Interstate '76
Description official descriptions
In a dark alternate vision of 1976, the Federal U.S. Government has faltered and the world suffers from the effects of an oil crisis. Armed gangs terrorize the roads of the American South West. You are Groove Champion - when your sister Jade is killed you inherit her custom-built Picard Piranha and become a vigilante, with only revenge on your mind.
Interstate '76 is a vehicular combat game with a 1970s theme which means muscle cars & funky disco music. Hit the road and seek the killer of Groove's sister in 17 scripted missions across open-ended trackless areas, or battle creepers in the instant melee mode, against up to 7 other human players. The player can equip their car with different weapons, like machine guns, turrets, grenade launchers and mines. Although the game world is not intended to be realistic, the car handling and collision physics are.
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Credits (Windows version)
384 People (104 developers, 280 thanks) · View all
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 86% (based on 25 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 63 ratings with 5 reviews)
More fun than John Travolta in a gorilla cage!
The Good
Quick! What's the best game you've ever played? If you've been into computer games for as long as I have, that sort of question will make you cringe. When a popular gaming magazine once heralded a game on its cover as "Best Game Ever", I walked away grinding my teeth and muttering to myself. And yet it was those kind of questions that got me thinking about what I find most important about games. In a nutshell, the most important thing a game can be is fun. What's the most fun I've ever had playing a game? Easy answer - Interstate '76.
The game concept is unique. The graphics, for its time, were passable but nothing spectacular (using the MechWarrior II engine). The driving model was good - not overly realistic and not arcadish. You had to learn to drive the beasts, and in many ways they did really perform like cars from the 70s, swaying around turns like overweight hippos. Quality control was very good; I can't recall ever having serious issues with bugs or crashes. Multiplayer, again for its time, was implemented well. An editor allowed you to create custom multiplayer scenarios and to tweak your cars. The missions and campaigns provided were all very worthwhile. The story was tongue-in-cheek, but well written. You came to feel for your characters. There was a sort of role-playing element in the way that you could add items to the inventory of your car and keep upgrading it. With time, I began to feel real affection for the old 'Cuda. The characters themselves were so off-beat and colourful that they remain among the most memorable computer characters I've ever encountered. Remember Taurus' poetry? When the final cut-scene played out after the final mission in the original campaign, that I was so shocked at what transpired that I jumped a little bit in my chair. And after playing out the final mission in the provided in the expansion pack, I felt a sense of loss - there was nothing more. And one more time, it was just so much FUN to drive those old clunkers around, gunning for the "Creepers." What a blast!
The Bad
Why why why was there no way to create your own custom missions and campaigns with the provided editor? This game would have had such legs if that had been provided. I'd still be playing the game! Ultimately though, my biggest complaint is that there has never been a worthy successor.
The Bottom Line
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.
Windows · by Les Nessman (265) · 2005
Original presentation AND high quality
The Good
When I first heard about this game at E3 (the game industries promotional event) I thought the concept was brilliant.
It was like "Starsky and Hutch" meets "Mad Max." The concept was cool, and the developers played it to the hilt with the look and music.
The best part was the feel of the game. Driving FELT great, which is NOT the same thing are real. I remember each time I loaded it up I felt like pulling on driving gloves.
The Bad
The graphic engine was not so great, but was reved by the 3DFX version. However, it was mega megs of patching, so that was a drag too.
Also, I have grown weary of the "do this ENTIRE level correctly, or you don't go forward" game design, which tends to make you start hating the game instead of wanting to play more.
Finally, the car "modification" got old after a bit. There were only so many useful weapons.
The Bottom Line
One of the funnest PC driving games I have ever played.
Windows · by Tony Van (2796) · 1999
The Good
The funk, oh, glorious funk. The moment you load it up you hear that groovy music and you are back in 1976. When the characters swagger out strutting their stuff in their flares you know that this game is cool. Especially that guy with the afro. I love racing games, I love shooting things, put together with a cool theme, this is is a sure-fire winner with me. A unique element is that I used to play this two-player with my friend, but not against each other, co-operatively. One person would steer while the other shoot. A nice touch was the way you could fire your sidearm out of the window. Blowing up cars was never so much fun. The cut scenes were great as well, putting you back in the '70s
The Bad
I have played this on a few machines and one problem remains, it jerks. Stupid jerkiness. It doesn't take away from the fun though as I put up with it.
The Bottom Line
Extremely fun driving/shooting game that drags you all the way back to the era it depicts - the grooooovy '70s.
Windows · by Julian McKenzie (160) · 2000
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Interstate '76 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Cancelled PlayStation version
The game was in development for the PlayStation but never released.
Cars
The cars that appear in Interstate '76 are all based on real cars (of course the names had to be changed because of copyright/trademark issues):
- Courcheval Cavera - Chevrolet Camaro.
- Courcheval Courchelle - Chevrolet Chevelle.
- Courcheval Manta - Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
- Courcheval Royale - Chevrolet Caprice.
- ABX AMZ - AMC Javelin AMX.
- ABX Leprechaun - AMC Gremlin.
- Dover Lightning - Dodge Challenger or Dodge Charger.
- Picard Jackrabbit - Plymouth Superbird.
- Picard Piranha - Plymouth Barracuda.
- Phaedra Palomino - Ford Mustang.
- Phaedra Pony - Ford Pinto.
- Phaedra Clydesdale - Ford Bronco.
- Phaedra Rattler - Shelby Cobra.
- Phaedra Coupe - Ford Coupe (Street Rod).
- Glenn Inc. Bushmaster - Jeep.
- Jefferson Sovereign - Lincoln Continental.
- Vikea 420 Wagon - Volvo 420 GL.
- Moth Truck - Mack Truck.
Contest
To promote the game Activision made what has to be the most extravagant videogame contest ever: Purchasing specially marked boxes at Electronics Boutique gave you the chance to enter a sweepstakes were you could actually win the official Interstate '76 car! (the blue muscle car in the game's cover). 50 3rd prize winners would get the soundtrack, 25 2nd prize winners would get a CGW "prize package" and 25 first prize winners would get a Sidewinder 3D pro joystick, BUT if you found a golden key in your game box, then you could visit the Activision HQ along two other contestants, have dinner with the production team at Hard Rock cafe, visit Universal Studios, etc.
Cutscenes
It is a common misconception that the cinematic cutscenes are performed in realtime by the 3D engine of the game. Although they use solid-filled polygons and low-vertex models, they are pre-rendered and compressed with the Cinepak codec. They are not rendered in realtime. The blocky appearance of the cutscenes is intentional.
Gold Edition
There is a Interstate '76 (Gold Edition) release, which includes 3Dfx Glide and Rendition 3D support. However, the name was later reused to re-release The Interstate '76 Arsenal.
References
One type of wheels which can be put on a car is the 15-inch Krager. It is a reference to the producer of this game, Scott Krager.
Soundtrack
For Interstate '76's soundtrack Kelly Rogers, director of music production at Activision, recruited among others songwriter and former Santana keyboardist Tom Coaster as well as Third Eye Blind's Arion Salazar.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- March 1998 (Issue #164) – Artistic Achievement of the Year
- May 2005 (Issue #251) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #83 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
- PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/1998 - Best Atmosphere in 1997
- Power Play
- Issue 02/1998 – Best Racing Game in 1997
Information also contributed by Kasey Chang, Roedie and Zovni
Analytics
Related Sites +
-
Designer's Notebook: Interstate'76
A feature article on the industry website Gamasutra, which makes use of Interstate '76 to illustrate the game design concept of "Harmony", in which each part of a game feels as if it belongs to a cohesive whole (Jan. 15th, 1999). -
IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games. -
Interview with Scott Krager, Interstate 76 Producer
on Gamezilla.com (1996) -
The Local Ditch presents Interstate '76
General site that has maps, codes, pre-release screenshots, strategies, and other trivial I '76 items.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by robotriot.
Additional contributors: Trixter, Roedie, Jeanne, S H, chirinea, jean-louis, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger, Plok, Victor Vance, timur bogorad, FatherJack.
Game added November 1, 1999. Last modified April 10, 2025.