Forward Notes: I rented this game way back when it first came out, immediately after I had played “Pure”. Failing to meet my expectations then, I returned it with a whopping 3 achievements or so. This last Christmas I received this game as a present and made an effort to better my completion percentage and snag some of the high ratio achievements. I now have 100% of the game and have put in over 40 hours. Let’s begin.
Single Player: The game has three different single player areas of note. The first is an open world area where you can simply screw around and drive over the different terrains. The second is an exhibition type mode in which you can set up your opponents, number of laps. Type of race, etc, and run a single one. The third is where most of the time is spent – the career mode.
Throughout the game you drive off-road vehicles in attempts to win different types of races. The vehicles vary as the game progresses (into different classes and different types) ranging from a little buggy (like a volkswagon beetle) to a trophy truck. Each type of vehicle has around 6 different “tournaments” to get through (it varies depending on the area, for some reason) with multiple types of race types. The first is the most obvious – a simple race mode in which you go against computer opponents on a track with a number of laps. The opponents range from 5-8 or so and the laps can range from 2-8 depending on the length of the lap, with the average being around four.
The second mode is a rally in which you compete against cars from all different classes placed at different intervals at the start so that theoretically anyone can win regardless of the car’s ability. These can be either metered (so that you race in multiple segments of smaller time) or in one long stretch, sometimes hitting over fifteen minutes. The third type is a open class challenge in which, again, every type of vehicle can participate. The cars are placed in different areas at the start, again under the assumption that anyone can win regardless of each car’s specific stats. These are usually relatively short and take less than five minutes.
The final mode is a hill climb mode. This is much what it sounds like – it’s a short lap with a huge hill in the middle. This was easily my favorite mode as you literally try to control your off-road vehicle up a huge hill and then fly off the other side. Not much more to say there.
Each vehicle has about 6 different “tournaments” as I previously mentioned. They are classified based on their race type. They range in length. For example, the hill climbs only contain one hill climb race in order to complete it. Races can range between two to six different races in order to complete the tournament. You receive “points” based on your place in each race, which add together to form the final score and final placement.
Now that it’s clear what the game’s about, let’s actually talk about it. Firstly, the game is hard. The learning curve is incredibly steep. This is because of multiple reasons. The first is that the game is quick to reset you – if you go too far off the track or cut too much of a corner – and you start at a dead stop. The second is that the vehicle is simply extremely difficult to control (which of course adds to the constant resets). Small changes in the control stick lead to lots of drifting. Failing to land on all four of your wheels will likely cause a flip. Taking turns too quickly will have you flying off. Water will bring you to a dead stop if you touch it.
The computer AI is also extremely difficult and unforgiving, even on easy. Of course I got better as the game progressed and started to win consistently, but in the first couple areas of the game I had to replay them multiple times in order to be successful. However, one of the most difficult things to get used to is the necessity of the clutch – regardless of if you play on automatic or manual transmission. I probably hit the clutch button (left bumper) over six times per race to help me slow down, take turns, get started after resets, and gain speed on hills. To the normal arcade racing game player this will seem completely alien.
In addition, the track itself can be difficult to make out at times. Since you’re almost always racing in some desert area, the route is made out of, you guessed it, dirt. Although I was for the most part okay, I definitely stayed deliberately in second a couple of times so that I could follow the car in front of me instead of trying to figure it out myself.
Beyond the extreme learning curve this game possesses, you’re also in for quite the grind. If you want to get first in every single “tournament” in every single car category you’re going to need to put in over forty hours into this game if you’re as good as me (I was substantially better than my two roommates and my two other friends) and longer if you don’t have the patience. As I mentioned before you get points for every race you complete in a tournament depending on your placement, so it’s more than possible to get first in the first two races and then get last in the other three races in the tournament and find yourself in a third place finish. I would say that most race tournaments averaged four races per tournament. Each race averaged about four laps. Each lap averaged about two minutes. Let’s do the math: 2 minutes * 4 laps * 4 races = 32 minutes for completing one race tournament. Now as I mentioned some of the other modes are shorter (you can do a hill climb in 5 minutes), but there’s at least three race tournaments per vehicle type. There’s eight vehicle types.
Finally, there’s things that are simply beyond your knowledge. The AI knows some routes better than you. I’m not saying there’s “short cuts” per se, but taking a corner lower or higher can be the difference between winning or losing a race. The AI can also be a real jerk and push you off the side. There’s a certain skill in knowing the speed you can go on each turn (and using your opponents as “stabilizers” as you push against them) and knowing just how much you can cut every corner.
In short, the single player game mode is a real headache. The huge learning curve and the necessity to manipulate the game’s system really doesn’t lend to much fun. Of course the game has redeeming qualities, but you’re not going to find it in this section….
Single Player Score: 3/10
Multiplayer:You have two choices for multiplayer – local or online. I could not find a single person that owned this game (not that I really wanted to play it online) so I avoided that. I did do one race with my bud in local MP but it was just to screw around. The one multiplayer achievement can be completed by yourself. On the plus side, it’s good they included a multiplayer mode in a racing game. On the negative side, no one is playing this game, so who cares?
Multiplayer Score: 5/10
Sound/Graphics/Intangibles:The sound in this game, on the one hand, is lovely, and on the other hand, is unbelievably disappointing. There is exactly one song in the whole game – which is in the opening sequence before you hit the start button. It’s some metal type tune (I forget it off the top of my head) and shows some cars in live film doing some of the moves you’ll be doing in video game land. Besides that you will find absolutely no music throughout the whole game, which meant I was often turning on music on my computer. The engine noises aren’t bad however. You can adjust the loudness of all your sounds as well in the menu. There is no annoying voices or anything of the sort.
The graphics is probably my favorite part of this game. The landscapes are truly beautiful, and even though there is definitely a repeat of tracks, it’s minimal. There are around seven different “areas” that all of the races take place in, with different tracks on the areas. One has a running roller coaster, one has sand jumps over paved roads, and another has a race up a shallow stream (you don’t stop immediately on this one as I previously mentioned with water). Flying through the air on the huge jumps is unbelievably badass (and really the main reason why I continued to play the game). The vehicles all look lovely and can be customized accordingly. There are some truly beautiful sunsets and you can really tell they spent a lot of time on every single tree and shrub.
I already lamented about many of the intangibles in the game when I talked about difficulty and what not. You really need a nice television and some HD cables if you want to take advantage of the best feature of this game (in my opinion, the graphics). The game also includes two other things of note that I should mention here. The first is Baja 250/500/1000 races. These literally take hours to complete (250 is the shortest, 1000 is the longest). I could play for about fifteen minutes then would have to pause to take a break in order to save my eyes. Luckily the game doesn’t require you to get first in those for the achievements, but you must complete them, and if you are interested in getting first you will have to pay close attention the whole race as the AI is relentless.
The second is the ability to customize your vehicles. You can choose the design you want on your car and decide how much you want to spend on it (you win money by placing in tournaments). Each car has available upgrades as well which are surprisingly complex – ranging from being able to upgrade as important things as your tires to as seemingly unimportant items as your water flow system, all of which change the stats of your vehicles. However, while this may seem like it adds depth to the game, it’s actually the subject of significant debate. It appears that the AI gets better when you upgrade your cars, but it’s not clear the percentage that they are bettered by your amount of upgrading. I originally read warnings about upgrades and did not make a single upgrade to my original vehicle. After failing for hours on end, I made some changes and found the game significantly easier. However, that doesn’t mean the game became easy – just easier – and I can’t entirely say it was based purely on the upgrade or just me having played the game for forever. That all said, once I got to the later vehicles and the later race modes, I actually tried using upgraded and non-upgraded vehicles and saw
significant differences. I could not beat some races with an upgraded vehicle – the opponents were simply too difficult – and I could not beat some races
without an upgraded vehicle. It was horribly annoying to constantly buy of the same vehicle and leave one upgraded and one not so I could continually test. You will also have to manipulate the “restart” button a little bit if you don’t want to constantly waste all of your time.
I also complained earlier about the amount of time the game takes. While this is a complaint in one form, it’s also a compliment in another – you get a lot of bang for your buck. The game will cost you at most $15 now, and at over forty hours of gameplay time (not counting 100%ing the game), there’s a lot of value there.
Graphics/Sound/Intangibles Score: 5/10
Achievements:A simple glance through the achievement list and you’ll see a TON of high ratio achievements. The ratio (as of writing this review) for the whole game is 3.257 and the game easily ranks as my best completion. This is for a multitude of reasons. Most obvious is the huge learning curve that I already described. When I originally rented this game I quickly returned it out of frustration and many will do the same. The second is the huge amount of time required to complete – over 40 hours for the career mode. Beyond that you’ll have to leave your xbox on for 5 hours in multiplayer and play over 10 hours in free race mode in order to clean up a lot of the “won all _____ races”. This is because that even after completing the career, you have apparently not played every single track, even if you got first in every single one of them throughout the career (which I highly doubt you will – I’m saying races here, not the championship in its whole, which I did get first in all of). Getting first in every single track in every “area” has its own achievement, with almost all over a 4 ratio (here’s an example):
Along with those issues, because of how relatively disliked this game is and how difficult and long-winded the achievements are, you’re not going to find many helpful achievement guides online. Our own achievement solutions on the site are definitely helpful, don’t get me wrong, but “best methods” are going to be far and inbetween. I’ve considered writing a walkthrough for the game, but trying to describe how to “master the controls” and get through the learning curve is so difficult to describe that it would probably be pointless regardless.
Lastly, there’s a lovely collectible achievement which has a whopping two location guides online, both of which you’ll need to use together if you want any prayer of finding them. These are located in the “free play” mode and require you to drive around until you find areas that the game designers decided were “worth looking at” which usually are such simple things as a cliff overlooking a valley. A 4.52 ratio accompanies this one.
There are at least some achievements that you’ll simply unlock as you play. The “experience” based achievements you’ll earn as you place in each of the tournaments (the experience helps you unlock access to the other car areas). I had everything 100% available about halfway through the gameplay because I was trying to get first places on every single tournament. These have some decent ratios, here’s an example:
Lastly of note are the Baja 250/500/1000 achievements. They take hours to complete each and do not stack. Humorously they have lower ratios than some of the other achievements in the game because they are “do-able” (you don’t have to win). However, they are still a considerable time sink and you have to be at least competent to not throw your controller at a wall.
What did I think of these achievements? Well, I’m unbelievably proud of my completion of this game and the ratios that I’ve got. I think they are extremely difficult to obtain, but it’s just a case of “sticking with the game” despite its difficulty and having the time to sink into it and the patience to get through those collectibles. They aren’t trying to trick you – there isn’t any achievements you have to “manipulate” – they’re all very straight forward, they just simply require you to be good at the game, which is difficult in itself.
I have a hard time scoring this area. On the one hand I think they are nicely straight forward, get you to play all the different areas of the game, and don’t misrepresent themselves. On the other hand, they are unnecessarily time consuming and the list could have been probably cut in half to the same effectiveness.
Achievement Score: 4/10
Final Score: 4+5+5+3 = 17 / 4 = 4.25/10 = 2.125 / 5
Final Thoughts:To be honest, the high score easily goes to graphics and not much else. I think the “badassness” of the game is definitely a factor, but will not appeal to many gamers. A lack of interesting music, a high learning curve, an excessive amount of required gameplay time, and difficult to obtain achievements make this game a real candidate for top xbox 360 “headache giver”. I would never recommend anyone purchase this game unless you are really trying to get higher on the racing leaderboard or have a lot of spare controllers that you won’t miss when you throw them against the wall.
If you feel I misrepresented anything in this review, don’t be afraid to leave a comment below. Yes, I did 100% this game and I realize how difficult the game is to master, but as I said, it’s very difficult to communicate how to be “good” at it, so I’m sorry that I won’t be able to help anyone out. It’s one of those things that just have to “click” for you to get it. I wish you the best of luck if you’re giving this game a go!
3.0