Codemasters has done an excellent job developing a robust and expansive engine to power Insane; some of the “tracks” (which aren’t so much tracks as they are enormous masses of land) stretch on for what seems like thousands of miles of never-ending dessert, forest, etc. Since Insane is a primarily off-road racer, there’s usually not much detail in the environments (save for the occasional wild animals that attempt to block your path as you race to capture your flag), but it makes up for this with the varied territory that dips, turns and does all it can to flip your car over whenever possible. And thankfully, even with the incredible view distance, there is little fluctuation in the frame rate, and Codemasters has been able to implement some great car models that even have animated (though only slightly) in-car drivers who’re bounced and shaken around as the vehicles zip around.

No matter how much a racing game might tie things together in terms of gameplay modes and graphics, it’ll all fall apart unless the gamer can control the vehicles correctly. Sadly, this is where Insane loses most of its grip. Despite my repeated attempts to change the setup of the different vehicles from Factory Defaults to Off-Road to Race, keeping any of the vehicles under control for an extended period of time was next to impossible. The most frustrating is in the form of turning sensitivity, where it’s so easy to spin the vehicle out and lose control over the direction of the car that it’s futile to even to continue playing. At first I thought it had to do with the fact that I was racing in a slippery territory – but it happened on every area of the game. Tap the vehicle a smidge too much to the left or the right, and it won’t be long before the car either does a quick 180 degree turn and come to a full stop or it’ll start tumbling, proceeding to not only put an end to any chance of winning, but thrashing up the car (which determines its performance), as well.

Secondly, I’m not blind to the fact that smashing over huge bumps in the middle of the road should make a vehicle tumble and flip, but in Insane it’s simply out of control. Much of the time that I was playing the game it was spent worrying if the next stretch of small bumps were going to hit the tires at a strange angle and send me spinning. Eventually that becomes incredibly tiring, and the thrill of capturing the flag from behind an opponent and running off with it is ruined when it becomes more of a race to see who can keep from flipping over the longest than who has the best racing skills.

The meat of Insane is found in the Championship mode, which is actually fairly different from anything else that I’ve ever run into before. You start out with only the 4x4 class open, and within that is a set of three games (Race, Capture the Flag and Jamboree), where the better that you do in each of them, you can earn anywhere from 0 to 10 points. You’ll participate in the games in three unique areas during both the day and the night, and in order to graduate to the next class you need to accumulate a set amount of points. As the more advanced classes start opening up, there are more games to take part in (Return the Flag, Pathfinder, Destruction Zone, Gate Hunt) and more vehicles that can be used.

Codemasters has also included support for their multiplayer service, Codemasters Multiplayer Network, but unfortunately, there are few people who are playing Insane. In fact, in the times that I hopped online, there were no people hanging out in the United States servers, and no more than 40 on the European server that was listed. Fortunately, the people on the European side were friendly, at least, but it doesn’t bode well for multiplayer aficionados.

Considering that Insane’s graphics are fantastic and it has enough gameplay diversity in its numerous modes to keep people playing for hours on end, it’s disappointing that the one of the most basic features of a racing game, its control, ultimately drags the game into the mud.