The other day I found a arcade racing game called Firebugs, released 2002 for the Playstation. My first thought when i saw the frontcover was that it looked really lowbudget, a very simple aribrush photoshop painting that someone threw together in less than an hour, and when you see this it just make you think that its a crappy game. If you have put the effort in developing a game you could at least put some time into the cover!
The first thing i did was to reach for my phone and search the net for some reviews to see what people thought of Firebugs. The strange thing was that it was nearly impossible to get any hits on it, no hits on Gamerankings, Gamespot or IGN! Now thats really strange! So I gave up and just bought the game, it only cost about 5usd so it didn't matter if it was a crappy game.
When i got home i searched for the developers of the game that called them selfs ATL aka Attention to Detail Limited. Yes i turned out the be the same people who created one of my favorite arcade racing series for the Playstation: Rollcage! The Rollcage series that where Published by Psygnosis where a big hit on the playstation, great graphics, amazing Drum n Bass music from Moving Shadow and just a fun action filled racing game. So why haven't i heard of Firebugs? It was released two years after Rollcage 2. Well I just had to start up the game to see what kind of game this was.
I started up the game and loaded the first map, and was surprised to see that this actually was the Rollcage engine. Not just the engine of Rollcage, its the same exact game! After studing how the camera moves around, the physics, the way you can drive upsidedown etc.. it was all there! And even the power-ups and weapons from Rollcage where there, hey didn't even change them. But something must be different? Yes some small tweaks have been made. First off the graphics, you have a whole new look that is very different from Rollcage. The textures in the leves are less detailed and have a more cell-shaded look, very similar to the fps game Warsow.
There are a couple of different “worlds” that you can choose between, the first one looks really nice, detailed textures and rich colors. But the rest of the worlds looks really bad, the textures are very simple. Its like there where two different people making the maps and they didn't know what graphic style to use. But its ok, the level designs is whats most important and I think the levels where really fun and mixed.
Firebugs also have unique Characters all with different background stories, different designs on the vehicles and they have there own special weapons witch is a pretty fun new thing that differs from the Rollcage games. Two of the characters in the game is actually the band members of the Finnish group Bomfunk MC's! Yes several of the music tracks in the game is from Bomfunk MC's and i think it fits very well into the game, all in all a very good soundtrack to the game!
Well i guess that's it, I want to call Firebugs the unofficial sequel of Rollcage with a twist. I dont know if i want to call this a hidden gem of the Playstation but if you are fan of the Rollcage series like me you are probably going to enjoy this game.
