I missed Atari's announcement that it's bringing back Fatal Run, a post-apocalyptic racer released when Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was still a relatively new film. Not that I was eagerly anticipating it—Fatal Run was only released in Europe during the death throes of the Atari 2600, so it isn't exactly a world-renowned phenomenon. According to Fatal Run's Wikipedia, Retro Gamer reflected upon it back in 2016. They claimed the best of the game was the cutscenes, which is damning with faint praise.
But the latest trailer for Atari's revival, titled Fatal Run 2089, caught my eye because it appears to seed its death races with a big dollop of inspiration from Burnout. Developed by MNSTR Studio, Fatal Run 2089 frames its vehicular action around a cross country adventure much like the original, though this time you're tasked with delivering a clean energy solution known as ARCs, rather than an anti-radiation vaccine. As is so often the case in post-apocalyptic wastelands, between you and your destination are an array of petrolhead marauders hellbent on stopping you.
