Trackmania Turbo (March 22nd)

Andy

Andy

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Trackmania Turbo is coming out for X1 and PS4 Tuesday, March 22nd (3/24 in the EU). Anyone interested?

  • 200 tracks
  • 1080p on PS4; 900p on Xbox; 60 fps on both
  • Custom track-builder
  • $40

I haven't played an arcade racer in years. Last one was Burnout 3, I think.

trackmania-turbo-9.jpg



I generally don't go in for games that run on adrenalin, which I think this one does. Otoh, I'm trying to branch out beyond my usual genres and try something different. I'm considering picking this up. My main concern is that my reflexes are too flaccid from years of RPGs, action-adventures, and narrative-focused games for me to handle a fast, twitchy racer like this. I expect to crash a lot.


Gameplay:




A couple reviews:

"Bottom Line:

"Trackmania Turbo is a thrill ride, offering up some high-speed action that feels great from beginning to end. Complaints are minimal, and even though the cosmetic items are slow to earn unless you're a natural, it still feels good when they are unlocked. The sense of speed, simple to learn yet hard to master controls, and the consistent mechanics make the game truly come together as a great arcade racer with some surprisingly consistent, almost simulation-grade mechanics like cornering and drifting."

http://www.examiner.com/review/review-trackmania-turbo-ps4-a-minute-to-learn-years-to-master


"Bottom Line:
  • Overall Score:85/100 - Must purchase game and the best arcade racer ever made. A perfect combination of music, graphics and both solo and online gameplay that all blend together exquisitely.
  • Audio:The music is so upbeat. One of those where the beat gets you so pumped that you end up dancing to it while racing and messing up. Great mix of songs and beats available to you.
  • Graphics: So incredibly colorful. Makes it hard to stay focused on the race with how everything is bright and reflective. Great use of color and everything blends together perfectly. No real lag or screen tearing, which I found surprising and refreshing considering the sheer amount of cars that are present at once.
  • Gameplay: Pure fun whether it's solo or online. Seeing everyone crash ahead of you helps navigation, but then you become the guinea pig for the rest once you pass them. It's a great game of give and take in the best arcade racer made to date."
http://1080players.com/index.php/component/k2/item/2950-review-trackmania-turbo

"Best arcade racer ever" is one of those statements you know is not true, but at least you know he truly enjoyed it. It does look like fun.
 
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Played the beta for about an hour. It was pretty fun. You get 10 tracks unlocked, with more unlockable if you earn some medals. I did mostly solo campaign, but I also tried a dozen online races. Most of the races are really short, less than a minute. If you screw up, the reset is very fast. Handling seemed pretty responsive, although it depended on the car.

The online races were nuts -- you've got 100 people all crowding through the same raceway, going over jumps together, cramming through tight passages. It's chaos. I had fun and laughed, but I found it hard to drive in all that mess, and the steering was less responsive, so I'll probably stick to solo campaign.

I got bronze and silvers but no golds, although I didn't stick with any track for long, because I wanted to sample everything. The full game requires Golds if you want to unlock everything, so I doubt I'll get that far.

It seems like a game of trial and error (and error and error...) -- lots of mistakes until you get the run just right. My racing skills could use some help, lol. It's fun, though. Lots of variations in cars, tracks, and surfaces in the 10 courses that I sampled. I'll bet some of the other track layouts will be pretty crazy.
 
900p on Xbox, 1080p on PS4 -- at least in the beta. 60 fps on both.

"The PS4 and Xbox One versions operate at 60 frames per second cap. Most of the times the performance is solid on both versions with minimal drops on the Xbox One versions. Furthermore our analysis on the Xbox One and PS4 versions suggests that the former is running at 900p. Sony’s console, however renders the game at a native 1080p resolution."

http://gamingbolt.com/trackmania-tu...-on-ps4-60fps-cap-on-both#BLEHDz4SGoI3760y.99
 
PS4 version it is then. Weird that I personally can't tell the difference between 900p and 1080p but I still will go to the higher res version because I'm being told it looks better. This March Madness it taking away from my playing time, but I really need to give this one a free try before I buy.
 
OK, so I gave the beta a go last night and I am not completely sold on this title but it could be that the beta just didn't show enough. From what I did see it seemed to have potential to be a decent cousin to Trials HD with pro's and con's.

The single player experience was ok. I was able to silver/gold all the tracks offered and there is a nice setup to try to beat friends via ghosts or just chase medals. I feel like I am missing something to earn golds, maybe a faster car you can unlock down the road? I ran a couple tracks near perfect and was still 3-5 seconds off Gold times.

The handling on the cars are standard arcade and they hug the track easily. You create drifts by braking/throttle but oddly there is no handbrake button. I also more often than not was thinking how much cooler, strategic, fun it would be for there to be a jump button giving you just enough air to work the tracks. (Then again, I play way too much Rocket League and maybe I just need to jump).

I played the online for a couple hours. Basically everyone (my rooms had about 100-150 racers in it) runs the same track working on getting the lowest lap possible in a given time. The tracks we ran were completely whacked out and on a few more than 1/2 the participants couldn't even get 1 lap completed thanks to crazy jumps, turns, and the ease to get lost on just where the track is supposed to be going. Maybe I just got weird stuff but I would rather have challenging tracks that can be more easily completed. Some of my most fun came on one track that I couldn't figure out so I just started launching myself off the track and into the wastelands surrounding it. Driving off road, looking for maybe a hidden shortcut to the finish, or just watching hundreds of others flail about was as much fun as the racing itself.

I also dabbled a little in the included track creator. Here is one part the game really shines. It is incredibly easy to create a track and the game does a wonderful job of populating it with objects after you have laid down the basics. While ease of use does surrender some creativity, from what I have seen there is enough meat in the creator to make some very unique layouts.

All in all, I am still on the fence. It didn't hook me in completely but it also looked to be solid overall with plenty of content to make it well worth the purchase. I think I would need to see a lot of my friends buying it (like what happened with Trials HD) to get me to join in.

75/100
 
I agree it seems like a solid arcade racer, if a little basic. I enjoyed playing the beta for an hour, but that's probably enough for me. I doubt I'll be getting it. The trial and error process -- running the same tracks repeatedly to shave a little time off -- I don't find it all that interesting or engaging, as a game mechanic. I suppose this is why I don't play many racers. It's why I liked Burnout, though -- when you got it right, it was fun; and when you screwed up, it was fun. Here, it's just reset and try again.
 
I'm kind of interested. I have good memories of playing Trackmania years ago on the PC and it was a lot of fun. Can only imagine what it's like all this time later.
 
Gamereactor review, 9/10:

"There are plenty of racing fans out there that have waited a long time for this fast-paced arcade racer to make to leap from PC, and now that it has we're pleased to say that it's landed on PS4 and Xbox One in great shape.

"We have always associated Trackmania with simple, clean fun. Maybe not magnificent graphics, but the driving has always provided us with great entertainment. This iteration is no exception, but it looks just so much better, as one might expect with it now appearing on the current generation of consoles as well as its traditional home on PC."

http://www.gamereactor.eu/reviews/399163/Trackmania Turbo/
 
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Looks like fun. PS4 version at 1080p huh. They better get that Xbox One.5 out soon so we have parity. Can't have any more peasants jumping off bridges over pixels. Come on Microsoft.
 
Andy said:
Gamereactor review, 9/10:

"There are plenty of racing fans out there that have waited a long time for this fast-paced arcade racer to make to leap from PC, and now that it has we're pleased to say that it's landed on PS4 and Xbox One in great shape.

"We have always associated Trackmania with simple, clean fun. Maybe not magnificent graphics, but the driving has always provided us with great entertainment. This iteration is no exception, but it looks just so much better, as one might expect with it now appearing on the current generation of consoles as well as its traditional home on PC."

http://www.gamereactor.eu/reviews/399163/Trackmania Turbo/
Click to expand...


Hmmm, I hadn't heard of that site so I looked over their past review scores this gen and they give out high scores very generously. That said, the game has an early 84 overall on Metacritic so maybe I didn't give the beta a fair shake. It's still on my radar for eventual consideration.
 
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