An utterly forgotten Car Combat/FPS hybrid - Redline (1999) Retrospective
Вставка
- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Oh yeah this video was a LOOOONG time in the making. Sit back and enjoy a retrospective of a game that's been in my vault for a while... Redline! An FPS Car Combat hybrid released in 1999 that, as best as I can tell, has been mostly forgotten to time. Let's actually dive into this game and see what it's been hiding from us for all these years...
Link to the FOV/Widescreen patch:
kunnollakeitto...
EDIT: As of now the link does not work. I'm not sure if it is simply the website experiencing difficulty or if it has been permanently taken offline. Either way I still have the physical files, so if this keeps up, I may just upload them myself if it isn't brought back up soon.
I was a tester for this game. I really thought it was going to do well. We had some delays in developing and the quake came out. It was completely overshadowed by quake.
I'm gonna go ahead and leave a like and comment to help with the algorithm; and if anybody doesn't like it, that can take it up with me, here at the radio station!
Same here!
Man this review had big Ross' game dungeon energy. From the theoretical best car combat game to the analysis of the plot. Good shit
I agree. That style of presentation makes it really enjoyable to watch
It even has a rant talking about developers tying physics to framerate, now that's a true Ross classic that is also present here.
to put it simply, a voxel is a 3D pixel. where a pixel is a square of flat color, a voxel is a cube.
-mandalore
One of the first games I ever played. I was obsessed.
The multiplayer is worth looking into - team based CTF, with the seamless FPS/vehicle switching, and the saw-blade FPS weapon doubling as a jetpack to give on-foot players enough mobility for the large levels... was actually pretty amazing.
Dude... I remember playing Redline back in high school in our computer lab. Someone loaded it onto all the computers and was open for all to enjoy. Thanks for bringing back all the good memories. Also you're played the Delta Force and Comanche games as well? You've earned a sub my friend. 🍻
You know, Redline's aesthetics reminds me of Unreal. It's probably the colored lighting, weapon animation, HUD, or just the fact that the levels takes place in massive areas.
And I just want to say that that on foot movement looks _really_ weird, what with the Doom or Turok levels of running speed (justifiable with the scale of the levels) but somehow still capable of stopping on a dime.
Also, since you mentioned GTA VC's PC controls... I actually don't mind that game's transition between on foot and vehicle controls? It's mostly because of how my mind is fixated on the WASD/primary movement aspect of both controls, with everything else being relegated to auxiliary aspect.
Entire section of BeyondGames was really cool.
Hope one of the designers of that studio sees this.
The frame rate section reminded me of a paragraph a game dev posted to a Discord server almost two years ago.
"In theory though, RS2 didn't "not" support 144Hz. The sway system just had some implementation flaws that went back to RO2. I can't remember the specific causes, but I do not know that if your frame rate dropped below a certain level, it would cause a positive feedback loop where the sway would rapidly grow and make aiming completely impossible. We fixed that with a clamp, but I don't recall ever being told about anyone having problems at high fps. Which isn't to say that it didn't have problems, just that no bug report ever made its way to my queue
but just to be totally clear, that system wasn't actually tied to 60fps per se. I think it had simply been written to work on all their dev machines at the time, it tested fine with QA (given that the game defaulted to a 60fps lock) and so it was never actually seen at higher rates for anyone to notice a problem. The low/high fpx problems are not so much from being locked to 60fps, but rather from not being properly locked to fps
it's like all those games where you find that certain things don't work at certain fps, or you can do exploit jumps if you are at a perfect fps value, or you move faster, etc
that happens not because things are tied to fps, but because they are not"
Hope it's interesting.
Many older games utilise sub-60 Hz timer values, with both game logic and rendering tied to the same timer. Oftentimes, the best solution is to cap to 30 FPS (short of reverse-engineering the game). This phenomena is common through to at least the mid-2000s, particularly with console ports (think 30 FPS target).
Hey, this was one of those games I played a bunch as a little kid, probably never even managing to beat more than a level or 2. That opening cutscene with the singing is ingrained in my head. Neat!
A voxel is just a data point in 3D space, like a pixel is a data point in 2D: the grid resolution is given and you can store arbitrary data about every point on that grid.
While we're all familiar with pixels in images, we could also use them to store weather maps: Red is temperature, Green cloud cover, Blue precipitation, Alpha wind strength, add another layer for wind direction. The point isn't to make a pretty picture, but store data in a convenient way. Minecraft does something similar in 3D when it stores data about blocks in the world.
In other words: pixels and voxels are just containers for data on an evenly spaced grid in 2D and 3D space respectively.
This is NOT what's going on in these Novalogic games, but they marketed their tech as "voxels / 3D pixels" and that definition has stuck with many older gamers (the engine was even called VoxelSpace).
In reality the engine essentially used a flat RGBA image to store color and elevation for its terrain. A colored square is drawn at the correct elevation, scaled according to the distance from the camera, and that's it. It avoids all the necessary calculations you get with polygonal graphics (clipping, z-buffer ...), which PCs at the time just couldn't handle.
Downside was, you couldn't have multiple layers on top of each other, similar to early 2.5D engines. If this had actually been a voxel engine, they could have saved data for each layer, again similar to MC's blocks.
I bought this at full price based on the demo, I remember playing it multiplayer with a friend who had 2 computers networked and his one comment was:
“Fun, but limited”
I MISS THIS GAME SOOOO MUCH
some of these devs worked on crossout another car combat game on steam lol, they gave away a car pack from one of their older titles this year.
I see a ton of the DNA of RAGE in this. I wonder if any of that was direct inspiration or if it's just that a bunch of choices they both made seem obvious when making a post apocalyptic car combat/FPS game.
One of my favorite games of all time, oddly enough
9:12 the Ross Scott style bit of repeating an odd line reading always gets me.
18:25
You mean Twisted metal?
WE ARE the alternate timeline
Was a big time Redline player, it was one of the first multiplayer games, we would launch it from Mplayer, it was glitchy as hell but fun! like he said, one gun with attachments, the car combat was fun, tracking and lock on, and the saw when enabled you can fly to get out of danger. For 99, the sum of this game was larger than its parts! It paved the way for UT.
This seems interesting, I’d never heard of it but I’m getting weird unreal vibes. I’m looking forward to seeing all the rest of the video, I doubt I’ll buy it for myself but I love that first 30 seconds.
Whenever I think of forgotten gems that no one remembers I always think of 3 games, Hydro Thunder; a lovely 90s retro racer with amazing graphics and gameplay and so much personality. Area 51; a pretty good and very forgotten FPS for PC (and also PS2 and Xbox) from 2005, it’a not a masterpiece but it’s enjoyable and goes really crazy near the end with a mental but hilarious story. And finally, Rochard; a sadly underrated 2011 platformer puzzle game with amazing gravity mechanics, a fun story with a cliffhanger ending sadly as it’s never gonna be continued, and a really good soundtrack and some funny dialogue. It would be fun to see you cover them someday but you don’t need to if they aren’t your style.
Damn, I actually remember all 3 of those games. Hydro Thunder was great, I remember not liking Area 51, and I haven't played Rochard but saw a playthrough of it many years back
@@BunkerDweller I’m glad you enjoyed Hydro Thunder, I love that game and I’m glad it wasn’t completely forgotten (it got 2, kinda 3 sequels) but it’s a shame it’s not available anywhere today. All 3 of the games I mentioned aren’t really accessible anymore, Hydro Thunder and Area 51 got disc releases on console and PC, but the PC discs don’t work in modern windows so the best place to get them is abandonware sites unfortunately. Rochard is probably the saddest story since it got delisted super recently after Recoil Games went bankrupt, and now the IP is trapped in legal limbo unlike the other two who at least someone owns, and although it received a disc release (I’ve heard it might’ve been only in Europe, which is also the case with Hydro Thunder, everyone forgets that had an arcade perfect PC port as it never had a US release.) the DLC is just lost media now, even if you have a copy installed it doesn’t work without being launched through a stream account that owns it. And it’s not on any abandonware sites so it’s a pain to get a copy of these days.
Hydro Thunder is owned by Warner Bros. today so it’s possible it’ll get another sequel, Area 51 probably won’t (although that might be for the better) because bizarrely the *US Air Force* of all people brought the IP after the developer went bankrupt, and then released the original game for free online. (although that version today is only found on abandonware sites.)
I really loved Rochard when it launched. I think it was a big deal then, but overshadowed by similar games like Limbo and Braid which were already out there.
@@BunkerDweller hey i know this is 1 year old but the site to download the patch is down
can you please send me the patch through discord or something if you still have it..?
Jesus fucking Christ I've been looking for this game for, i shit you not. A decade.
I remember playing this through one of those old "twilight discs". This was a Dutch thing, but to keep it simple. Those discs were the very first time mass pirating happened in my country. Funny thing however is that it was done without internet. These discs would contain somewhere between 10 to 30 games each. And we had like 20 of those discs. All different.
This was a magical time and seeing this video pop up got me all nostalgic
Really enjoyed this video. My favourite part is when you were discussing the lore, your thoughts on it, your speculations about how you were getting funding and your theories about the factions lore and overall world. More like this please (videos of your own thoughts speculations and theories about lore in different old, and new, video games.) new sub, now binge whatching your heavily underrated and underviewed/undersubbed channel! Much love. ❤
The gameplay was amazing for its time. I loved it. Hated the FPS FOV. But the car detail was ahead of its time.
Yes me too. Fov was way too zoomed in, still wicked game.
The first time I played this game, it was off of a PC Gamer demo disc.
Same. And I never found it again until right now. Forgot the name and been looking forever
sniping drivers with a sawblade launcher, loved it. So few games like it.
What a game seemingly tailor made for my tastes. Excellent upload, subscribed
Loving the uploads recently, especially since you're uploading more. Found your Transformers WFC video and was curious if you'd make one on FOC?
My cousin worked on this game so I had to go find it and buy it. It was SO cool to have and play a game that I knew one of the artists/developers.
Agree 100% that this game could use a remaster. Just fixing the controls and getting it to rum with a higher fps would make it infinitely more playable. It's overall art design and use of colors is pretty great imo.
Subscribed, very well researched with some real Ross vibes. Keep up the great work!
I've been on a quest for a year now looking for this game. I cannot risk you enough for popping up under a random UA-cam search. I finally have the name!!!!! Yes!!
When I play the game first time l deeply like it
,I looked for This game 4years, 2000 years in Shanghai,
,I go to at games cd shop once and once ,I can't find this game in shop and nobody know this game, no internet .
Did not expect a reference to Tubular Bells of all things, but hey, here we are.
I dont remember how i got this game. Im assuming it was in the discount bin at walmart, but the box art stuck out to me.
I spent quite some time trying to figure out what this games title was. Only to recently find it, then your video, and then get flooded with the nostalgia.
Seemless trasitioning of the FPS to vehicle combat was lost on me as a kid. It was, at the time, an enjoyable experience through and through.
Always delighted to find a new obscure game analysis channel to binge!
Though Redline was pretty stunning for its humble origins, I don't think it is accurate to call it unique in terms of 3D tech. Two games from the time come to mind, that did what Redline went for but better.
Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now, released in 1998, had huge open-world-levels with everything in polygonal 3D. The amount of interactive and destructible details in those levels is insane for the period and the 3D open-world seen there wasn't really bested until GTA3. It also had physics code that was among the best in the industry, at least until Havoc came along.
There's also Descent 3 if you wish for shooters, from 1999; also a fully 3D game with vast maps that, unlike the first two Descents, had really big open / outdoor areas to go along with the hi-tech mine shafts.
I remember playing this as a kid with my voodoo 2 GPU, but barely. It feels real weird seeing it now and remembering a little more about playing it.
Played this a ton back in '99 with my 16mb Voodoo Banshee. Was never choppy or slow. Great concept for its time imho. Thanks for the memories.
this review is good, though i never had issues with the keyboard when i was playing this back in 1999/2000. suchgood game that NEEDS a remake
Beat it as a kid, loved it, this video probably got recommended because I looked for a copy a while ago. I'd love a reboot if not just for some mild nostalgia bait.
The first time I saw this game shown the developers were at a CPL event showing off multiplayer. I can tell you that's where the majority of the focus was, and it was absolutely wild as an 8 player deathmatch. The single player was _never_ going to keep up and wasn't expected to, but holy _crap_ was it fun to fly around with the chainsaw and beat up on your friends in spite of the janky controls.
"the first 30 seconds of your game are the most important"
modern games: please "play"(watch) for at least one hour before you're allowed to know what its actually about
i miss this game and i miss these kind of games, shame they are not a thing anymore
This is one of those choppy, sloppy but at the time playable forward thinking ballsy gem
Hard Truck Apocalypse was a pretty fun game IMO
The intros to your videos are very cozy.
You should check Requiem Avenging Angel, it's right up your alley if you ask me!
i remember playing this game when i was so young my brain didn't even work yet . i remember shooting the bad guys through the gap of the garage door . if you wait a bit they explode . i didn't know how to drive the car so i never left the garage . good times
I played the crap out of this game back in the day. Loved it so much.
Surprisingly decent voices.
Also gamepad for anything
Driving is fine with keyboard in gta. I like that you can do that one handed when you need two for a controller.
I played this when it released. Hell of a game.
This has always been one of my favorite games, it ran awesome back in the day for the amount of detail and exploding things they had going on, and the huge levels. The goto setup for controls back then was mouse and KB for first person, but then WSAD for driving and cursor keys for car weapons.
‘We don’t have time to plan anything smooth’
That sounds like the Beyond Games motto
nostalgic game... i remember not being able to pass the 5th level so i invited my cousin over to complete it for me
I was sitting here trying to remember why I knew beyond games, me and my little brother would play their hot wheels game back in day... as a kid that game was dope, not burnout level, but real good.
i played this game back when it came out and i had no issues adapting to the driving controls with mouse and keyboard but none the less impressive play
Amazing video dude. Keep up the good work!
5:50 100% keyboard for me. Any game that doesn't have simulator level vehicle physics feels harder to drive using a gamepad for me for some reason, might be the years of playing the Forza Motorsport series using an Xbox controller. I genuinely find it harder to drive in GTA V using a gamepad, especially on the online stunt races. It might be because you never need minute inputs to catch a slide in arcadey driving games or something, I'm not sure.
I actually have a video of me drifting around in Cyberpunk 2077 using just the keyboard on my channel, I was planning on making a keyboard drift tutorial for it a while back but never got around to it.
One of may favourite games back in the day. The abillity to get in and out of the car was super cool back then. I like to think that this game is the first Rage game ;ppp
i really liked it. probably one of the best games i've played tbh.
That menu wasn't choppy back in 2001 when I used to play it. This might be a weird quirk related to it being a super old game running on modern systems.
Regarding the movement, I would say it is more old school than even Doom, since the player doesn't have inertia when moving on the floor on foot (which feels more like Wolf3D).
This "story in the manual, not well explored in thr game" reminds me of Wild Metal Country by DMA Design (basically, Rockstar: DMA Design also made GTA1 and GTA2).
motherf*cker...I've been searching for this game FOR YEARS. I was given that cd as a kid in 2003 and lost it around that time. I was beggining to think I made up those memories.
The FPS combat looks like they took major inspiration from UT99 while making an attempt at Twisted Metal vehicle combat. I wouldn't say it's that dated for 1999 by any means.
I played this back when it came out. At the time it was an absolute banger. Me and my friends talked about how much potential a game like this had. We theory crafted out what would become GTA 3 style games. This game in my mind laid some of that ground work and GTA owes its success to it lol
I kid obviously, but this game really made my mind swirl with the possibilities of open world driving games where you could enter and exit your vehicle and interact with the world. I played it for hours and hours
the barrel swapping animations are actually too nice
Cool video, love the commentary style, almost like a vsauce, you kind take off us track to show us something else that cool 😎 I wanna get better at that
I loved this game so much!!!!
After seeing ingame menu, I was almost sure it's gonna be the game on Alien Shooter 2 (Sigma Team) engine, focused upon driving. When suddenly, on the first cutscene early 3D happened ... which actually looks like Crime Cities (Techland) with gravity or Expandable (Rage Software).
I'd recommend making a video on Interstate '76. A forgotten classic of dubious... everything. But a classic nonetheless. At least it impressed me in its time. Also, on a semi-unrelated note - Battlezone (1998).
Link to the widescreen patch should now be working
Man, this game. I barely remember it, and any memories I have of it feel like a fever dream lol. It's great.
Future Shock let you get in and out of cars, and that was an FPS. Same for the DOS Terminator game and I think Hunter....I'm not too sure on that last one.
Redline's widescreen patch has now been reuploaded to moddb.
I remember playing this on Gamespy Arcade a lot back in like 2002. There was a pretty decent community for a HOT minute.
I think this game should be a good example for video game design classes. When you have a very limited budget, the technical limitations of that time and you want to be the Jack of all trades, you'll get a game like Redline.
Clearly the devs tried to compete with games like Unreal and Quake while also taking jabs at games like Carmaggedon and Interstate '76.
Rage 2 is my spiritual successor to this
I used to play this as a kid, someone had installed it on one of computers at my school. I could hardly get past the first boss though, haha, the one in the radio station. There was also a hidden bike somewhere in the beginning, which was better than the car
I love weird clumpsy games like this. It has great secrets and some neat gameplay if you get used to it. This game needs some MOD surgery!
Oh my god please put the widescreen fix on MODDB or something. I've wanted to play this forever with working widescreen. Don't let it be lost to time please!
Sounds like when I used to play Elite Dangerous
I used my HOTAS for flight controls, my 360 controller for docking controls, and the KB+M combo for systems interfacing.
Thats some madmax in video game
this video reminded me that Hot Wheels game existed. I played the hell out of it as a kid, just ordered it second hand off ebay so I can enjoy it again. Thanks for reminding me of that awesome game!
I guess swapping control seems the best way to play games like GTA. You get the best of both worlds. I usually stick to on method and unless it's a fps usually it means which controlls were designed for the game. (Dark Souls -> Game pad; Halo -> Mouse & Keyboard; Gothic -> Keyboard)
I loved this game when it came out. it was great at the time.
12:03
Hey! This looks like one of those tes4 oblivion towers!
I remember something, I don't know if it was a "bug" of the older version or not, but if you stayed without leaving the spawn of the first level (stadium city) Ranch the leader of the sixers was going to look for you. Although not long ago I tried it in the steam version, staying still without breaking the garage but nothing happened. Apparently they removed it or something in that "latest" version
I remember playing that becauser car + FPS was absolutely unique to me. I think i played through it? ..... i remember many things you showed here.
My cousins and I loved the multiplayer demo of this game, and then bought the actual game and it was terrible compared to it. I don't know why the demo was so much fun and the game wasn't, but that's what I remember about this game.
GTA VC, didn't it have a 'classic controls' option that allowed auto-aim? Didn't that make things easier? I remember going through that one easily using a controller. I don't remember everything though.
Body Harvest on the n64 had similar seemless third person shooting to vehicle combat. The devs on that game would go on to make gta3.
Interessant
Kinda feels like a really weird predecessor to brutal legend in a not hack and slash/rts way, but a, car to ground mission back in forth formula with a heavy metal soundtrack
Great vid! Very Ross like
From the developer of Bubsy the Bobcat.
7:22 Take note 343..... you bums
this came in a 4-pack game back in 2001 for me it also continued i think slave zero, battle bots, and i wana say Interstate 76 but i could be wrong......
I did the same thing, switching keyboard to controller, in all the 3D GTA until 5 were I just use the controller.
lol way it starts off im instantly reminded of fallout... lol
That "30 seconds rule" is from Bungie.