The Geep Simulator game, better known as Final Drive, was a Gorillaz 3D flash and shockwave-based simulator game available on the Gorillaz.com website, at Kong Studios' carpark, during Phase 1 and also included on the Celebrity Take Down DVD, where you could drive the Gorillaz' Geep on a (somewhat limited) open 3D area. The player controls the Gorillaz' Geep with the arrow and R keys and space bar on their keyboard.
Development[]
The game was developed and built by Zombie Flesh Eaters' senior in-house designer Matt Watkins as an experiment with the Adobe Flash and Shockwave plugins, to promote the single release and the music video for 19-2000.
| ā | The original Gorillaz website was made with Macromedia Director by a company called Get Frank before I started working with Jamie as a designer. I wasn't particularly familiar with Director but I knew my way around 3D Studio Max so when the Havok physics engine plugin for Shockwave came out I seem to remember it came with some sort of driving sim code that we experimented with. I think Flash wizard Dom Skinner helped battle with the Director side of things (He also helped make the Noodle platform game for the "Clint Eastwood" release). I used some of the 3D assets from Passion Pictures' 19-2000 video but had to reduce the 3D polygons a lot to get something running smoothly. I incorporated some of the textures, built the road, put the half pipe in there and it seemed to work well. As the website user base had to have the Shockwave plugin for the Gorillaz website it was worth releasing. It was a time when the internet was more of a platform for experimenting. The record company were funding the website development so we just aimed to make things that were fun for people. | ā |
| ~ Matt Watkins[1] |
Gameplay[]
Gorillaz- Geep Simulator - Final Drive (2001, Shockwave)
The game starts on the logo screen, with a short animation of all four band members entering the Geep. There are various options on the screen: the color option (16 bit or 32 bit mode), the resolution, sound toggle, the 'Play' and the 'Quit' options.
On the game, you can control the band's Geep through an open area resembling the ambient from the 19-2000 Music Video, but without any of the characters shown there. You can drive on the road above the ground, following the same route shown in the video, or on the ground, in a dirt terrain with some scenery objects, such as ramps, skate parks and a church (which you can simply pass directly through). On the Geep, there are also low-poly models of each one of the band members: Murdoc (who is driving it), 2-D, Noodle and Russel. The song 19-2000 plays in a loop on the background of the game. If the player happens to get stuck on their roof and cannot move the game will automatically right the Geep back onto it's wheels. They can also reset to the starting position by clicking the "restart game" button in the top right corner of the screen.
Glitches[]
Apart from the game's wacky physics and some lag spikes when played on newer operational systems, under a certain part of the road there is a hole on the ground, easily accessible by the player, which causes the vehicle to fall into a void and makes it unable to go back to normal terrain even if the player reset their position. Holding the up arrow key will result in engine sounds going higher and higher, which will cause the game to eventually crash after a while due to both the vehicle and the sounds going out of bounds.
Official Trailer[]
Availability[]
Game[]
- Gorillaz.com website (PC & MAC downloads);
- Gorillaz (South Korean Special Edition disc two)
- Phase One: Celebrity Take Down DVD-ROM.
Trailer[]
- Rock The House single CD2.
Trivia[]
- Despite some minor glitches, it is the only standalone Gorillaz game from Phase 1 that can still be played in an accurate state to this day, as on newer operational systems, the Noodle Fight game runs much faster than how it was supposed to, making it almost impossible to advance beyond a certain point, and some files and scripts for the Cymbalism game only being accessible through the Wayback Machine and no longer supporting browser plugins or resources.
- A short trailer was made to promote the game at the time of its release, and was included on the CD2 of the single release of Rock The House. A short instrumental edit of the song M1 A1 plays in the background of the trailer.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ā "Gorillaz Released A Legendary Web Game, But Who Actually Made It?". Digg. Retrieved 11 December 2021.