Carmageddon: Reincarnation

A financial report in 2003 revealed that Carmageddon 4 was in development.^[1] The developers were identified as Visual Sciences. The publishers were confirmed as Take-Two Interactive's newly formed subsidiary 2K Games in North America and SCi in the rest of the world.^[2] Very little information was released about the game until late 2005, when recently merged publishers SCi and Eidos Interactive put development on hold for unspecified reasons.^[3] The game was subsequently assumed to have been canned, as no new information or press releases surfaced since that time, and Eidos moved on to focus on other projects.^[4]

In 2011, after buying back the rights to the series from then-copyright holders Square Enix Europe, original Carmageddon developers Stainless Games revealed that a new Carmageddon game was in early pre-production stages. After that numerous concept artworks and early in-game test screens were released on the official site.^[5]

The new title, Carmageddon: Reincarnation, was funded through Kickstarter in 2012.^[6] Stainless Games aimed to raise over $400,000 (£250,000) via Kickstarter in order to produce the game. People who pledged more than $1000 for the project could have the chance to be featured in the game.^[7] The $400,000 target was reached in 10 days; if the project raised to $600,000, Mac and Linux versions were also to be produced. This new target was met by the campaign's end in July with a total of $625,143 raised, but the promised Mac and Linux versions were never released.^[8] The game was released in May 2015 through the Steam digital service.

Carmageddon: Max Damage is an expansion update to Carmageddon: Reincarnation, featuring additional cars and stages, as well as improved graphics and performance. It was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in July 2016. The game is available both as digital download and as a physical disc, with the disc version being distributed by Sold Out Sales & Marketing. It was later released for Microsoft Windows on 28 October, and was given as a free update to all existing owners of Reincarnation on Steam.^[9]

The PC version of the game received a Metacritic score of 54%.^[10] Reviewers noted its game's similarity to classic Carmagedddon entries, but were divided on whether its retro gameplay was enjoyable in the modern era. A particular point of note was the game's extremely poor PC performance at launch, with the title struggling to run at a consistent framerate on any PC setup.

The PS4 version of Max Damage received a Metacritic score of 51%.^[11] Many reviewers remained unconvinced by the gameplay and controls, and the game's graphics were frequently criticised as outdated, although the game's performance was less widely noted by reviewers.