BATMOBILE – BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT
Bats always did have the coolest car. In the Arkham series, the Batmobile initially
resembles a cross between the car from the 1989 Batman movie and Batman:
The Animated Series. During the first game it saves Batman’s back, as he uses its
automated driving system to launch it into Bane. Later, in Arkham City, you can
spot it parked in the Batcave. By Arkham Knight, the first game where you could
properly get behind the wheel, it started to resemble the Tumbler, the tank-like
Batmobile from the Christopher Nolan films. This behemoth could move sideways
like a black crab and launch missiles – which is useful, particularly if you need call
it in when you need a wall smashing down.
DEUCE – BRÜTAL LEGEND
Double Fine’s 2009 Xbox 360 game starred Eddie Riggs, a roadie who is
transported to a fantasy land inspired by heavy metal album covers, with Eddie
voiced by Jack Black. After Jack – sorry, Eddie – defeats the demon Ormagöden,
he is able to harvest the beast’s metal parts and use them to build a hotrod,
which can then be upgraded in the game’s Motor Forges. Such upgrades include
the ‘Mouth Of Metal’: a magical in-car device that allows the driver to experience
the ‘glory of metal’. That’s not all, though, it also has heat-seeking missiles,
a machine gun and a lightning bolt thrower. Also known as the ‘Druid’s Plow’,
Eddie’s hotrod could be summoned with the ‘Summon Deuce’ guitar solo.
RUNNER – BORDERLANDS
After the apocalypse, there will be no Highway Code
or Department Of Motor Vehicles, or police, to worry
about – so game designers can go Mad Max nuts
when it comes to the vehicular transport available to
players. Of course, we could have gone for something
from Avalanche’s Mad Max or Rage series, but when it
comes to post-apocalyptic rides we love Borderlands’
Outrunner, or ‘Runner’. A right cow to steer, but still,
as it’s basically a dunebuggy with a turret stuck on it,
there’s no better car for wasteland traversal. It’s able
to pull off big jumps thanks to its durable suspension,
and is also fitted with afterburners for quick
acceleration out of a tricky spot. Its tough chassis
also makes it perfect for running over enemies, too.JAMES BOND’S DB5 – FORZA HORIZON 4
There are, of course, many great cars in Playground
Games’ latest racer, but perhaps the most thrilling
to boys are the classic cars from the James Bond
movies, such as the Lotus Esprit that turns into a
submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me, and, um, the
Citroen 2CV that gets stuck on an olive tree in For
Your Eyes Only. But our favourite Bond car of all time
has to be 007’s famous Aston Martin DB5, which you
can race around the game’s lovely reconstruction of
the UK. Sadly (god, we’d love to be able to do all this),
you can’t flick a switch to unleash the machine guns
below the headlights, or eject one of the annoying
mission-givers in the game from your passenger seat.
But still, what a car.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 109extra