring stunts, but i wish i could drive them 'properly' at some point...

Oh, and some long, huge maps for the original Vlad to be able to stretch his legs.

Anyway: I prefer the feel of the first game over the second, as the first somehow feels more cohesive and consistent, as well as more grimy (instead of the cartoony vibe from the second game).

Carmageddon 2 is better because the physics, the 3D pedestrians, the aditional dismember gore and poor animals to kill, the controls, and the even more hilarious powerups. It looks much more like an actual game in terms of gameplay. GOG version works fine on Windows. Level design is great in both games and Carma 1 expansion, so no big differences here.

But I seriously HATE the "missions" every 4 levels. They are annoying and DESTROY completely the fun of the game. Why? Come on, Carmageddon is an "easy" game to be relaxed doing evil things, not to be doing stupid tricky missions. They really spoiled the fun.

The colour palette and in general the game looks a bit like MARIO64 in my opinion. Something that is not bad by itself, but Carmageddon & Splat Pack offer a much more "dark" general theme that fits much better the concept.

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Carmageddon GOG.com Glide version needs a powerful machine to emulate both Glide and DOSBOX, Windows version is SUPER crappy compared to the Glide one. More if you actually play the Smartphones version of C1, that I recommend, is pretty nice. The game is far more solid in general than Carma2, "less is more" philosophy works perfectly. Even if graphics could look older, cars designs are in general much more nicer in the first game, but the engine cannot handle so well the car damage features, that is better in Carma2.

Also the game has much more personality, Die Anna face, Max Damage face, the intro, the videos, the stories about the drivers, the levels descriptions, even the interface is far better than Carma2.

As a classic, definitively Carmaggedon 1 is the "must have", better if you dont ever play any of them. If you dont like DOS games or you are a Carmaggedon veteran, Carma2 offers Windows native support and more fun to the experienced player, the bad moments can be forgiven if you are patient enough to try to beat as soon as possible the boring and stupid missions, focusing in what is really fun, the traditional race/kill/destroy racing mayhem!

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Splat Pack has the same virtues/Issues than Carma1, plus new amazing car designs and levels.

With all the respect in YaTEdiGo's opinion about C2's missions, I have to say that I really like them. Even the harder ones, they seem to change the pace and the difficulty a little, which is a good thing, mainly because C2 is a repetitive game in terms of it's main objectives (race; crush; kill).

But to be fair, I could do without the freaking antenna dish mission. I mean, that mission nearly cost me a new keyboard back in the day! :-p

Eye of the Beaver isn't hard even on nomal but what will be my forever enemies never forget are Boulder Dash and especially In Cold Blood, sooo random with this snow, ice, sliding and something random and not right could always happen, anytime and then you are toast, failed if you hestiated or had problem on route with any 5 seconds more or less. Outbreak was also crazy because sometimes they just didn't die, no matter what on that hill on last minute.

It seems that it has to do with tactics. If "outbreak" is the mission with the 20 or so patients - i don't remember after all these years - I really found it easy enough whereas my friends kept trying to no avail.. With my aproach, I always had several seconds left when I smashed the last patient. As for the eye of the beaver, I remember that the pink buggy worked very well but I had already tried numerous times until I found the way to beat the level. I still remember how I felt, great achievement!

To be honest I played #1 several years ago, but I really prefer #2.
Because it has better level design, the secrets and the bonus missions.
I liked the bonus missions because it's a break from the usual pedestrian hunting.

Did anyone find the secret area in the aircraft carrier before the bonus mission?

Both are great games though I find myself playing the first one more due to the graphics of the first one aging better than the second. Plus, running over people in the first game felt more satisfying.

FInished tonight Carma2, years ago I played it, but abandon it in the Carrier Mission.

Is a pity, the game is good, but frankly speaking I still think the same, missions ruined the flow and most part of the game, generating frustration, and spoiling the fun, the last mission is simply horrible (the reactor one), with try and try, and try, and try again... mechanics... and it is not the only one...

All the missions seem to be there to make the game longer, as there are not so many missions as in the first game, also you dont have much time to both get all the powerups and most part of the cars you want.

Gameplay and the engine was a good change, but I still think Carmageddon 2 is not a well polished game in general, is like creators invest a lot of time in the engine and physics improvements, but less in prepare more levels, so they included missions, seriously, I hate them.

So I think Carma2 is a good game, but definitively Carma1 is far better game, a jewel, Carma2 has better things that the 1st one, but in general, fails a bit.