This is one of my favourite games ever! Great news that it's on GOG! I've played this game to death, so here's some tips for Danneh (and anyone else who thinks this game is hard. It isn't, once you get used to it):
- All the cars are VERY different. Choosing the right car gets you half-way to winning (or at least a podium). The best cars at the start are Volken Turbo and Dr. Grudge, the worst are Phat Slug and Sprinter XL (despite its stats). Try a car in single race mode before using it in a championship. Some of them are very difficult to drive, Sprinter XL being one of the worst, and some are just too slow. Heavier cars tend to have better grip. "Glow" cars are not necessarily faster than electric ones. Different cars require different driving styles. Always try a car before judging it. The best car in the game is called Toyeca.
- With full collision physics enabled you can push opponents out of the way without using power-ups, but this is risky. Just steer into your opponent and someone will go spinning. If you're using the right car, it's unlikely to be you. Cars with low ground clearance which handle well, like Volken Turbo, are best at it.
- Pay attention to the progress chart (accessible from the main menu). You won't unlock everything until it's full (except by calling yourself CARNIVAL and TRACKER). Completing all four championships unlocks all the tracks (apart from mirrored and reverse, time trials unlock those), but not all the cars. Even practice mode has a secret you must discover...
- Don't bother with the stunt arena until you have some FAST cars. Some of the stars can't be obtained with any but the fastest in the game. Some stars can be quite frustrating, but all will fall to a persistent, intelligent driver.
Power-up hints:
- Use fireworks on straights (the homing system doesn't work well around corners). DON'T use them on someone on your front bumper as they make quite a big blast which will spin you as well if you're too close.
- The shockwave follows any walls it runs into, as long as the angle it hits at isn't too great, so if you're careful you can send it around corners.
- The AI can't see oil slicks and mines, and it follows a very precise (often stupid) racing line. Take advantage of this. You can also easily avoid mines by learning where the power-ups are on each track and avoiding ones that are out of place. They are mines.
- Most cars handle very badly when using the battery power-up, so try to use it on a long straight and take any corners carefully.
- When using the electric shock, be prepared to avoid vehicles on your front bumper because they are going to stop!
- The time bomb, but don't go too far out of your way to get rid of it because if you're on a straight when it goes off you usually land on your wheels facing the same direction! It's not a disaster at all. Even if it stops you it often costs less time than trying to hit opponents to pass it on.
The main drawback of this game is the small number of tracks, just 13, not counting mirror and reverse tracks (although some of the reverse tracks are quite good). However, you can find custom tracks, and cars, on the net, and some of them are AMAZING.
tl;dr
Don't give up on this game! Keep at it, and you'll soon master it.
It would be less expensive if they weren't so greedy to make every game bigger and fancier than ever before. There's no need for it, it's not the 1990s any more, video and audio tech were perfectly adequate ten years ago - Call of Duty 2 still looks, sounds and plays brilliant after nine years. It really annoys me how games keep getting fatter and fatter, consuming more and more resources to produce and to use, without commensurate gains in quality. What's the point?
Devs: spend less money on fancy graphics and make better games instead. That's how the Indies have succeeded, and since you're so big and powerful, you should theoretically be able to do it better!
Multiple reviews for a major game sounds good. Like others, I would like more INFORMATION from reviews, as opposed to PREFERENCE (which is fine in moderation). Maybe team reviews? i.e. two or more people working together to write a single review. Discussion between the reviewers might improve the review a lot, as well as being easier for us than reading and comparing two separate reviews. Maybe you could make a video of them discussing the game, either together with the review or as a separate feature?
That makes me think, one of the things I love about Random Encounter is that it actually tells me a lot more about the game than any review. If Danny O'Dwyer did his reviews with Random Encounter-style videos, that would be awesome! Certainly a video review where we actually see the reviewer playing the game and giving their thoughts as they arise would be an interesting experiment, and might be more effective at conveying what the game is actually like to play, as the reviewer could point things out as they happen in real time, for example. It would also be much more involving for viewers than the reading-aloud style of current video reviews, and make them useful for something other than satisfying those who can't or won't read. Of course, avoiding spoilers might limit the effectiveness of this approach in certain games, eg. ones where the fundamental gameplay changes significantly over time, but then those games are always hard to review without spoiling anyway.
Oh dear. First a unknown Scottish councillor, now Nick Clegg.
Still, the thing to remember is that for politicians, the important thing isn't to say things that are true, it's to say things that the majority of people will approve of. Gamers are still a minority, a weird, suspicious minority for many people, and if he said anything different all his political mates would be queueing up to score voter points by condemning him. That's why politicians always seem to have such backward views.
So basically, don't forget he's a politician. He's probably lying.
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