Looking out the window of your room onto a wet rainy day
Main street under a slate gray afternoon sky
The light on your face is soft and dim under the lace curtain
And the streets are empty
In the distance, there is a flash and a rumble
Clouds sail the sky like giant wooden ships
On a blackened evergreen sea
Capped with foamThe first time I heard these words, I was burning down some unnamed highway in the countryside of west Texas, a blazing sun overhead. My radar pinged the engine heat from a pair of creepers about a mile ahead, waiting to ambush me in the next valley. I smiled, gunned the engine, and swerved onto a side road, winding my way around a dusty road.
The road tried to shake me, twisting through a parched riverbed and over a rickety bridge, its sun-dried bones creaking as my Piranha rolls over it. I approached the end of the back road, now heading south, and grin in satisfaction. The creepers are still at the overpass, looking in the wrong direction.
Eight cylinders roared as I swerved onto the steaming blacktop and slammed the gas pedal to the floor. I raced over the highway, hurtling towards the two vehicles lurking in the hot sun. Another ping from my radar, and I knew they’d noticed me; their engines had started. Too late, I thought to myself. My finger squeezed the trigger on my steering wheel, and the 30mm machine gun mounted on the roof of my Piranha sent a torrent of tracer rounds towards the pair of cars.
Interstate ’76, released in 1997, was built on Activision’s Mechwarrior 2 engine. It was, quite simply, the best vehicular combat game of its time, bringing the strategy and action that Steve Jackson Games’ Car Wars and The Road Warrior have depicted in days past. The game featured muscle cars from the 70s reproduced faithfully (although with changed names) fully decked out with everything from cannons and machine guns to missiles, oil slicks, and minelayers.
The 1976 depicted in I76 is a different world than the one we know. The OPEC Oil Crisis got worse instead of better, and the United States descended into anarchy. The economy has plunged into a recession, and the law is almost nonexistent on most parts of the country. Criminals have taken to their cars, and a new breed of law has arisen; the Auto Vigilante.
An intricate attention to detail permeates Interstate ’76. The game featured detailed specs for your vehicle, and you could replace nearly everything; shocks, struts, tires, armor, brakes, engines, and of course, the various weapons on numerous hardpoints. Combat missions were long (almost too long, sometimes) and when you finished each mission, you salvaged anything you could from the field. Damage taken will chew through your armor first, and then hit various systems of your car. Blown tires effect your steering, damaged suspension hampers the car’s handling, and damaged or destroyed brakes…well…good luck then.
Interstate ’76 focuses on the adventures of Groove Champion, whose sister Jade had just been killed by a mysterious Creeper called “Cloaker” (voiced by the talented John de Lancie. Groove’s come out to the Southwest to find his sister was a Vigilante, and decided to seek revenge. Along for the trip is Jade’s partner, Taurus (who, if they ever made this into a movie, should be played by none other than Samuel Jackson), and Skeeter, their mechanic. Taurus is the penultimate warrior-poet, a man who lost his family to Creepers years ago and now seeks to make the world a better place by killing one Creeper at a time. A sample of Taurus’ poetry, like the one posted above, can be heard any time in the game by triggering the CB radio.
http://www.jeffwofford.com/i76_poems.html">Taurus' poetry in Interstate '76
By 1997’s standards, Interstate ’76 was a top of the line game with fantastic graphics, a realistic physics engine, and awesome sound. Activision was so dedicated to the look and feel of I76 that the game features one of the best original soundtracks ever. Composed by Arion Salazar (later a founding member of Third Eye Blind) the game features some awesome funk music that blends in with the retro feel of the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JCGZFQZkdc">Interstate '76 Theme Song
The combination of fantastic gameplay, a memorable soundtrack you’ll want to listen to again and again, and a robust engine (for its time) make Interstate ’76 a great game. Only a handful of games have ever fit together and created a memorable experience like this. Those games are considered classics, and Interstate ’76 is among them.
Addendum: the only place I’ve been able to find a working copy of Interstate ’76 (that works on Windows XP) is in GameTap. Even there, the game’s wonky on my computer (sound and music won’t cooperate and load correctly.)
Also, if you're really into the soundtrack for Interstate '76, check this webpage out. He arraigned a number of tunes from I76 into an awesome suite. It's the third song down the list of the media player. I've never met this person, and I'm not trying to try to sell you anything.
http://www.myspace.com/garethseys(I'm thinking of doing this every Friday, so we can reminisce of games in the "good ol' days")
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