The racing genre has certainly seen its share of ‘takes’ on the theme, from flat-out racing to titles that combine racing with demolition capabilities.

KOEI Canada has thrown its hat into the latter ring with Fatal Inertia FX, a futuristic racing title that mixes all-out speed with arcade pick-ups to attack other racers with. If you played an old Xbox title called Arctic Thunder, then you know what you are in store for with this game. Substitute futuristic racecraft for Arctic Thunder’s snowmobiles and take the game in a different direction with a deeper career mode, but include the track-based arcade pick-ups and you have the same type of game.

The PS3 version is, more or less, the same base game as was released in September 2007 on the 360. Yes, there are some new elements, such as the tutorial area known as the Proving Grounds and the incorporation of the SIXAXIS control to fly your craft with the motion detection of the PS3 controller. A press release accompanying the PS3 test unit code stated that the flight model had also been retuned.

The game allows players to go into single player for a quick race or embark on a career mode that works through the Proving Grounds and then challenges with four career levels – the Invitational Series, Exhibition League, Professional League and Elite League. Also new are weather effects. There are 59 courses in seven locations, more than 1.3 million customization options for your vehicle, four vehicle manufacturers (Phoenix Motors, Aurora Syndicate, Mercury Engineering and Titan Industries – each creates craft that have different specs; the Mercury craft is about speed and maneuvering while the Titan is about armor and payload), and nine basic weapon types.

As for the game itself … You jump onto a track with a futuristic ‘racecraft,’ zoom through environments with arches designating the course, fly over pods that have a variety of weapons or boosts, then deploy those weapons either forward or backward to create havoc with your opponents in the race.

The idea is, of course, to finish first in each race. The races may be a flat-out, no-holds-barred battle to get to first place or there may be other parameters attached to the race. For example, when you embark on the career, you start in the Invitational Series. There are four race types there – melee, velocity, Magnet Mayhem and Knockout. Win and you advance but also unlock upgrades and customization materials.

Yep, it’s that simple.

The controls are fine and intuitive. The audio, though, is best turned low. Crank up some heavy rock jams and you should have the pulse-pounding musical score to drive you through the game.

Graphically the game is solid. It might not be a cutting-edge delivery for the genre, but it has great weather effects. The AI is predictable, though – tough at times, but predictable.

If Fatal Inertia FX could be considered a new take on the Xbox title Arctic Thunder, this is a nice update. It is not a must-have title, by any means, but it does have some entertainment value.

Gameplay: 7.0
Easy to jump in and play, the game is mapped decently to the PS3 controller.  

Graphics: 7.4
The graphical elements are solid. There is a softness to the environments though, and the speed at which you travel masks textures, so it is tough to really see what is out there. The cut scenes, though, are a big step above the in-game graphics. That’s not to say the game graphics are bad, they get the job done, but don’t measure up to other PS3 race games where demolishing each other is key – like Motorstorm.

Sound: 6.3
What one would expect from a game like this; the musical score is a little underplayed and does not stand out.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 6.0
It looks decent, but this is Arctic Thunder, with similar power-ups/weapons and boosts.

Multiplayer: 6.5
The disk KOEI/Canada sent out with this game was for the debug unit and did not have the ability to go online for games. There is online play, as well as split screen games for a couple of players.

Overall: 6.8
This is a title that is based on a popular Xbox game, updated with futuristic racecraft, as opposed to snowmobiles, and then launched on a nex-gen platform. It does not have all the bells and whistles of a truly next-gen game, but it is entertaining in its own right.