#528: TrackMania Nations Forever (2008, PC)

I can think of no better example of how much loading times and other such bullshit can color ones impression of a game than Trackmania here. Here we have a racing game that actually makes quite ludicrous demands of its players - in order to actually win you are going to have to find and hit your lines more or less perfectly, and the slightest mistake will render your entire race essentially null. One of the tracks here I found myself redoing a good 30 times before I won.

This sounds like an unmitigated disaster - the sort of thing that would frustrate to the point where a title would be banished to the inner reaches of hell, never to be touched again. Instead, it was addicting and - shockingly - fun. How did they manage such a feat? Simple - they made restarting as simple and painless as possible. Unlike most games, where reloading from a checkpoint will throw you to (at least) a good few seconds of loading, here pressing the restart key (positioned helpfully near your steering controls) instantly takes you back to the start - the only delay is the 3-2-1 to start the race. Equally important is that the races are kept as short as possible - typically no more than 20-30 seconds. Those which are longer (several tracks are actually circuits, not a point a to point b affair) are also far more forgiving in terms of the times required.

Something should also be said of the opponents. Instead of racing cars on the track, this entirely a ghost affair. This may sound bad - who doesn't like interactivity - but given the nature of the game (the need to hit lines, the degree to which mistakes will ruin your run), I would imagine having opponents on the track would be something of a minor disaster. The presence of ghosts running the same route every time also means they can be leaned on as a way of seeing what to do and not to do, and also means you can know midway whether you're on track to get a gold, since you're literally racing alongside it. I should also mention that Trackmania boasts an extremely robust track editor, but the fact is I had plenty of fun with the stuff out of the box here.



Finally, this game is free! You could almost call it a demo, but its a bit too full-featured to be that. The proper version boasts additional car-types, but based on my experiences with those other cars (in actual demos), I'm going to say you can do quite fine by just the F1-style cars here.

TrackMania Nations Forever

Publisher: Nadeo
Developer: Nadeo
Released: April 2008
Obtained: 5/24/2008

9.0/10

#69: Mario Kart 64 (1997, N64)

I find it interesting to go back and see that Mario Kart 64 got pretty distinctly mixed reviews back when it was originally released, while I considered it pretty immediately to be one of my favorite titles on the system (well that doesn't mean that much, since it was only my third N64 title), as well as probably the first game ever where I found myself really embracing multiplayer. What stands out most to me about Mario Kart 64 is both how dramatically it improved on the original Super Mario Kart, and how dramatically it was itself improved upon by both Double Dash and Mario Kart DS, to point of feeling unplayable until after a proper acclimation period.

The improvement over Super Mario Kart was pretty easy - the original, while great in its own right, is still a mode 7 racer played on a digital control pad - meaning it lacked both anything resembling vertically as well as meaning it lacked some precision in its control. Battle mode was still very fun, but only for 2 people at a time. Mario Kart 64's move to 3D wound up - much like Star Fox's transition to 3D - feeling more like a return home than a move into some new world like it was with something like Mario 64. Four-way battles meant less time was spent searching and also meant that attacks could come out of anywhere. The move away from the more maze-like battle maps to simpler ones which utilized vertically also meant both that there would be less opportunity to hide and better ways to sneak up on opponents. Just an all-around total improvement.

Racing itself was also greatly aided in part to less difficult computer opposition. Whereas the original could see opponents on higher difficulties able to blow the player away (in addition to increased aggression via weaponry), Mario Kart 64 does a good job of keeping things closer. This does mean that rubberband AI is extremely prevalent, but it also means one is not likely to find themselves so far out that the race ceases to be interesting.

The most important addition to the racing and the star of the show winds up being power sliding, exactly the sort of simple skill move an otherwise simple kart racer like this needed as it means that the player is rarely simply accelerating - even when alone at the head of the pack - as they are instead looking for opportunities to gain a quick speed boost via a power slide.



The flaws become most exposed only after coming back after spending time with the superior sequels on the GameCube and DS - each of which further enhance the quality of control (dramatically) and eliminate the bugs and quirks present here (track exploits are surprisingly wide-spread here).

Mario Kart 64
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Released: 2/10/1997
Obtained: Early 1997

9.0/10