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Vehicular combat (also known as car combat) games are typically video or computer games where the primary objectives of gameplay includes vehicles, usually armed with machine guns or other weapons, attempting to destroy vehicles controlled by the CPU or by opposing players. The genre normally features a variety of different vehicles available for play, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, and special attack abilities. Players may also unlock hidden vehicles by completing certain in-game tasks. Traditionally, vehicular combat games focus on fast-paced action inside the vehicle, rarely, if ever, concerning themselves with role-playing or other elements. Games may include racing themes, but they are generally secondary to the action.

Gameplay[]

Vehicular combat games normally follow a simple play pattern; the player must defeat increasing numbers of increasingly skilled enemies, often in increasingly complex battlefields, before facing off against a final, super-powerful, boss character. Vehicular combat games differ from traditional racing games both in the combat aspect and in the general lack of any set path for players to follow, instead allowing them to explore each level at their leisure. The complexity and strategy required to complete games vary, from the careful resource maintenance and intense story-driven plotlines of the Interstate '76 series to straightforward smashups like World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Crush Hour. Often the primary plot will involve a contest or competition of some sort, encouraging the various characters to fight and destroy one another to obtain a reward. The Twisted Metal series is especially well known for the black humor found in its ending sequences.

Sub-genres[]

Template:Listyears

Car[]

Year Name
2005 187 Ride or Die
2006 Auto Assault
1985 Autoduel
2002 Bandits: Phoenix Rising
BattleWheels
2010 Blood Drive
2010 Blur
1982 Bump 'n' Jump
2001–2008 Burnout series
Car Combat (Retro Studios)
1997 Carmageddon series
2005 Crash Tag Team Racing
2001, 2002 Cel Damage
2002 Command & Conquer: Renegade
1993 Crash 'n Burn
2006 Crashday
1976 Crashing Race
2007 Darkwind: War on Wheels
Dead in the Water
1976, 1990 Death Race
1996, 2009, 2012 Death Rally
1989 Deathtrack
1995, 96 Destruction Derby series
D.I.P.R.I.P.
2012 Final Run
2005 Fired Up
2004, 2006, 2007 FlatOut series
*Full Auto series
2006 *Full Auto
2006, 2007 *Full Auto 2: Battlelines
2012 Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage
2006 Hard Truck: Apocalypse
1997 Have a N.I.C.E. Day! (Synetic GmbH)
2009 Hot Wheels Battle Force 5
*Interstate series
1997 *Interstate '76
1999 *Interstate '82
2005 Jak X: Combat Racing
1989, 1990 Knight Rider
1999 Lego Racers
2001, 2002 Lego Racers 2
2012 LittleBigPlanet Karting
2014 Looney Tunes: Bang and Vroom!
1992 Lucky & Wild
Mad Truckers, a 3D racing arcade
1992–2013 Mario Kart, with Nintendo's usual character line-up.
2004 Mashed series
*MegaRace series
1994 *MegaRace
1996 *MegaRace 2
2010 ModNation Racers
1982 Moon Patrol
1996 Necrodome
2010 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
1998 N.I.C.E 2 (International Title: Breakneck) (Synetic GmbH)
2006 Novadrome
1992, 1993 Outlander
*Pursuit Force series
2005, 2006 *Pursuit Force
2007, 2008 *Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
1994 Quarantine
1995 *Quarantine II: Road Warrior
2011 Rage
1980 Rally-X
1981 *New Rally-X
1999, 2000 Red Dog
1999 Redline
1999 Re-Volt
1987 RoadBlasters
2003 RoadKill
1993 Rock n' Roll Racing
1998 Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012
1999 Rollcage
1998 S.C.A.R.S
1999, 2000 San Francisco Rush 2049
2010 Split Second: Velocity
1983 Spy Hunter series
2003 Starsky & Hutch
2007 Swypeout
1997 Streets of SimCity
2001 Toon Car
1999 Toy Commander
1995–2012 *Twisted Metal series
1995 *Twisted Metal 1
1996 *Twisted Metal 2
1998 *Twisted Metal 3
1999 *Twisted Metal 4
2001 *Twisted Metal: Black
2001 *Twisted Metal: Small Brawl
2005 *Twisted Metal: Head-On
2012 *Twisted Metal PS3
VCL Presents: Motor Mayhem
1998, 1999 Vigilante 8 series
1999 *Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense
2007 *Vigilante 8 Arcade
2003 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Crush Hour
2009 Wheelman
2009 Zombie Driver
2009 Horror Racing
2001 Pet Racer
SKiD Racer

Futuristic Race[]

  • Combat Racer
  • DethKarz
  • F-Zero series
  • Fatal Inertia
  • Hi-Octane
  • HoverRace
  • Mad Crasher
  • Mag-Force Racing
  • POD series
  • Quantum Redshift
  • Quarantine
  • Rush series
  • Seicross
  • Wipeout series

Boat & submarine[]

  • AquaNox series
  • Blood Wake
  • Critical Depth
  • Dead In The Water
  • Silent Hunter series
  • Tiger Shark
  • Silent Service and Silent Service II
  • Wave Race series
  • Akella's PT Boats series

Tank[]

  • Alien Front Online, the primary good forces are tanks and the secondary alien forces are played as mechs
  • Arcticfox
  • Battlefield series
  • BattleTanx series
  • Battlezone and Battlezone II: Combat Commander, although most of the tanks have anti-gravity engines instead of treads
  • BZFlag, a FOSS Battlezone-like game
  • Cyber Sled
  • Iron Warriors: T-72 Tank Commander
  • M1 Tank Platoon
  • M1 Tank Platoon II
  • Metal Drift
  • Metal Max series, a tank combat and role-playing video game combination
  • Panzer Front
  • Panzer Elite
  • Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
  • Recoil
  • Spectre VR
  • Steel Armor: Blaze of War
  • Steel Beasts
  • Steel Fury
  • Steel Reign
  • Tanarus (video game)
  • Tank Universal
  • Team Yankee
  • Tread Marks
  • Wild Metal
  • World of Tanks
  • World War II Online tank, gun, infantry, plane, ship, simulation, MMO, FPS and real-time strategy combination
  • WW2 Battle Tanks: T-34 vs. Tiger

Motorcycle[]

Space vehicle[]

  • Astron Belt
  • Colony Wars series
  • Freespace series
  • Freelancer
  • Lunar Rescue
  • Moon Patrol
  • Project Sylpheed
  • Space Encounters
  • Space Seeker
  • Space Tactics
  • Star Trek
  • Star Wars: Arcade
  • Star Wars: Demolition
  • Star Wars: X-Wing
  • Star Wars: Rebel Assault series
  • Star Wars: Starfighter series
  • Tac/Scan
  • X
  • Starlancer
  • Star Trek: Bridge Commander
  • Wing Commander (franchise)

Multi-vehicular[]

(List of games in which players use more than one vehicle during gameplay)

  • Armed Assault series
  • Battlefield series
  • Battlestations: Pacific (2009)
  • Command & Conquer: Renegade (2002)
  • Darkwind: War on Wheels (2007)
  • Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007)
  • Extreme Assault (1997)
  • Grand Theft Auto series
  • Halo series
  • Homefront (2011)
  • Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds (1999)
  • Operation Flashpoint series
  • Planetside series
  • Red Faction series
  • Saints Row series
  • Tribes series
  • Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004)
  • Unreal Tournament 3 (2007)
  • Scarface (2006)

Mecha[]

This sub-genre of vehicular combat involves mech robots, or mecha, as the vehicle for combat. For most mech games, they are played in either first-person or third-person view style. Other games are based on popular Anime TV shows such as the various Gundam series, Robotech, and Evangelion. Also, games with a mech theme are featured in RPG games such as Xenosaga and the Front Mission series.

Freeware[]

  • Air Drive
  • Armed 7
  • Astraia
  • Bootfighter Windom
  • Liberation Army
  • Tunnelers

Kart racers with battle modes[]

Battle modes for kart racing games are deathmatch battles influenced by the characters, go-karts and weapons used in the mode. The Mario Kart series demonstrates this kind of mode in its previous installments.

Mario Kart Series

Crash Kart Series

Generic Go-Kart Racing

  • Go-Kart
  • Go-Kart Challenge
  • Go-Kart Racing
  • Kart Racer
  • Professional Go-Kart Simulator

Other Kart racers with battle modes

Notes and references[]

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