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Post by toei on Jul 16, 2021 8:57:46 GMT -5
Yeah, I definitely tried that one before on the strength of its character designs, then quickly put it down not knowing how to play it.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 17, 2021 15:41:28 GMT -5
Still struggling a bit for any game to really hook me right now and I don't know if this would ever be the genre to do that, haha... but I've messed with a handful of games over the last few days:
GC:
F-Zero GX holds up extremely well, although it's definitely VERY sensitive control/turning wise. I was able to get first place in four races for a novice tournament. I recall this game being insanely hard though, it must be story mode where it felt like, race 2, was impossible. Pico (the green Piccolo-like dude) has always been my favorite in the series. I might keep digging into this one a little more. Emulation has some choppy spikes every once and awhile but it runs pretty well, surprisingly for something so intense.
PSX:
Jet Moto 2 - These two games seemed like the Altered Beast of the PSX. It felt like every kid I knew who had the PSX early on back in the day, owned one of these or had a demo disc on hand. Well, this is kind of whatever and dated in 2021. I hate how easy it is to fall off the bike and lose tons of ground. It's slower and chunkier than I expected. The default hoverbike is a Mountain Dew thing, it seems like they really got a lot of advertising in racing games back then. Who still even drinks this crap?
Rollcage Stage II - Not bad. Has the Twisted Metal / Vigilante 8 edge to it in ways while being more of a pure racer. It seems like a lot of the maps are "tubes" and you can flip over easily, but with such big tires on all these vehicles, that seems to be a gimmick here and you can get rolling again swiftly... but correcting your steering can be tricky for sure. The power ups seem kind of whatever but I didn't play too much. Seems solid.
WipEout 3 - Visually, this game looks insane. I know it's partially Duckstation handling the smoothing really well but credit is due for the core game here looking so dang good, wow. Could almost pass as an early low texture PS2 game in ways. The music seems awesome. The feel of the racing is a little slower than expected, but they probably went for that to retain how crazy smooth it runs. This seems very cool and holds up.
PS2:
XGIII - Extreme G Racing - Pretty dang good and looks gorgeous. Has a more cyberpunk flair to it versus F-Zero along with more "weight" to the controls and feel. I might stick with this one more too. I do think I played this one or one of the Extreme-G's back then with a friend and had a good time.
360/PC:
Burnout Paradise (2008) - This is an open world game and actually, that seems like a very neat idea for a pure racing game with various modes. What I don't love is that when you get a new vehicle, it'll kind of reset some stuff on the map you've beaten. Map menu management just seems kind of weird to me. For once, I actually think if this was more "checkboxy" in a way, that would be cool and let me focus on things while having fun driving around to objectives. But it's pretty free foam and you have to drive around discovering things first. The worst part is that being 2008, its musical selection is some atrocious painful stuff. Avril Lavigne, Bullet for my Valentine, Killswitch Engage, everything I hated in high school and felt alienated because this stuff was so popular then. I know it's a funny nitpick but compared to everything else on this list, this music here is very bad and that can be a crucial thing to this genre.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 17, 2021 22:27:08 GMT -5
I've played a few games myself, but not much. From memory, a little bit of R4, a little Top Gear 3000, and Thrash Rally, an overhead Neo Geo racer. I'm counting Thrash Rally as I managed to clear the Africa course and got an ending screen. Only placed fifth, which I believe is solely based on your finish time, not the other racers. As far as the top times went, that time was second, though, so clearly those first-place times are a hard target to hit. Just finishing without running out of time (Outrun-style) is tough.
EDIT: Let's add Over Top to the list. Another Neo Geo racer, but this time isometric. You can tell it's the same team as Thrash Rally, but the handling here is "stickier", so it feels worse to play overall. I barely squeaked over the line as the timer expired after many attempts (and almost clearing the race three or four times). Timing is tight.
Tried Neo Driftout, and... eh. Feels like some of the sticky controls of Over Top but strangely loose as well.
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Post by Ex on Jul 18, 2021 0:32:41 GMT -5
F-Zero GX holds up extremely well, although it's definitely VERY sensitive control/turning wise. I was able to get first place in four races for a novice tournament. I recall this game being insanely hard though It's the most difficult game in the series, no doubt. I remember placing 1st in every race, of every cup, in standard/normal difficulty, was very challenging. I did it, but it took serious concentration. I didn't bother with the story mode though, no idea how that is. What I liked about this one was using the rollover maneuvers to get ahead of the computer racers. Just an unconventional gameplay design that made it feel fresh to play. Plus it has weapons. I figured since you liked Kinetica you'd enjoy this game, they felt similar to me in some ways. I think this entry is the best of its franchise, although I also enjoyed this entry: I actually own this game, I hope you can substitute your own MP3s or something yeesh.
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Post by Ex on Jul 21, 2021 23:39:43 GMT -5
I'm not going to beat this one, but I'll mention it because it's so unique: Wild Rapids is a PS1 racing game based on kayaking. It released in 2000 in Europe and Japan, no USA release. I gave this a shot because I can't think of too many kayak racing video games. Unfortunately it's not very good. The biggest issue is that the courses are ridiculous to navigate and the computer AI cheats its ass off. I mean really cheats, not just rubber-banding. I tried a variety of racers and kayaks, to mix up stats, but it never got any more playable. Winning races in this game is not so much a matter of skill as it is pure luck. I managed first place in the first race after five tries, but it got worse from there. For example on course 2 I was in first place at the finish line, but then an alligator head spawned out of nowhere beneath me, knocking my kayak over, then all the other racers flew by and I was instantly in last place. That particular course is two and a half minutes long, and that was my fourth time trying to win. Nah, when pure aught luck is what wins the race, that's not a good racing game. I do however appreciate the concept and an attempt at doing something new. My favorite part of this game is its menu music, so that's not high praise.
Plenty more stuff to try in the pile though!
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Post by toei on Jul 22, 2021 9:01:14 GMT -5
The characters' faces on the cover shows they're just as frustrated with the game as you were.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 22, 2021 12:39:07 GMT -5
The cover art is actually pretty decent, though - very much comic-book style I'd expect from that era.
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Post by Ex on Jul 22, 2021 12:52:07 GMT -5
The characters' faces on the cover shows they're just as frustrated with the game as you were. I do think the cover art is nice, because it does accurately portray the experience of playing this "game".
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Post by Sarge on Jul 22, 2021 21:32:40 GMT -5
I've still never been able to get very far in the Expert course in Super Hang-On (Genesis), but at least I cleared Beginner! Ha. Finished the arcade version of Cruis'n USA on a very, very twitchy controller. I remember playing this with the racing wheel, and it makes a big difference. Still, managed to get first in at least a few races along the way. Lots of rubberbanding, as you might suspect, but that's how you keep an arcade racer exciting. This was super impressive back in the day, and while it obviously doesn't look as amazing as it did, it's still pretty decent. I remember a lot of folks didn't like the N64 version, though - ostensibly the arcade was running "Ultra 64" hardware, but it actually differed quite a bit from the final N64 hardware and looks much nicer. Also, it is definitely a '90s racer - the finale of the cross-country race is Washington, D.C, and on completion, you get a "special address" from the President, who at the time is ol' Slick Willie, who is in a hot tub on top of the White House with a bikini babe and Hillary as a bikini babe. Yeah, that happened.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 23, 2021 13:44:06 GMT -5
Jumping back into XGIII, now realizing it's pretty tough like F-Zero GX. I can barely manage ~3rd place on some of these League races.
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