Best vehicular combat games

In continuation of our games series (check Tank games, War games, Browser games, Strategy games), it is time for the vehicular combat games. Ramming cars, speed, weapons, fireballs, eliminating competitors… it could be real armageddon. Vehicular combat games have evolved substantially from Mario Kart 64 and Spy Hunter to monstrous Wreckfest, Crashday, etc. Here are our humble top-15 suggestions in no particular order.

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Top-15 vehicular combat games  

According to many critics, the game is a bright representative of old-school, as well as the parent of Cross Out. A truck is driven by the player in a post-apocalypse world with inappropriate breathing air. The player completes various missions to upgrade the truck hoping for survival.

There are five unique trucks available for the player with different characteristics and many possible improvements. The player can buy new cabs and bodies for his truck and connect various modules to improve efficiency. 

Also there are more than 30 weapons available: machine guns, guns, rockets, mines, energy weapons, shotguns, mortars, etc. The player can try them on a variety of opponents: trucks, military vehicles, robots, piles. The global map contains ten game locations with unique soundtracks.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10	Intel Pentium 4	512 MB	128 MB DirectX	2.5 GB

Hard Truck Apocalypse is a great representative of several genres at once. Being a hybrid, the game combines all the best. At the time of its release it could offer to the player a very good schedule by those standards, excellent soundtrack, fresh gameplay and dynamic battles. 

Many fans call the game “Fallout on wheels”, and if you like it, then you are simply bound to try it. Believe us – the game will not disappoint you, do not look at the graphics – just experience euphoria from the gameplay, but watch the time, it flies too fast.

The idea is simple: the player is in a car without brakes, the police are chasing him, and the task is to do everything possible to avoid a collision with something, performing various random tasks, running away from cars and police helicopters as long as possible.

The player is provided with many types of weapons for purchase and various cars that have different characteristics. Machines can be improved by increasing the damage of weapons, nitro and armor. There is also a level system, thus raising the level opens up a new armor, maps, etc.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows: 8.1	2,53 GHz Dual Core	4 GB	GeForce 8600 GT	600 MB

The experience necessary to level up is given after each round, depending on the player’s score. The game is also available for Android and iOS devices.

Crashday is a story about two teenagers who at the age of 20 realized their childhood dream and released their game. In 2017 the same German teenagers, being adults already, together with their own Moonbyte team released a reissue of the Redline Edition.

The game takes you to the world of collisions and adrenaline, and there only you choose what to do: to overtake rivals or to remove them from the track. Crashday Redline Edition has seven game modes, offline and multiplayer, winding tracks and spacious arenas, as well as a full support for steam workshop. 

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows 7 or later	Intel Core 2 Duo E6600	1 GB	GeForce 8800 GT	600 MB

The schedule, of course, was also slightly tightened. Yet, you can spin somersaults on crazy tracks, ram opponents, shoot them with machine guns and create other outrages. The emphasis of the game is shifted to multiplayer, as even in the menu, this is the first mode in the queue. Solo is also quite fun to play. 

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the 16th game in its series. This time there is no plot at all, you are just a racer/police officer, that has to ride. There is no motivation, no engagement, so the only way to get interested in this game is to enjoy the gameplay.

The game has five modes for racers: race, review, time trial, hot pursuit and duel. Also racers are able to use some weapons like strike strip to take care of police or other racers, so do ride carefully, because you are not the only one who has weapons.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows XP, Vista, 7	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHZ	1 GB	156 MB DirectX	8 GB

And now something interesting about police gameplay. There are only four modes here: interceptor, hot pursuit, review and rapid response, but playing as a cop is still much more interesting. 

Also here we have a nice system of your car destruction – except the line near the speedometer you can see the car’s damage. All these little things make the gameplay of Hot Pursuit highly entertaining. The game is also available for PlayStation 3, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360.

First of all, Wreckfest is presented as the “spiritual heritage” of a famous series of games called FlatOut. The main feature of the game is a soft simulation of damage to the car body. There are six game modes available in the game: elimination race, team race, dangerous race, last survivor, deathmatch and team deathmatch. 

The cars have a large number of upgrades that affect the power and acceleration of the car: engine, air filter, cooling, intake manifold, fuel system, ignition, exhaust, exhaust manifold, valve, camshaft and piston.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows Vista and later	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.7 GHZ	4 GB	Geforce GTX 460	15 GB

The bots in the game deserve special attention, they behave like real players. It is enough to accidentally hit the bot to make a revenge its main goal. This all also depends on the complexity of the game you choose.

We boldly call this game a masterpiece in its genre, because of a large number of various cars, maps, game modes and car customizations. If you are a fan of this genre, you must play it, having a lot of fun in multiplayer mode especially.

Racing with weapons, explosions and various traps, and also multiplayer option are present in the game. Given the age of the game and the budget as a whole, this is a pretty good cocktail, reminding the movie Deadly Race.

The game has a number of modes like battle race (guns allowed, power-ups allowed); simple race (normal race without guns and power-ups); power race (without guns, power-ups allowed); death match (the one who will get the first score point by kills, wins); last man standing (last car alive wins); capture flag (teams need to capture flags, the one which will get more points, wins), etc.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows Vista and later	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.7 GHZ	3 GB	Geforce 8800 GT	12 GB

To unlock a new car you need to win races and from the races you will get new customization like stickers and rim, new car, new guns, etc. Also secondary weapons can be mines, oil (slippery wheels), shields (defends from all types of damage), nitro (restores nitro), ammo (ammo restore), etc.

Brief summary: a good game with shooting, racing and power-ups like in good old games, but without optimization. Recommended for everyone who likes old-school games.

Burnout Paradise is an arcade racing game with a focus on accidents and dangerous driving. The action takes place in the fictional Paradise City, which is divided into several districts, providing freedom of movement (the open world).

The main goal of the game is to obtain higher categories of rights and to earn new cars to win races. You have the ability to customize race settings such as traffic, race routes, and to include/exclude cars based on their boost types. You can also choose any route to reach the final destination.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows XP and later	Pentium 4 2.8 GHz	2 GB	Geforce 6600	4 GB

There are also different types of races. For example, in the Marked Man, you must get to a certain area under the attack of two black cars with tinted windows. In the Stunt you must fly over the abyss and other dangerous places for the sake of earning points. In the Road Rage the main goal is to send as many rivals as possible to an accident and not to get into an accident yourself. Also, you can take part in the race, time race or drift. 

The graphics of the game is perfect and after the cars are crashed you can see a scene as if a detailed fragment from a Hollywood movie. Thanks to the Easy Drive feature, there is a multiplayer opportunity in this game. So you can add up to eight of your friends into the game, but you cannot play with them on one computer.

The developers of this game combined football and racing into one. The player must score a giant ball using the blows of his car. However, there is no division into the goalkeeper or attacker and player should perform all these functions at the same time, which is funny and interesting.

The advantage of the game is that the player may perform not standard punches – such as in the air, where your car can arbitrarily change the position or at high speeds, for which energy can be obtained by running into specially marked areas.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows 7 and later	Dual core 2.4 GHz	2 GB	NVIDIA GTX 260	7 GB
MacOS X 10.8.5	Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz	8 GB	Intel HD 4000	7 GB
SteamOS or Linux	Quad core 2.4 GHz	2 GB	NVIDIA GTX 260	7 GB

You can use all these opportunities in three regimes: 4 vs 4 battle, 2 vs 2, and a duel, where the fewer players you have, the more tactics you must use. Also, you can keep the game experience for goals, assists and little things like putting the ball into the danger zone. That is needed for upgrading the car look with various paints and stickers, flags on antennas, tires and decorations.

Zombie Driver game is a mixture of Mad Max, The Walking Dead connected by the dynamics of the gameplay with Alien Shooter. The plot of the game is as simple as possible. A series of explosions with the leakage of harmful substances occurs at a chemical plant in a small town. Due to this a large part of the population instantly turns into zombies. 

The player, as a survivor, is looking for the surviving citizens in order to save them. The game has three main modes: Story mode, Blood race and Slaughter. Each mode has its own transport and a variety of weapons ranging from machine guns to rail guns.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows XP and later	Dual core 1.5 GHz	1 GB	256 MB DirectX 9.0c	2 GB

The essence of the Zombie Driver gameplay is to move around the swarming undead in a car and kill as many as possible.

In this game, everything is as in the film Mad Max, a huge area full of deserts, canyons, and caves. The map is divided into zones that have their own specific landscapes, difficulty levels, various stories or additional missions.

The game is firmly in vehicular combat games category, with weapons, armor and cars. In the game you have a best friend, a dog named Dinky Dee, which you take with you into the car and he barks at the sides with mines. 

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows 64-bit	Intel Core i5-650	6 GB	GeForce GTX 660 TI	32 GB
MacOS X	Intel Core i5 3.2 GHz	8 GB	Nvidia 680MX	35 GB
Ubuntu 16.04	Intel Core i5 3.4 GHz	8 GB	GeForce GTX 660 TI	35 GB

When accustomed to driving, riding in this post-apocalyptic world will begin to bring a lot of fun! Enemy patrols along the way will try to destroy you and this will turn into a spectacular pursuit with explosions and wrecks. The game is also available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Crossout is a grandson of Hard Truck Apocalypse / Ex Machina. It combined all the best qualities and experience in developing games from Targem Games. The game is a free online MMO game in which you can assemble a combat vehicle from hundreds of parts and take part in PvP or PvE battles.

To create a crushing transport, you must take part in the battles. The better the battle is played, the greater is the reward for purchasing spare parts. By purchasing a paid subscription you get a double reward. The game has unique mechanics and physics. 

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows 7 and later	Core 2 Duo E8500	4 GB	GeForce GT 440	4 GB

Of course there are certain laws that cannot be violated. Wheels or tracks are attached only to special frames, there must be a cab. And please be kind enough to fit into the energy and number of parts limit.

Heavy Metal Machines is an action racing game that mixes up a heavy metal soundtrack and an action-packed Mad Max-inspired world. Two teams compete to deliver the bomb to the enemy base and not to allow to deliver it to their own. The game has two types of map: Temple of Sacrifice and Metal God Arena. 

In summary there are 17 characters with different weapon skills available. The players have the following roles: 

• Interceptor: the interceptors are specialized in preventing enemies from taking the bomb. They have strong push capacity or good damage. Their goal is to take the bomb from the enemy.
• Support: the supports are focused on helping carriers to deliver the bomb by repairing and protecting them while also disrupting the enemy. 
• Transporter: the transporters are experts in delivering the bomb to the enemy base. Resistance, speed and agility are some of their skills. 

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows 7 and later	Dual Core 2.0 GHz	4 GB	GeForce GT 710	4 GB

There is an in-game store where you can buy cars, paint for them, different emotions and effects. There is also a donation option in the game, but it only speeds up the progress or allows you to buy decorations. In general, this is one of the simplest vehicular combat games, fit for fun with friends.

Battle Riders is a racing game made by OneManTeam and released in 2017. In the game you have to participate in weaponized races, and to be not only the fastest, but the most accurate as well.

Hit the tracks in six racing modes: Duel, Battle Race, Survival, Elimination, Clean Race and Time Trial. Only seven cars are available in the game. It is a game with little maps, nine tracks across three different environments, which are quite similar to one another, by the way. 

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows XP and later	Intel Core 2 Duo	2 GB	GeForce 8800GT	1 GB

The graphics are bad here, the system requirements are low, so the price is low too. You can install different weapons on a vehicle (each side is setted up separately), armor and upgrades for speed. Also you may set up the color and print of your car.

Wrecked is a free-to-play indie project made by Corvo studio and released in 2018. In this game you need to develop your vehicle to destroy other player’s machines.

A very interesting part of the game is a pre-round preparations, where you have to make your car not just a riding vehicle, but a death machine. To do this, you have a lot of guns. To protect yourself, you have a lot of armor objects. And the only thing limiting your fantasy is carrying capacity of a particular car. 

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows, MacOS, Linux	Dual Core 2.0 GHz	1 GB	GeForce 800M	600 MB

Except heal bar of your vehicle, you have a percentage of weapon integrity, and when your weapon breaks down you will not be able to use it, so be careful and visit the base for heal and weapon repair. There are two modes in the game – flag capture and deathmatch, but this is pointless because of low online capability.

Well, eventually we recommend this one among other best vehicular combat games, but for the sole purpose of having fun with friends. That is because without online accessibility you cannot start a match, there will be no bots, but for having fun with friends this game is enough.

Metal War Online is a client-based free-to-play sci-fi tanks shooting game with tons of unique vehicles that fall into specific class roles. It allows a varied and balanced team-based game that focuses exclusively on PvP matches. 

There are four classes of vehicles: scouts, storm tanks, engineers and artillery. Each class performs its role: scouts are exploring, artillery deals with a lot of damage, engineers repair allies.

There are four main game modes: clash, storm, capture and control. Clash is a classic PvP battle. Storm is a classic deathmatch. In capture you have to grab the opponent’s flag and deliver it to your base. In control you have to capture as many points as you can and hold them until you have accumulated enough resources.

Minimum system requirements:

OS	CPU	RAM	Video	Space
Windows: XP and later	Dual Core 2.0 GHz	2 GB	GeForce 9500GT	4.8 GB

Rolling in the game consists of  three main criteria and one additional. The main ones are experience, gold and silver, and additional gold. To improve the tank or buy a new one you must raise the level, and then the secondary task is to collect silver for it. 

Et voila!