Story
In a strange alternate universe version of rural Germany where a one minute snippet of the Top Gun soundtrack is played everywhere over and over and over again there is are a couple of motorway patrolmen called Semir (yeah that?s right) and Chris. They Cruise the Autobahn at a lazy 130MPH chasing "those jerks again" and looking for evidence from place to place.
The game is split up into "Cases" that vary in length and difficulty but don't vary at all in quantity hilarious dialog:
"One of those Jerks again"
"You can say that again"
and homoerotic undertones, both probably due to translation issues. Also there feature some hilarious accents; check out Bugsy Malone wearing heavy-duty nose plugs at the suspension manufacturer.
The cases are varied and depending on your tastes, interesting to their end. Personally i like the idea of a mixed event racing game that actually has a story to tie it together rather than simply event after event.
Gameplay
Rather poor but still immense fun. Car handling and top speed are pretty much all the same; unless you go for a race car and compare it to a jeep you wont see much difference. The handling itself is very simple compared to other car games. There is a severe lack of polish evident as the cars turn on their axis's rather than their wheels and driving on grass does nothing to change your cars performance, merely make a different noise. The levels consist of simple races and time trails tarted up as missions and also include a healthy quantity of chases, sneaky pursuits and stunt driving.
Unfortunately there is only a scant mission briefing to give you specifics more than damage limit and time allowed. Finish positions and stuff is fine but i played one mission wondering why it was asking me to do 8 jumps on a course with only six ramps. I discovered off my own bat that getting a jump perfect gave me two points and promptly aced the level.
Track designs suffer from a lack of testing as well, sometimes a jump can come immediately before a sharp bend meaning that on the first lap you?ll fly straight into the canopy of the trackside forest and have to drive blind to get back on track or wait to be reset.
A few aspects of this game remind me of old Atari games. Earth Defence Force 2017 did the same thing. I remember Space invaders was remade a few years ago and featured a story and variations on the "shoot the group of aliens as they meander at you", mechanic. Well this feels just like that but they are remaking Nightrider or that game where you had to switch between 3 lanes to avoid slower cars, the car even flashes once it has been reset like they used to back in the 16 bit era.
The car handling can lead to problems, if you have a low bonnet and hit a high backed car you?ll probably scoop it up and drive under it. Also if you manage to bunny hop your cars front wheels onto another vehicle you can usually drive right over it like a monster truck. Also the central reservation is the bane of your existence, one crash can send you over it and you?ll never get back because there are no cars to bounce off on the grass side.
On the multiplayer mode or the free race mode it?s a similar story. Options for the race are good like traffic density and whether your opponents have the same car as you or a variety of vehicles. Also the number of cars to choose from is rather large after a few cases are completed. However the same central reservation issues pop up again. I was happily cruising having left my opponents in the dust and suddenly found myself half on the damned fence and half off, meaning i was immobilised and had to restart entirely. This isn?t much of a problem really because leaving your opponents in the dust takes an ounce of skill and the same of luck, after that is plain sailing.
Frankly i think that doing a 360 power slide round a slip-road, slipping between two lorries and perfectly mastering a corner on a busy road is a great rush and this game lets you do it. This is countered by the constant danger of a major incident that could require a restart to fix. Luckily the individual levels are too long so this is never frustrating even on hard where the roads area new definition of fear. I would love to play this with the xbox wheel, although I imagine it would be pretty bad.
Graphics
A few issues here. Firstly, the traffic models reoccur just to frequently to go unnoticed, which is disappointing but easily forgivable. Secondly you are never seen to steer your vehicle and your partner is never seen to show any fear, not even a blink, as you careen off a saloon car and into the side of a caravan, which promptly shatters like so much cardboard and Perspex, revealing an it's empty insides.
Also, wheat/other crops/bushes and trees don't react to you driving through them like a ghost walking though a wall, not even a slight movement or audible rustle. The trees and crops also look rally fake and the flat grass texture was clearly intended for no closer observation that can be afforded from the inside of the camp-mobile at 130mph.
Despite this, buildings look ok and the urban areas are certainly better than the rural ones because they don?t feel so empty or flat.
Things i really love: The traffic appearing on the radar, very useful, the gear indicator, useless but cool. Also the speed-o-meter that spins the numbers and keeps the arrow still, ser-wish.
Lorries explode spontaneously, damage models leave a bit to be desired but not much, other cars look a bit boxy. I don?t really care about this though because its fun.
Sum-up
Overall I'm not sure if it?s a lack of talent, time or money that lead to this game being released as it is. I don?t really care either because its great t play and at a budget price its worth it, or you could simply rent it or trade in your game once you?ve finished it. This will probably happen because its not likely the ?2-4 players? multiplayer component will keep the life going all that much longer than the single player, you could point out its fun and fast and great at a party when your up for a laugh, you could repeat this review word for word and chances are they will still want to play Forza 2 instead.
I?m not going to give one rating; instead I will go for the multiple numbers method of Gametrailers and others:
Story: Mundane disjointed cases that are interesting in themselves: 6/10
Gameplay: Wickedly fun mainly because it so basic: 7/10
Graphics: A mix of good and bad: 6/10
Options: Good choice, how long this game lasts depends on you: 8/10
Overall: It?s worth a rent or a purchase at budget price. Make sure you know the trade in policy of your game outlet.
_________________
In a strange alternate universe version of rural Germany where a one minute snippet of the Top Gun soundtrack is played everywhere over and over and over again there is are a couple of motorway patrolmen called Semir (yeah that?s right) and Chris. They Cruise the Autobahn at a lazy 130MPH chasing "those jerks again" and looking for evidence from place to place.
The game is split up into "Cases" that vary in length and difficulty but don't vary at all in quantity hilarious dialog:
"One of those Jerks again"
"You can say that again"
and homoerotic undertones, both probably due to translation issues. Also there feature some hilarious accents; check out Bugsy Malone wearing heavy-duty nose plugs at the suspension manufacturer.
The cases are varied and depending on your tastes, interesting to their end. Personally i like the idea of a mixed event racing game that actually has a story to tie it together rather than simply event after event.
Gameplay
Rather poor but still immense fun. Car handling and top speed are pretty much all the same; unless you go for a race car and compare it to a jeep you wont see much difference. The handling itself is very simple compared to other car games. There is a severe lack of polish evident as the cars turn on their axis's rather than their wheels and driving on grass does nothing to change your cars performance, merely make a different noise. The levels consist of simple races and time trails tarted up as missions and also include a healthy quantity of chases, sneaky pursuits and stunt driving.
Unfortunately there is only a scant mission briefing to give you specifics more than damage limit and time allowed. Finish positions and stuff is fine but i played one mission wondering why it was asking me to do 8 jumps on a course with only six ramps. I discovered off my own bat that getting a jump perfect gave me two points and promptly aced the level.
Track designs suffer from a lack of testing as well, sometimes a jump can come immediately before a sharp bend meaning that on the first lap you?ll fly straight into the canopy of the trackside forest and have to drive blind to get back on track or wait to be reset.
A few aspects of this game remind me of old Atari games. Earth Defence Force 2017 did the same thing. I remember Space invaders was remade a few years ago and featured a story and variations on the "shoot the group of aliens as they meander at you", mechanic. Well this feels just like that but they are remaking Nightrider or that game where you had to switch between 3 lanes to avoid slower cars, the car even flashes once it has been reset like they used to back in the 16 bit era.
The car handling can lead to problems, if you have a low bonnet and hit a high backed car you?ll probably scoop it up and drive under it. Also if you manage to bunny hop your cars front wheels onto another vehicle you can usually drive right over it like a monster truck. Also the central reservation is the bane of your existence, one crash can send you over it and you?ll never get back because there are no cars to bounce off on the grass side.
On the multiplayer mode or the free race mode it?s a similar story. Options for the race are good like traffic density and whether your opponents have the same car as you or a variety of vehicles. Also the number of cars to choose from is rather large after a few cases are completed. However the same central reservation issues pop up again. I was happily cruising having left my opponents in the dust and suddenly found myself half on the damned fence and half off, meaning i was immobilised and had to restart entirely. This isn?t much of a problem really because leaving your opponents in the dust takes an ounce of skill and the same of luck, after that is plain sailing.
Frankly i think that doing a 360 power slide round a slip-road, slipping between two lorries and perfectly mastering a corner on a busy road is a great rush and this game lets you do it. This is countered by the constant danger of a major incident that could require a restart to fix. Luckily the individual levels are too long so this is never frustrating even on hard where the roads area new definition of fear. I would love to play this with the xbox wheel, although I imagine it would be pretty bad.
Graphics
A few issues here. Firstly, the traffic models reoccur just to frequently to go unnoticed, which is disappointing but easily forgivable. Secondly you are never seen to steer your vehicle and your partner is never seen to show any fear, not even a blink, as you careen off a saloon car and into the side of a caravan, which promptly shatters like so much cardboard and Perspex, revealing an it's empty insides.
Also, wheat/other crops/bushes and trees don't react to you driving through them like a ghost walking though a wall, not even a slight movement or audible rustle. The trees and crops also look rally fake and the flat grass texture was clearly intended for no closer observation that can be afforded from the inside of the camp-mobile at 130mph.
Despite this, buildings look ok and the urban areas are certainly better than the rural ones because they don?t feel so empty or flat.
Things i really love: The traffic appearing on the radar, very useful, the gear indicator, useless but cool. Also the speed-o-meter that spins the numbers and keeps the arrow still, ser-wish.
Lorries explode spontaneously, damage models leave a bit to be desired but not much, other cars look a bit boxy. I don?t really care about this though because its fun.
Sum-up
Overall I'm not sure if it?s a lack of talent, time or money that lead to this game being released as it is. I don?t really care either because its great t play and at a budget price its worth it, or you could simply rent it or trade in your game once you?ve finished it. This will probably happen because its not likely the ?2-4 players? multiplayer component will keep the life going all that much longer than the single player, you could point out its fun and fast and great at a party when your up for a laugh, you could repeat this review word for word and chances are they will still want to play Forza 2 instead.
I?m not going to give one rating; instead I will go for the multiple numbers method of Gametrailers and others:
Story: Mundane disjointed cases that are interesting in themselves: 6/10
Gameplay: Wickedly fun mainly because it so basic: 7/10
Graphics: A mix of good and bad: 6/10
Options: Good choice, how long this game lasts depends on you: 8/10
Overall: It?s worth a rent or a purchase at budget price. Make sure you know the trade in policy of your game outlet.
_________________