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| TrackMania PC review | |
| developer | Nadeo |
| publisher | Digital Jesters |
| author | Marcin |
| date | Dec. 16, 2003 |
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| sound | |
| gameplay | |
| value | |
| reviewer's toast | |
| overall | |
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Chromehounds
NA Review by Marcin
Oblivion-The First 3 Hours
PC Quicktake by walTer
Comic Quick Takes January 25, 2006
Feature by Mike
This game was provided at no cost to wickedtoast.com by the publishers.
Those who have read my preview will already know I was very thrilled with the premise of TrackMania. Even with the limited track pieces available in the demo I had a blast visiting servers around the world (I visited the UK, France, Netherlands and Canada in my search for races), checking out what people created and racing them. The near-instant track download combined with TM's gameplay (which makes lag irrelevant) makes the entire experience very smooth.
Racing Destruction
TrackMania combines several forms of gameplay, catering to the creative and thinking gamer on one hand, and the competitive twitch junkie on the other. Let's go over these modes.
The Puzzles
In order to build tracks, you need track pieces - roadway, ramps, accelerator strips, even loops and spirals. TrackMania makes you earn these pieces by collecting coppers - the game's currency - by solving puzzles created by the developers. The puzzles are themselves races, but with incomplete tracks. You are given a few choice pieces to complete the track, and some objectives. Sometimes you simply have to make it from Start to Finish, other times you have to cover all checkpoints. In the end, it's a race against time, as the better you do, the more coppers you receive.
The puzzles start out fairly easy, with straight and level tracks missing only a few pieces to complete. In no time at all however, the puzzles become tricky with obstacles such as holes in the pavement, offroading, gigantic jumps (the accelerator strips are great fun) and misleading track design. The puzzles will often trick you into thinking one way is better than the other, but you are always provided with goal times, Bronze, Silver and Gold. If you're consistently having trouble beating a goal time, you know it's time to try another approach - sometimes as radical as jumping off the track backwards!
There is also a set of completed (as in, not puzzles) races in the game for those who would just prefer to set and beat records. They tend to be a little more complex than the puzzles, and usually longer - for the most part they appear to be tougher to get the Gold times, too. You earn coppers here the same way as the puzzle mode, by achieving better times for completion. This is where TrackMania gets addictive, as you know that you can shave off just one more second to get that super fast time.
The Construction
Once you earn enough coppers you can go off and buy pieces for your racetracks. You can choose from three environments - arctic, desert and grassy fields - and a few hundred types of track - some pieces are more expensive than others. Finally you can purchase pieces of decor, which not only spice up your track nicely but can provide a challenge all in itself (dodging trees on a portion of an offroad track, for example).
Construction is a full 3D affair, viewed from above - you can rotate and tilt the view (not free rotation though, just north/west/south/east) and rotate every track piece in four directions as well. Choose a piece from the list, select elevation (also traversed in discrete steps) and place it. Erase pieces in a similar fashion. The game is smart enough to keep laying down the standard track, but you'll need to click "Draw" for each of the more complex pieces - it can get a little tedious depending on the complexity of your track, but there's really no better way to do it.
The most gratifying part about the building portion is that there is no pause between building and racing. When you want to test your track out, just hit the "Race" button - the view will zoom down to the starting line and you're off instantly. Likewise, hit Escape at any point to return to building - this makes endless tweaking of a race an easy and enjoyable task, as you can test your efforts immediately.
The Racing
The racing is rather simplistic, although different in each environment. The arctic environment provides you with a jeep, slower but more steady; falling off the track means instant slippage. The desert provides you with an American '80s style cruiser, powerful but wobbly on turns; the sand isn't very grippy, but far more so than ice. Finally, the green provides you with zippy rally cars, and you can use rally-style track pieces (the other two only provide blacktop) - traction is best here, of course, and the pacing most frantic due to very tight turns. There is only one car model per setting, but you can choose from many skins - or make your own.
There are only four controls in the game - gas, brake, left and right. Nadeo sticks to arcade roots to give you instant feedback, tight control, access to stunts (there's a reason Gran Turismo doesn't have any loops or spirals or jumps) galore and a constant feeling of speed; acceleration and braking is fast and responsive. You can use the keyboard or any other input device, and use various camera settings, from Grand Theft Auto overhead view (not very useful) to first-person (again not too useful due to the frantic pacing and many aerial stunts) - the optimal "behind the car" view is set to default, and it was the one I used the most.
By making everyone's car the same, Nadeo has made skill be the final arbiter in navigating the races. You're also only racing for time, so everyone races basically on their own copy of the track - there are no collisions. This is what makes the game so much fun despite even intercontinental lag - the other cars may be skipping around the track, but it does not affect your race at all! Admittedly it's a strange sight as a bevy of cars jerks around the track, but it doesn't take very long to get used to it. That plus the fact that the track is downloaded to your computer in seconds (we're talking measly kilobytes here) means that there are really no limits as to who, or where you can race.
Audiovisuals
TrackMania's audio is functional, but little more. There are bleeps and bloops FX in the construction set that are fairly intuitive for placing or erasing track, and a warning buzzer if a track piece is blocked. Engine sounds are unique for car type (jeep, roadster and buggy) and are simple, but very responsive depending on your car's RPMs. Likewise the sounds of skidding around on the track or hitting obstacles - raw and appropriate, without embellishments. The soundtrack is mainly composed of several themes, based on the environment you're playing in (snow, desert, rally). These are fun, hoppy and un-annoying - quite a feat considering how little variation there is. They blend in well with the game, and support the theme of light racing, but for heavy construction work you might want to turn it down and put on some of your own tunes.
The visuals are simple, but are complemented greatly by the fact that the build -> race interface is so intuitive and fast, an excellent physics system and car handling characteristics, and how fast the pace is. While at times it feels like you're racing a set of matchbox cars through a playland, at other times you'll be very pleased with the play of light and shadow on the hood of your car, embellishments such as dust and leaves, or the way your vehicle behaves when it hits an obstacle in midair. All of the elements mesh together exceedingly well. The menu system, on the other hand, is very plain and bare - in fact, it appears to have been slapped together in Notepad. Fortunately it doesn't impact the game at all, but it is slightly jarring.
Conclusion
TrackMania is finely tuned to provide you with instant fun. Whether puzzling or racing is your preferred mode, you can find both in here in quantity. The time-based nature of multiplayer means that lag-free play is always available and hopefully, as more copies of the game are sold, more races will show up on the web. Being able to export your replays adds another aspect of competition, as you can import other players' ghosts - then try to beat their time! Finally, TrackMania's homepages have quite a few links to downloadable tracks (like say, here) - again, likely to grow as more copies get out there. TrackMania's seriously addictive gameplay is poised to steal your time.
Note: TrackMania isn't currently available from US retailers, as negotiations between publishers are currently ongoing. However, you can pick up the game straight from the UK publishers - who are nice enough to provide free shipping worldwide. Note that TrackMania retails for £19.99, and now includes the free Power-Up expansion.