Rollcage Stage II

Attention to Detail
Industry	Video game development
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Products	Rollcage Stage II

Rollcage Stage II, also titled Death Track Racing, is a 2000 racing video game created by Attention to Detail and distributed by Sony Computer Entertainment for both PlayStation and Windows platforms. As the follow-up to Rollcage, it incorporated combat mechanics where vehicles are armed with weapons gathered as bonuses on the track to engage rivals. A notable characteristic is its large wheels, enabling cars to continue driving even when overturned.

Development

Originally slated for a U.S. release in early March 2000, the launch faced a delay exceeding seven months.

For the North American PC audience, Take-Two Interactive rebranded the European and Australasian edition under the name Death Track Racing.

Graphics capabilities

At its March 2000 debut, Rollcage Stage II ranked among the earliest titles to implement hardware-accelerated bump mapping through EMBM (Environment Mapped Bump Mapping). The game was specifically optimized for the Matrox Millennium G400 graphics card, which had launched in 1999 offering exclusive EMBM support until late 2000. Serving as a demonstration of Matrox’s cutting-edge graphical advancements, the game attracted considerable industry attention and was actively promoted by Matrox.

Soundtrack

The title included a licensed soundtrack featuring various electronic music artists. Moving Shadow released an official soundtrack album on CD and vinyl formats in March 2000.

Reception

According to review aggregator Metacritic, Rollcage Stage II garnered "favourable" critiques, whereas Death Track Racing received "average" ratings. Daniel Erickson from NextGen commended the European edition as "a wonderful surprise," considering it superior to rivals such as Wipeout 3. Preliminary evaluations from Electronic Gaming Monthly, EP Daily, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, and Game Informer ranged from moderate to positive ahead of the U.S. launch.

GamePro emphasized the challenging nature of the European PlayStation import, recognizing it as delivering a distinct and intense racing experience unmatched by other PlayStation racers. They awarded it high scores for visuals and handling despite its difficulty level.

Spiritual successors

While Attention To Detail (ATD) and Psygnosis did not continue producing entries in the Rollcage franchise after Rollcage Stage II, ATD went on to develop Firebugs, which shared similar racing gameplay concepts.

After original developers and publishers ceased support, former ATD developer Robert Baker released updated versions of the Windows titles in 2014. These builds—named Rollcage Redux for Rollcage and Rollcage Extreme for Rollcage Stage II—were based on original source code, resolving persistent bugs and ensuring compatibility with contemporary operating systems.

In 2015, Baker collaborated with ex-ATD colleague David Perryman and entrepreneur Chris Mallinson to establish Caged Element. They initiated a Kickstarter campaign for Grip, a spiritual successor to the Rollcage series, featuring a prototype developed using Unreal Engine 4. The project involved two original Rollcage developers, with a soundtrack including artists Technical Itch and Dom & Roland, who had contributed to Rollcage Stage II. Although this initial venture was canceled, Grip: Combat Racing was ultimately released in November 2018 across Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

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