There's an innate bond that connects man with machine. More so; a man to his need for speed. "Boys and their toys," always sums it up so aptly. It must be in the way a man has the ability to shift tonnes of shrapnel with such agility that really makes his blood sizzle with adrenaline and electricity. For those men who aren't as car savvy, we can thank the world of video gaming for providing us with the pulsing rushes we aren't capable of in the real world.

In recent years, there's been a evergrowing obsession with unrelenting speed. Series like Burnout and F-Zero have offered our recent fixes of eye-blistering carnage, and with both of those series recieving acclaim, the doors opened. Stepping up to the plate: Fatal Inertia. Does it do enough to appease man's appetite, or will it rest inert on man's shelf for the long run?

Koei, though better known for their work on the Dynasty Warriors series, have decided to try their hand in the racing trade. Fatal Inertia is set in a distant era of the 22nd century, where motorsports have become the pinnacle of sports entertainment. In a future where affluence needs a hobby, four competitive wealthy corporations all do their part to fund the combat racing spectacle as they each support their own line of craft: Mercury, Titan, Aurora and Phoenix. You, as a driver, make your choice out of these base models and you zoom, zoom, zoom! Being a racing title, Fatal Inertia is void of any real storytelling. Luckily, racers aren't generally sold by their compelling narrative; instead they get by on what's under the hood, and of course, a nice glossy finish.

Unlike Burnout or even F-Zero, Fatal Inertia doesn't solely require the pilot to simply put pedal to the metal and vaguely steer in the right direction. Fatal Inertia's physics engine makes piloting your craft a skill to hone; as opposed to just flooring it and knowing victory is still possible. Out of every futuristic racer I've played (and there has been a few), Fatal Inertia is the greatest example of realism in game physics. As you pilot your craft at speeds near 700km/h, it's not just a blur you can simply ride out. You must still drive with the same sharp cutting edge precision that you would if you were playing a racing sim, or else you'll find your campaign closing alot sooner than later. Other impressive aspects of the game's physics is in the way the craft behaves over different terrains. An example of this is if you're driving through a rocky mountain landscape, and you're advancing up a slight incline; if you fail to pull your tail up, it'll drive into and drag along the ground. And if you're falling from a height, if you don't make the appropriate adjustments in the air, you'll find your craft falling belly-first onto the hard ground; damaging it rather badly. Fatal Inertia is a futuristic racer that finally requires focus and expert precision; in turn making it a challenge.

In your quest to becoming World Champion, you'll also encounter a series of weaponry that you'll unleash upon the unsuspecting. You'll have access to rockets, a kind of neutron bomb, an elastic band that bonds competitors together (or even to the ground) and various other objects. The one weapon that stands out amongst the rest though is of course the magnets. When you fire a magnet at your opponent, it will offset their craft wherever the magnet lands and effectively slowing them to a snail's crawl. Whilst the primary fire is what you'd expect, each weapon also has a secondary fire. With the rockets and bombs the secondary fire acts as a temporary speed-boost (tip: this is very handy in Velocity races). With magnets, on the other hand, it'll simply drop them behind your craft, as opposed to firing them in front. Your arsenal of tools to play with in Fatal Inertia is not only fun beyond belief, it makes racing unpredictable, which is always desired.

My one major gripe with Fatal Inertia is that it fails to capture the aforementioned sense of speed. Your craft is cruising at a pretty extreme 650km/h, and yet you can still see the detailed shrubbery as you pass it. Don't get me wrong, it can be a fast game at many times; however, it just doesn't feel like a fast game. Games like Burnout and F-Zero are prime examples of how speed is meant to feel. Sadly, Fatal Inertia struggles to simulate the experience of moving at the speed of sound.

Another problem one may face in Fatal Inertia is finding things to do.

Sure, there are over a dozen championship cups to try and conquer; though this does become tedious and overly difficult by the time to read the intermediate class. It wasn't long into the second grade that I lost interest with winning championships altogether. And because the game requires you to place in the top three before advancing, it made retrying championships a chore. Though, patience can go a long way in Fatal Inertia. To keep races from becoming stale, there are a number of race variants you could find yourself competing in, each with their own purpose. You may find yourself in a Velocity race, where the sole purpose is to go faster than your foes. Or it may be a Magnet Mayhem match, where your infinite supply of magnets is your aid to slowing down the competition and winning. So multiple race types really keep this game interesting for a while, at least.

If you do manage to win championships though, you may find yourself raking in new bits and pieces for your hovercraft. Thus, we find the feature 'Pimp my Craft', predictably titled by myself. The game has hundreds of thousands of possible combinations for your craft, making the customization seem a sizeable tool; though it's still terribly limited in what you can actually do to your craft. You basically choose from a base model (as noted earlier) and you apply parts and paintjobs you've unlocked by either winning championships, earning the most combat points in a championship, and even from unlocking certain achievements!

Sadly, in your off-time from winning (or like me, losing) championships, you couldn't even find yourself on Xbox Live showing off your skills. That's not to say the game has no Xbox Live component, it's just because it's a barren wasteland that rarely sees signs of life. In all of my times playing Fatal Inertia, I have never seen another player in the online lobby. It's a shame too, this could have been immense fun online.

On the eyes, Fatal Inertia does look gorgeous. Though at closer inspection, something strikes me as odd. This is a futuristic racing game, right? Then why is it we find ourselves daringly cutting through jungles, or volcanic rock formations, and even the very antithesis, icy cliffs? Where are all the skyscrapers, and neon lights? The vertical roads that gravity somehow allows futuristic vehicles to propel up? The monuments to Xbox World Australia? It just doesn't make any sense. It's a very bleak image of the future, though I must admit it looks great. There's a vast collection of about 50 tracks (each sections of about 6 environments). From the desert canyons built up from sands and rock formations, to the volcanic mountain range where molten lava hinges on eruption. Each of the environments are lively and easy on the eyes. Coupled with the courses, the crafts each look great. With unique attributes and style, you'll soon easily distinguish them from each other, and then you'll customize them beyond distinction; creating your own craft.

Audio isn't a really noticeable component in Fatal Inertia, it's techno-pop-rock soundtrack is passable as it fits the genre, though it does very little to stand out amidst the other gameplay essentials. Despite being a minor amount of written narrative, there is no signs of voice acting at all. Though, this is completely understandable, as there's only one racing game in recent memory I can remember having a story requiring voice-acting. I speak, of course, of V8 Supercars from last generation. So while there's little to judge in regards to the traditional traits of game audio, what remains is suffice to Fatal Inertia. All of your typical engine noises are there, from the whistle of the Phoenix craft, to the muscle grunt of the Titan; each craft has a voice, if you will.