Overtake: The Elite Challenge is an arcade Racing Game that is developed by the Taiwanese gaming company IGS. Much like other racing games, you drive a car and try to make it to first place against various other rival racers. However, the catch is that instead of driving in a single track, you drive between several "mini-tracks" in one session, which means that you can go from a city to a forest in only a matter of time. Oh, and in each "mini-track", there has to be some sort of disaster happening involving a lot of explosions, because it looks cool. There are 12 "mini-tracks" in the game, ranging from a city to a Disney-inspired theme park to a volcano.
There are two main game modes: A race mode and a Time Trial mode. For the races itself, it is divided into normal races and Elite Challenge races - the latter only has two racers, you and the rival. Also, if you complete all 12 courses in one sitting, you will unlock a boss race against a shadowy female figure, in which you will gain a trophy upon defeating her. The game also contains six cars licensed from Ford. These cars can be customized, but only if after a race is completed. Finally, you can save your race and car data using a PIN system, similar to Raw Thrills arcade racers.
Overtake first came out in 2013 in its simplest form. In 2017, two Updated Rereleases in the form of Overtake DX and Overtake VR came out in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The former is Overtake with motion sensors on the seat, whilst the latter is a VR version of DX, letting you experience Overtake more immersively.
This series contains examples of:
- Adapted Out: VR only contains 6 tracks, compared to the original and DX's 12.
- Big Dam Plot: Happens in two stages. In Canyon, the dam (which the player car can drive on) can occasionally be damaged by the nearby attack helicopters and leak out water. Meanwhile, in Bay Area, the dam (which the player car cannot drive on) can occasionally be destroyed by a large ship that tears through it.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The disclaimer in DX.ATTENTIONThe following people should not playing the game:Patients of hypertension / Heart disease / Pregnant / Drunk / Easily feel dizzy
- Call-Back: In some circumstances, when racing in Freeway, you will see a burning airplane about to crash to the ground in the beginning of the track. Later, nearing the end of the track, the same airplane returns, acting as a hazard for the players since it crashes to the racetrack.
- Company Cross References: The Freeway stage contains an advertisement for Speed Rider, another IGS-produced arcade racing game.
- Compressed Adaptation: VR removes many elements that are present in DX, such as the licensed cars (as this is a first-person game), the PIN save system (since there is no vehicle customization or scoring), and half of the race tracks.
- Cool Gate: Whenever you exit a track, a futuristic tunnel-type gate appears that sends the player to the next (pre-determined) track.
- Cutscene: Before you start a race in VR, you're treated with a cutscene where robotic hands assemble the car for you, and your car gets lifted up to the starting position of the race.
- Everybody Owns a Ford: Played straight. All six cars in this game are Ford cars - Focus, Fiesta, Mondeo, Mustang, Mustang GT, and Ford GT.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: There are a LOT of explosions and property damage in the tracks themselves, ranging from a cable car exploding in City, to a chimney collapsing in Factory, to a satellite dish detaching in Desert.
- The Faceless: The racer that you face in the boss race during campaign mode is this. Instead of either of the Fords, she uses a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 as her car.
- Fauxrrari: Zig-zagged. In some machines, the cars are all licensed Fords, but in other machines, the badges are removed and the names are changed, but they still resemble the original Ford cars.
- Graceful Loser: Majority of the rivals you beat will congratulate your win. Some of the notable examples would be:Colin: You became better!
Lee: This is incredible!
Betty: Congratulation! You win the race. - Industrial World: Two stages: Factory and Junkyard.
- Lava Surfing: There are some moments when your car will inevitably drive over the molten rock in the Volcano stage.
- Nitro Boost: Called "Turbo Jet" in game and may only be used twice per race.
- Outrun the Fireball: Inverted in Volcano. A big fireball is coming at you, and you have to dodge it.
- Password Save: Players can enter a six-digit numerical PIN to create a new account. Whenever a player wants to start a new session with a same account without worrying of data loss, they can use the same PIN sequence that they have created before. The data that is saved include race stats and vehicle customizations.
- Pimped-Out Car: Every time you finish a race, you're given a random customization item for your car, and you can choose to accept or decline the new item. Other than that, there is no other way that players can customize their cars, except maybe changing their colors.
- Port Town: Split into two stages: the "Port" part is seen in the Port stage, whilst the "Town" part is seen in the Bay Area stage.
- Random Event:
- Some hazards in the racetracks, such as the crashed tanker truck in Freeway and the tree in Canyon either serves the left or right side of the road as the safe way. The side may be different in different races.
- In Junkyard's Sinister Subway section, there are three train tracks, two of which will have trains coming at you at a very fast speed. Of course, the locations of these two trains are randomized every time.
- Shout-Out:
- The structure in the start of the City stage is obviously a mashup between the Eiffel Tower and Tokyo Tower.
- The bridge in the Canyon stage looks strangely similar to the Golden Gate Bridge.
- The Paradise stage is based off Disney Theme Parks, complete with a castle in the entrance. Additionally, there is a Pirates of the Caribbean-based ride, a Jurassic Park-esque section that is named "Jurassic Ark", and a Frontierland-styled section with a Rushmore Refacement.
- When it comes to the appearance of the racers, Lee looks pretty much like Bruce Lee, whilst Wayne, who wears a tuxedo, brings a certain British spy to mind.
- In-Universe: Freeway has a billboard advertising Canyon right before the players teleport to the next track.
- Judging by its bodywork, the Mustang GT, which is actually a 1968 Shelby GT500 KR is clearly a reference to the Eleanor Mustang from Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).
- Spikes of Doom: Sometimes, in the Ruins stage, there may be some giant stalagmites that pop up randomly.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Every track will have some sort of explosion happening, and the debris may be present in the race track. Even moreso in the VR version.
- Teleportation: How the players go between one track to another. You can go from a city to a volcano or from an amusement park to an icy outpost by just crossing a futuristic-looking tunnel.
- Temple of Doom: The Ruins stage is an ancient Mayincatec-styled temple in the middle of the jungle that is booby trapped with giant Spikes of Doom.
- Updated Re-release: DX is Overtake with a motion-controlled moving seat akin to Cruis'n Blast, whilst VR is DX but in Virtual Reality.
- Writing Around Trademarks: In some releases of the game, the names of the Ford cars are replaced with generic ones. Focus, for example, became Sport, whilst Mustang GT became Classic.
