The situation: Sumo Newcastle is developing a dystopian multiplayer running game called Deathsprint 66, in which you control one of eight Running Men as they race through the sharp, razor-sharp contours of a futuristic megacity. The complication: Competing against other humans isn’t always fun or desirable, especially when it involves racing through the sharp, razor-sharp contours of a futuristic megacity. The solution: Deathsprint 66 is a series of PvE-focused “episodes” in which a single human player and optional bots race through the sharp, razor-sharp contours of a futuristic megacity.
These episodes consist of 3-5 stage tournaments, and they're not just the same old neon gauntlets of pain as in the base eight-player mode. They're custom challenges with “mechanical twists,” the press release states. Some of those “twists” come in the form of additional spikes and blades.
One episode is Killing Time – you start with just 15 seconds to reach the first checkpoint and recharge your timer before your head explodes. In Five Lives, however, the rules are first or last and you only have five “clone jockeys” (respawns) to destroy. And then there are Bloodbath Circuits and Bloodbath Sprints, where the maps have extra hazards and all the tributes (power-ups) are offensive in nature. See some of them in action in this audio-visual montage of people playing Dodge The Chainsaw, an episode of my own design that I generally suck at.
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I attended an alpha build of Deathsprint 66 at GDC this year and had a few words with Sumo Newcastle – among other things, we discussed the “failure suit”, a crash test dummy outfit with no sponsor logos or other commercial bling, which will be contemptuously awarded to you if you kill your clone jockeys too often.
I'm a little tired of satirical deathgames in video games, but I like this one because it reminds me of Blur and because they keep the jokes to a minimum. It really looks… dynamic. More WipEout than Blur, maybe. The full game will be released on September 12th.