Dark Future: Blood Red States

Yes, it's a repetitive simple game, but one you say: "one more run and I'll stop" But it's the game which will stop you: sometimes the game crashes in the end, and you have lost your run. And the devs don't repair this. I would give 4 stars, but at now it's rather 2.5

I bought this game yesterday (on sale for £5.99) and found it interesting and different, I like the post-apocalyptic synthpunk atmos and soundtrack (Mad Max meets Terminator?) and the on-the-run micromanagement is pretty unique. Please be sure this is not a traditional racing with guns game, it's an RTS about slowing time to micromanage your next moves to accomplish your goals (mostly, kill other vehicles) But - it's CRASHED about five times now, each time an 'Unreal Engine 4 Crash Reporter' appears so I've sent the report. My PC is a pretty decent spec so I doubt it's the machine. Aside from this, the cool retro synth soundtrack is the ONLY soundtrack on each level, there is no voice acting, no cut scenes, just text based story and repetitive levels. Also, while the increased fuel prices adds a goal and drive to the game (no pun intended) it also added a lot of pressure that meant you just want to complete your goals instead of enjoy leveling up your vehicle. It's a fun game on the whole, just a shame it keeps crashing...

A fun interpretation of Dark Future... Dark Future was an interesting riff on table top vehicle combat in spirit of Steve Jackson Games classic Car Wars and later GURPS Autoduel. Dark Future pushed the vehicle model size up to Hot Wheels/Matchbox scale allowing you to use either the included GW plastic kits or any toy cars of a similar scale so kit-bashing and scratch building was a great fun element of the table top game. Dark Future didn't last long only receiving one expansion (Whiteline Fever) and a couple of articles in White Dwarf before the at the time traditional GW content draught killed it. There are a couple of very early GW books using the setting too if you are interested in the lore. Much like Chainsaw Warrior, there are some rules/items not implemented here, most notably Motorcycles are completely omitted and well as the vehicle design and on foot rules, which is a real shame as it would have given them a lot of options to make a more fleshed out game like a glossy modern update to the venerable and also feature reduced Autoduel by Origin Systems on the 8 bit systems which unfortunately this game isn't. OK so the game itself is good, fun, competent and a bit repetitive in longer sessions. I liked it and recommend it but I just wish it was a lot more than it is.

What the game does (using a diverse arsenal to blow up enemy cars) it does well, even though you're doing more or less the same, over and over again. Missions types are: * blow up a number of enemies * same as first, plus a boss or three * blow up robo-trucks (bigger, better armed and armoured vehicles) * hack robo-trucks by driving long enough inside a moving hacking area beside each * escort * barricade run (essentially blow-up-all-enemies, as you can't outrun them). Could be more, but I'm not complaining. Completing a "season" unlocks new cars, drivers and weapons. Different cars have different weapon mounts and stats and thus require different tactics. Weapons fall into three categories: front-facing, turret and rear. First two can be either energy (laser), rocket, or ballistic shooters. Rear weapon is either mines, bombs or a shotgun. Different weapons also require a bit different approach. Drivers have different perks - but these don't really have much consequence. All in all, the game is fun to play and I found the anti-corporate humour and the redneck-claiming-to-be-patriot rants, served in form of emails between missions, rather funny, (though not exactly LOL-rated). However, I'm knocking off a star for the bugs that always (!!!) crash the game right after finishing a mission, without saving any progress. This happened quite a few times to me (every fifth run or so.) As another reviewer said already: devs have known this for a long time, but don't fix it.