Koei's Fatal Inertia is a surprising change of pace for the company, a futuristic racer along the lines of Wipeout and F-Zero GX. While it doesn't feature major innovations, we strongly recommend going a few laps with it.

Players pick and choose from a series of futuristic hovercrafts, all sponsored by mega corporations. From there, they enter races based upon a series of classes. They start at the bottom rung of the ladder and eventually work their way up to the ruthless Mercury class. Each course contains a series of glowing icons that represent weapons. These assault-worthy items range from the routine (missiles, force fields) to the inventive (a cable that shoots onto your opponent's ship, allowing you to either crash into them or swing yourself ahead for the lead).

The game moves at a very smooth pace, with finely detailed tracks made up of beautiful outdoor environments and underground raceways. The water looks especially striking, shining on the ground and leaving quite an impression, even at several hundred miles per hour. The hovercrafts have a glossy look, although players have the option of switching to a cockpit camera if they grow tired of staring at thrust jets all the time. As for sound, the music isn't great, sounding like synthesizer pieces put together for a science presentation. The rest of the sound effects are pretty average, with very little difference in engine noises. Crank your custom soundtracks instead.