Interstate '76 Walkthrough

The training is pretty straightforward - Just drive around and do what the tape says and don't get yourself killed in the process. Be careful around cliffs and you should be good.

Other notes: Taurus has given you some info in the form of the game's keycards and manual. Yes, the keycards are referenced in the mission. Also, Jade mentions that you can only target cars if their engines are on, a huge hint for turret and missile defense later in the game.

Follow Taurus to Seagraves. Along the way, you'll take a shortcut on a dirt road. Keep following Taurus.

When you get to Seagraves, find the fireworks store and blow it up. It's straight down the road where you stop, on the left.

After you take out the fireworks stand, you'll hear someone radioing for help from the Wagon Wheel Diner. Follow Taurus there.

When you get there, you'll find a family affair of three creepers — Buffy, Jody, and Mr. French — attacking the Diner. After you take one out, the other two will run. To make it a little easier to kill the other two as they flee, shoot the cars until their damage bar is red, but don't kill them. Once they start running, don't let them get away.

Follow Taurus. He'll turn off on a dirt road to the left. Stop at the water tower and be prepared to race Taurus. Need an extra boost when you start? Put the car in neutral (","), rev it, up, then drop back into drive (".") when Taurus says, "Go!"

Hit the jump straight. At the Y after the jump, go right — it's a shortcut. There's another jump at the end of it, so watch out. You may want to tap your e-brake and turn right just a pinch at the end of the jump for a smoother landing.

Once you finish the race, you'll be known as Swinger. (It doesn't matter if you beat Taurus or not, though you get a slightly different explanation for your handle.) After the race, Skeeter will radio you and let you know that Lead Sled, who works for the guy that killed Jade, and his gang are about to blow up the nearby school.

Head north up 385. Three creepers are loitering where it's marked "Outlaw Territory" on the map. Take them out (without the help of Taurus) to complete the mission.

Follow Taurus. Right before you get to the overpass, Groove will yell, "Creepers on the radar." There are two of them. Take them out. Be sure to watch Master Taurus "do his thing."

Keep heading to the Bar-D. When you get there, you'll have to take down four creepers and blow up the bar.

After finishing the mission, check your salvage. See the Nitrous? Take it!

Race around the track for four laps, but don't kill any of the other racers. They will shoot at you. You can fire back and drop your oil slick, but again, don't kill them! It's okay if they flip their car and die of their own accord, however.

Watch out for the hills, as some of them tend to send you airborne and, if you land on your roof, you're dead. My best advice: Stay on the dirt track. When you veer off of it is when you tend to get into trouble.

After you win the race, Patriot and his buddies Gas Bandit and Road Knight are ready for a shoot out. Make them regret that decision.

(Side note: Does anyone know who this guy is?)

Having trouble hitting the jump no matter what you do? Make sure your frame rate is correct! On modern systems, I '76 runs too fast. Unfortunately, game physics are tied to the frame rate. Although 60fps looks nice, the ideal frame rate is closer to 20. Check the Install Guide & FAQ for solutions.

A few car setup tips: Be sure that you have nitrous oxide in your car for this mission. If you haven't adjusted your armor yet, then keep the structo-bumper on the car (it doubles chassis) armor, drop the chassis to about 20, then crank up the front and rear armor to around 100 or so. This'll give you plenty of protection.

Also, check your controls. "6" is the default key to use your first special when you need to fire up your nitrous.

Head down 380. Take out the two creepers you meet along the way. Turn south on I '87. There's a dirt road to the left. Head down it and you'll find Taurus. A creeper will attack when you find his car. Take out the creeper and get back to Taurus's car.

A short cutscene will play showing Groove putting Taurus in the 'Rhana. After that, another group of creepers will attack. Continue south down I '87 and get on Oil Well Road. The creepers are radioing for a helicopter, and you have two minutes to get to Fisher's Field and rendezvous with Skeeter before the helicopter arrives.

Don't worry about fighting the creepers; just run. Lay down something from your droppers to buy some time, then avoid the roadblocks and ambushes set up throughout the roadways. Keep your speed up, but brake during tight corners to avoid losing control. There are some hidden creepers with turrets; feel free to tap "S" to briefly kill your engine and avoid their lock-ons when you zip by.

Once you get through Oil Well Road, you'll see that the bridge is out. Hit the nitrous and run through the construction signs. Land smoothly on the other side, follow the road, and rendezvous with Skeeter. It is possible to make the jump without nitrous! If you don't have any, go full throttle down the last hill of Oil Well Road and hope for the best.

You may want to keep that nitrous on your car from the last mission. There are a few unexpected jumps where it could be handy to bail you out if your speed is too low. It's also possible that you've managed to salvage a better engine by now. If so, drop that V8 in the 'Ranha!

Head north up 380 until you see an intersection sign on the right. Take the right, then get your speed over 75 mph and nail the ramp! Follow the road until it splits, then go left. Nail the next three ramps and keep following the road. Finally, hit the last ramp and head north up I '82. You'll see the glowing lights of the Gas Parade ahead.

(Alternative option: If you miss any of the jumps, there are roads that'll lead you in the correct direction. Follow the road signs to get back on track.)

As you attend the Parade, a cut Scene plays and two creepers show up. Take them out.

After you kill the two creepers, a mysterious, friendly auto-vigilante will pull up in a flame-painted Pony. Take a light pot shot at it to meet Inferno, another acquaintance of Jade's. She informs you that Cloaker is the auto-merc eradicating all the gas stations in the area.

Four more creepers come. Take them down and protect that gas station!

Start off heading west on 380. After a bit, you'll pass an abandoned road block. A little bit further west and the road block won't be abandoned. There are a lot of cops, and they've got a price on your head.

Take them out. Watch out, as these cops have turrets, they bring in reinforcements, and they even a chopper for support. So, keep your engine off ("S") whenever possible. Maybe take a couple of them out with your .45 for some sweet turret salvage. After waxing six cops, they'll open the gate and let you through.

If you're feeling merciful, let the seventh go. If not, send that pig to the butcher in the sky.

Start out heading west on 380. There'll be a creeper waiting in a blue Piranha. If you want to make the next mission easier, finish off this punk with your .45. With any luck, you'll salvage a flamethrower. Continue traveling on 380.

Another one pops up, so take him down, too.

After reaching Plains, look for the donut shop to the left. Just behind it is the warehouse. Once it's found, a helicopter will take off. Damn, too late.

Now, it's time to protect the warehouse to find out what was in there. A group of four creepers come by in pairs of two. Don't let them touch that warehouse. One is packing mortars, which could possibly blow up everything in the area, so try to attack them to get their attention, then draw them away from the warehouse. After finishing them off, the mission ends.

Just chase Calisto and shoot until you get him in the red. Since he's a runner, and a fast one at that, you'll want to keep your engine on, which means potentially taking a lot of damage to the front of the car. So, put all of the armor to the front for this mission. If you're a fan of missiles, you might want to hold off on those, since their high damage may accidentally kill him.

With the right set up, this mission is super easy. If you've managed to salvage a flamethrower from Scene 8: Equip it, get close enough to Calisto, fire away, and the mission'll be over in less than a minute. Otherwise, chase him down and shoot him until he's red. Don't kill him.

If you end up taking the slow way and chase Calisto for a while, peruse the map to the right that's ripped directly from the level as there are a couple of sneaky jumps. (Thanks to Kalle Siukola.)

Head down 380. After a short drive, the pigs will have the road blocked off. There's no way that Taurus and Skeeter can make it through, but there are a couple of options:

Option one: Distract the Pigs.

Head north on the dirt road that's available. Eventually the 5-0 will figure out you've left and abandon the roadblock to chase you down. Race through that dirt road as fast as possible, and watch out: There's an upcoming jump. The police will not follow you over the jump. It seems counterintuitive, but turn right after the jump. It's a relatively soft landing and will get you back on 380 a little faster.

Once you get through the dirt road, the pigs are all over the van. Take them out and defend the van. When they've all been turned to pork chops, follow the van to the end of the level, and the mission is a success.

Option two: All-out Destruction

Got some cajones? Then just take out every cop at the road block. The catch? There're two tanks blocking the road. Just keep your engine off and you should be able to take out the cops. The tanks only seem to fire directly outside the road block, so with the right alignment, you can blast them without taking any damage. To save some ammo, finish them off with the .45.

After destroying the tanks, you'll get a message from Taurus saying that the road is clear. Head down 380 a bit more, and there are another two cops waiting. Take them out, then enjoy the drive to Roswell.

If you've been lucky enough to scavenge some cupholders, you may want to equip them. They'll reduce your chance of being hit by 10%!

Start out the mission by heading west on 380—the opposite way that the van is going. Soon, you'll reach the bridges. Head across the first one, and before you can reach the second, the creepers blow them both up. Turn around 180 degrees and heading north, there's a dirt road that runs down to the bottom of the river bed.

The bottom of the river bed is a maze, so don't get too lost. As you're heading down the dirt road, it will split left and right. Head right. Soon after, it'll merge with another road on the right. Turn around, almost 180 degrees and go down that road. You should be heading South/Southeast at this point. That's the general direction to be travelling throughout the bottom of the riverbed. For more info, click on the map to the side to enlarge it. The highlighted red area shows the path.

There are a ton of choppers flying around overhead, so keep your engine turned off. By now, you should probably be used to cruising with the engine off — but if you're not, you will be by the end of this level. As you head south/southeast on the dirt road, you'll encounter several turrets. Blast them if you like, but as long as you keep your engine off (turning it on occasionally for a speed boost), they're safe to ignore.

What's not too easy to ignore are the Bushmasters running around across the bottom of the basin. Now, these jeep-alikes only have an averaged 20 points of armor, but they're packing some firepower — Dr. Radars and cluster bombs. Take them out before they can do any real damage.

In the southeast corner of the riverbed, all of the routes should boil down to one road heading almost due east. Follow that road and soon you should see the bridge ahead. The roads will split again, but it doesn't matter which side you take. Drive past the bridge, and you should see a road leading up to it.

Drive up to the bridge and kill your engine. Groove will radio Taurus that he's past the riverbed. The next goal: Rendezvous with the van.

There are turrets everywhere now and choppers buzzing by. Just keep following the road, though. It's a long (and potentially slow) drive, but eventually you'll see the paved 380. Turn left to head west down 380. Just a bit down the road await Skeeter and Taurus in the van.

One note: Make sure you like your car setup for this mission, because you'll be using it for the next two.

The mission starts off at night with Groove asleep, which means the car is off and in park. The joystick and keyboard aren't broken (like I thought the first five or six times I played through back in '97). Hit "S" to fire up the car and then hit the ">" key to slide it into Drive.

After that, follow the Coupe heading down the road, but do it with subtlety. Too close and 'Fest'll figure out something is wrong and the mission ends. Too far away and he's gone. If you're just in or just outside of radar range, you should be fine. This should go without saying, but don't fire at the Coupe.

If the coupe goes off the radar, just use the map to get to the factory.

When the coupe arrives, Oktoberfest will radio the guards with the passcode: the weather is "unseasonably warm."

Follow suit, head up to the gate and Groove, er, uh, Grover, will say the passcode.

Now that you're inside, just follow the road to the center of the buildings. There's the 'copter and V&N Pneumatics. Since there are a few turrets in the area, kill the engine. Coast up to the helicopter and blow it up.

Once the 'copter's toast, a milk truck will leave with the bomb, then a couple of creepers show up. Finish them, especially that annoying Disco Cat.

Last step is to find a way out. If you go north on the road inside of the Komplex, it leads directly into a building. Blow up the building. After it explodes, it should reveal a ramp inside of it. Back up, get some speed, fire some nitrous (if needed), and enjoy the brief ride.

Go south on 285 to get to the truck stop and defend it. Not far down the road, you'll encounter a creeper. Take him out.

Further down, there's another three. Don't let them get away.

At the truck stop, there are another three waiting. These guys have some serious firepower, so be careful.

Once you finish them, Groove will radio Taurus, saying the truck stop is safe. Taurus instructs Groove to hang tight.

In the meantime, a pair of kamikaze Striders will attack from the West. They don't have any weapons, but they'll ram their cars into Spanner's. Make sure that doesn't happen.

With the Striders gone, one more creeper pops up in a Clydesdale. Finish'em.

Three cops arrive. Take them out. The police vans have a lot of armor, but because of their size, they're easy .45 targets. Get'em red and put a cap in their head.

The van will probably start either while fighting these cops or shortly after you finish them. Defend the van at all costs.

Head South. It's safe to venture off in front of the van; no enemies will come from behind.

There will be another pair of cops. Take care of them.

Down the road, there are another two that are willing to ignore you to hit up the van. Stop them before they can.

There's yet another pair after that. Take the cops out and ensure that the van gets across the county line. Cops in the next county aren't in on the deal.

54 miles ahead is the world's largest robot...

Head into the Mesa. It's a maze again. The easy way through, though, is just to head right whenever there's an intersection. Along the way, there are tons of Striders roaming the desert and some of them are packing some real firepower. They don't have much armor, but since there are so many of them, be sure to bring a weapon with lots of ammo. You don't have to kill them all, but it does make it a little easier and you can get some fancy salvage, like EZKill Mortars and Hades turrets.

After heading right a couple of times, you should see a sign that says, "This way out." (Or, perhaps the too-on-the-nose "Malochio's HQ - 1 mile.")

Head the way it points and go up the ramp. Even though there are a few turrets, don't kill your engine — there are jumps ahead. You shouldn't need any nitrous for this as long as you've got something stronger than the V6 in your car. Just gas it and go. Land smoothly and there's a second jump waiting for you.

After that are more turrets. Kill your engine now and just coast through them. Keep following the road all the way to Ft. Davis.

When you finish, a cutscene will start. As it turns out Ft. Davis is not a town, but a Fort sitting on top of North America's largest oil reserve.

The van is running for cover; it'll probably be alright, so head down the road to Ft. Davis. You'll find three creepers waiting. Roast them and keep going. At this point, I had packed two 7.62s in the front (1 turreted), an EZK mortar in the rear, and an oil slick. Put both 7.62s on an enemy and they don't last long.

Keep heading to Ft. Davis. There are two more creepers and a chopper waiting. Toast the creepers and take down the 'copter with a turret or a missile.

After that, there's a lone Lightning. Light him up.

At the fort, Groove radios Taurus: "Tanks, Stampede. They have tanks."

Option 1:
To take out the tanks, kill your engine and stay out of their line-of-sight. With your engine off, the tanks can only fire directly to their front. Stay to the side a bit and unload. After they're destroyed, knock down the water tower behind them. It falls to form a perfect ramp. Get some speed, nail the ramp, and into Ft. Davis we go...

Option 2:
Ignore the tanks. In this case, just knock down the water tower. Gun the gas and drive right between the tanks. You should nail the ramps and end up in Ft. Davis the same way.

With the 'Rhana trashed from breaking through the walls of Ft. Davis, you can select which vehicle you'd like to use.

In the upper left-hand corner is the helicopter. I wouldn't recommend it past the novelty, but you can select it (even though it doesn't highlight) and fly it into the mission.

On the left is the Courcheval Courchelle. It's the all-arounder and the most similar to the Piranha. It's got average armor and average weapons: 1 Dr. Radar, 1 1 50cal, 1 50cal (rear), and Land mines.

Next is the mail truck — a postal Bushmaster. This thing is loaded to the teeth, but... it doesn't have much armor, with an average of only 20 points. Despite the lack of armor, this is the best choice. It has dual 7.62 machine guns, and to top it off, a three-shots-only cherub missile that is freakin' deadly, to put it mildly. Literally, this is "going postal."

Last is the tank, which while it has a lot of firepower, can't move for its life. Try it for the novelty, but I'd avoid it. For some real fun, take it out and switch to the in-dash F1 view.

Make your selection and head on to the mission. You'll start off chasing Malochio's green Manta, so get a few pot shots in on him. Soon enough, he'll call in backup. Cloaker and two other goons appear, so take all of four of them out. It doesn't matter what the order is, you can kill Malochio first or last, just finish them.

When they're all toast, the final cutscene loads.

"Never get out of the car."

Kill the two creepers who are in the area, then get to the oil fields. Ignore the bridge that's out. Instead, just head east and nail the ramp. It's blocked, but plow through it anyway. You'll want to hit the bridge around 90 - 100 mph. Too slow and you won't make it; too fast and your car will flip off the hill on the other side.

Keep going east until you find a couple of creepers blasting at the oil wells. Roast them and three more will appear. Take care of business and the mission is over.

If you've got the skills, race Taurus and beat him there. A couple of tips: Setup your car for racing. You'll still need weapons, so don't skip those, but pick a smaller car that's nimble and handles well, then put a bigass engine in it. When racing: Brake before you turn, then slam the gas pedal as you exit the turn.

For that that are curious: No, you can't just kill Taurus. But if you'd like, get in front of him and lay down some oil. Just pray that he doesn't flip Eloise.

For the driving impaired, here's a shortcut: As soon as the level starts, immediately turn left to find a dirt road. Don't follow it entirely. The road snakes around and isn't any faster. Instead, follow it west for a bit and when the road turns north, follow it north. When the road turns again, ignore it and keep going north. The dirt road will give your vehicle some traction to get your speed up. After that, don't stop moving. Eventually you should see the Mondo Burger. Taurus will probably be close behind, so get to the parking lot before he does. The map to the side shows the shortcut in red and the usual path in blue.

Before settling into some juicy Mondo Burgers, Oktoberfest and Auto Villains for a Meatless America (AMVA?) will show up to ruin the party. They don't like meat, so it's up to you to save America's last great burger joint.

Six villains will come in waves of two, so blast'em, avoid blowing up the burger joint yourself, and send them to their grave.

Start off by heading east down the road. You'll run into two creepers. Finish them off and keep going.

At the stop sign, head north (turn right). Make a left and head west at the next intersection.

There'll likely be another creeper in a van waiting. Don't let him get in your way. Toast him and go.

Make a left at the next intersection. When you see the sign for Seminole, head right.

The mayor will radio in, explaining the situation. Kill the baddies, protect the post office, and be sure not to level the post office yourself. If you take out some buildings, it's not good, but you'll be alright. Folks will radio some funny death sounds, but the mission won't end. Toast the post office, though, and it's mission over. Two creepers are running around when you arrive. Shoot them to get their attention, then take them down.

Another two will come after the first wave. Blast'em.

One last creeper appears. Send him to his grave to finish the mission.

A little setup: Bring a car with enough speed to handle a jump. Nitrous isn't necessary, as a slightly bigger engine is usually good enough.

As the mission starts, two creepers — a Coupe and a Lightning — attack immediately from your left. Watch out, as that Coupe has a little sting with its 30mm cannon. Toast them both, but don't touch that bus! (Or, maybe do if you want a funny ending.)

Once they're down, give chase to the bus and get ahead of it. A Clydesdale is coming from down the road. Lay him to waste before he can put any damage on the bus.

As with any good story, there's a twist: Plato Shrimp (Plate O' Shrimp?) informs you that the creepers are going to blow up the bridge unless you get there first. Make sure that doesn't happen. When the road forks, go to right and launch yourself over the ramp. Land on the other side and take the shortcut to the incoming creepers. As usual, toast them.

Still yet, a couple more creepers join in on the fight. Let them meet the rest of their buddies in the great creeper haven in the sky.

All enemies have to be destroyed for the level to end, so make sure to track down any runners.

Finally, head to the school to ensure the bus made it.

"The safety of children is my job, Mr. Bus Driver."

Right at the beginning of the mission, four cops are in pursuit. They ain't messing around either, with each one packing 30mm turrets. So, we need to do a little prep work before we enter the mission.

Grab a car with two droppers. Throw on an oil slick and a fire dropper. Load up a ton of armor on the rear of the car, and while you're at it, put on a turreted weapon.

When the mission starts, immediately kill your engine (hit the "S" key) to avoid those nasty po-po turrets. Lay down the oil and fire at the same time (hit "L" to link them) and scatter it all over the road. The cops won't know what hit them. Just keep coasting and don't look back.

Keep heading west towards New Mexico. To your right will be a dirt road. Take it. Going straight on the highway leads right to a road block with more cops. Once you get on the dirt road, the fun begins, as it's uncharted territory. The map doesn't help and it's a maze. So start off by heading right on the dirt road. You should be going west now.

There are turrets at every intersection and choppers flying overhead. Use your turreted weapon to nail those choppers and bring them off their high horses and down to earth. As far as the turrets go, blast them if you want, but make sure you keep your engine off. Coast through the maze as much as possible. As long as the engine is off, they can't touch you.

There may be a few cops chasing you, toast them if you want, or just stay incognito.

Ok, to get through the maze, follow these directions: Right, left, right, left, right, left, left, right. If you see signs with arrows pointing the way, ignore them. They always point the wrong direction. Remember, the 5-0 aren't your friends here. As usual, the map to the side shows the correct path in red.

When you get out of the maze, you'll see a few concrete barricades. Just drive around them, then head west and hop back on the interstate.

Of course, the fuzz does not want you to cross that state line into New Mexico and they've got another road block set up, completely sealing off the interstate.

Ignore the cops and keep your speed up. On the left side is a water tower/shed/weak building. Blast it. Once it falls, it forms a perfect ramp. Nail that sucker and fly right across the po-leese and their barricade.

"The Swinger is in New Mexico. Repeat, the Swinger is in New Mexico."

Start off heading straight east on the road and go past the ghost town. There's a creeper hanging around a trailer. Roast him and his trailer, then listen to Taurus.

Head back to the ghost town and go north. The dirt road will turn into a highway. Along the way, a Palomino will try to ambush you from the dirt road to the right. Keep your engine off to avoid the ambush, then take'em out.

Keep following the highway. A creeper Stag will appear in oncoming traffic. Waste him.

At the truck stop, Taurus warns you there's a live one. No joke - this one is packing some firepower with a Cherub missile. Don't let him get away; toast him and try to avoid taking too much damage. After the truck stop is secure, head back on the highway.

There's a bit of driving to enjoy the desert scenery and maybe listen to a poem. If you see a sign showing falling rocks, slow down. The curves in the road aren't bad, but a bump just after that sign can send you flying. Ahead, you'll see a gas station. Keep driving past it.

A small ways up the road, there's an intersection. Head right and you'll find a creeper Coupe hurling G-rated insults your way. The guy is a runner, so blast him before he can go anywhere. Warning: Be careful here. If you fall off the road into one of the ditches on either side, you're out of luck. The runner will get away. So... don't fall off of the road. This Coupe also has a Cherub missile, so keep your engine off and avoid getting in their line of fire!

The runner is heading towards the warehouses. You can chase him there or take a shortcut. Either way, make sure to cap his ass. Once he's waxed, head back to where you found him.

Lo and behold, it's the trailer park we're after. Two creepers are hiding amongst the trailers. Eradicate them and level any trailer you see to ensure the job is done.

Now, everyone has a different approach to how they like to fight, but mine is not that subtle.

First step: Toast that milk truck. Don't take the sly approach and pick its defenders off one by one. You'll take too much time and damage. Instead, crank the throttle, avoid the other enemies, and put yourself between the tanker and its destination. Drop some fire and say goodbye to that spoiled milk.

Step two: By now, there should be a lot of distance between you and the remaining enemies. Since time is no longer an issue (the truck won't reach the warehouse), pick off the rest of the convoy one by one. Success.