Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By Nathan Grayson on June 30th, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Oh Remedy, how we missed you during those few years when you just stopped and absolutely didn’t make any games on anything ever. Perhaps you traveled to the furthest corners of the world in an attempt to find yourself. Maybe you struggled with a crippling addiction to some illicit substance and became embroiled in an inspirational struggle to reclaim your own life. Maybe I just accidentally reverse-engineered the plot to Max Payne 3. Regardless, we’ll probably never know exactly what you were up to, but – with Alan Wake, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, and now a remake of top-down sunshine-and-rainbows racer Death Rally – it’s good to have you back. Details and one of the more bizarre announcement trailers I’ve ever seen after the break.

So, er, I, uh… what? Anyway, we’re occasionally a videogame site – you know, in between all the bizarro largely unrelated live action trailers – so let’s talk about those! This version of Death Rally is based on the iOS remake from last year, but Remedy’s claiming it’s been “entirely rebuilt for PC – including incredible graphics and beautiful art shining through its new rendering engine.” So basically, it’s the same 10000000 horsepower, improbably explosive racing action you know, only now your condensed horse army (known in some places as a “car”) looks much prettier than the musty (and freely available) 1996 version.

I’ve heard very good things about Death Rally on iOS, so I have high hopes. And, according to PR, it’s had 110 million play sessions in its lifetime – which seems like something people wouldn’t do if they despised it with every fiber of their being. As such, I eagerly await its August 3rd Steam drop date – though only time will tell if Remedy’s managed to make a $4.99 mobile game worth $9.99. I don’t know, though: is that splitting hairs? I mean, it’s barely even going to tickle your wallet no matter how you slice it, so do you care that much about a $5 price bump?