Cultural Entertainment Memo: Death Race

I recently received this memo from a member of our Cultural Entertainment Study Group and figured I would pass it on to share with the world as a whole. Most of the internal documentation at the research laboratory are top secret and never exposed to the light of day, much less the general public, but every once in a while we shall share a bit of what is brainstormed in these metal walls.

The group recently watched a movie called Death Race. This would be the recent vision of the movie, not the original 1970's movie Death Race 2000. One thought echoed resoundly at the end of the viewing - why is there not a video game based on this movie yet? The movie is a video game. It presents itself so perfectly that it's astounding they release games for movies such as Monster House and Wolverine, which may have elements of game play in them but don't present themselves so openly.

Main cases in point:

• Movie is a series of races. That, in itself, is a game.
• The racers drive heavily armed/armored vehicles. A bonus to any racing game.
• Not only do they try to race to the finish, but they're trying to eliminate their opponents in the most spectacular way possible. Bonus cash and stunt points, anyone?
• There are POWER-UPs in the movie! Swords for unlocking offensive weapons, Shields for defensive weapons, and Deathsheads for spectacular kills! This game is practically writing itself.
• The racers are fighting for glory and freedom, to familiar themes in any video game.
• They present a variety of weapons, vehicles, drivers, and backgrounds.

So what would be needed to truly make this a spectacular game? Easy. We've come up with a variety of options that would make this entertaining and fun.

First of all, it screams for customization, which people love. Your character, falsely accused of murder or some other heinous crime, has been entered into the race as a chance to escape, find the real killer, and clear his name. Your character's name/callsign/look could all be customized to suit your taste. His skills could work on a RPG element, letting you up things such as reflexes, health, weapon skills, and the like for your own tastes.

Your navigator, the hot girl from the female penitentiary up the road made for "sex sells" element and to give people something to stare at, could either be chosen from a list of available inmates or custom made as well, with skills that also level and/or can be customized. With higher level skills/more talented navigators available as you level. Such abilities as showing you shortcuts on the map/compass, repairing the vehicle, reloading speeds, and so on.

The vehicle itself, this cries out for customization ability. Choosing your chassis, weapons, engines, armor, and upgrading the whole lot. Paint jobs, decals, and the like could all be added as well. Not to mention making better things available as you level.

Also, don't forget your pit crew. Hundred of inmates in a prison such as that, and having the right ones on your team helps. Special abilities such as weapons research, vehicle tuning, espionage, or sabotage would be ideal options when choosing who you want in your pit. Again, better personnel would make themselves available as you progress for whatever reason.

Now the levels, would this simply be "gain x experience to reach level z" or perhaps along the lines of gaining points for kills/race time/style/what have you and having everything based on that point system. Each level being increasingly more expensive.

Add online multiplay and a campaign that expands several hours and a potentially branching storyline and you have yourself a winner. Something that would get the producers happy and the gamers excited. The group as a whole is incredibly disappointed that this hasn't been made and would like someone to get on it as soon as possible.