Be Excellent To Each Other

Well, I know there has been some discussion of this in the XBLA thread (despite not being an XBLA game), but I think it deserves its own thread.

Trousers et al, haven't fallen in love with the demo - but I found it really good.

It's kinda what an arcade racing fan would wish Forza and the like would play like. Big heavy cars crashing around, but before it gets super tedious a bus explodes and a plane crashes over your head and then your in first and scrape round a corner and wooo!

I've far too many games to play at the moment but it's been put on the must by list.

It's also extremely pretty and BLOODY COLOURFUL - putting all those HDTV games must be brown fools to a foolish fool indeed.

Go download it.

wasn't even looking at this but your write-up there makes it sound a bit good.

i'll check the demo out soon.

Isn't similar racer-meets-Mario-Kart game Blur supposed to be better though? At least based on the demos?

Dunno, I didn't realise it had a demo up. Thanks for the heads up. The more games like this the better.

Talking of which the disdain for Pure really gets to me.

It's a short game - ever moment of which is spectacular, so somehow that isn't as good as a grindy bore fest like Forza where you have to play for ten hours before you get any fun fast cars.

Forza Peeps: Obviously I'm exaggerating my point - there is room for Forza and arcade racers - but it boggles my mind when reviewers act like they need the same features. I wouldn't even call them the same genre.

I got bored of Pure before even the demo had ended. Not because it's not like Forza (else I wouldn't have liked the Burnout series, for instance) but because I didn't find it particulary engaging.

I think you may be missing the point of Forza somehow, since you seem to think it grindy.

I'm using Forza as a generic scape goat for the series racing genre - and I don't have a leg to stand on.

I just can't comprehend people enjoy a game where you have to break.

Especially when it is All. The. Time.

The difference between arcade racers and 'sim' type racers are exaggerated, once you get good at either they are actually very similar, it's just that arcade titles throw in some fireworks and explosions to keep people entertained whilst they learn, but these fade into the background after a while. It's all the same, though, seeing how fast you can get around. Personally I find stringing together a fast lap on a sim type game, judging braking points and balancing the car with the throttle all the way round to be far more exciting and pulse quickening than any amount of stuff collapsing around the place.

I liked Pure a lot... and I keep meaning to go back to it. I think this could be the time.

I tried the Split Second demo the other day too and found it a little too close to Burnout for my liking. I agree with all the explosions and stuff though, I thought that bit was ace and VERY satisfying when you time an explosion right to take out 2 cars at once!

I'm not saying it's a bad game, not by a long shot.. but I do think it'll come down in price very quickly and when it does, I shall snap it up.

I had another crack at the demo yesterday and warmed to it more - bumper cam helps.

The handling still feels off though - dropping big fuck off stuff in front of you then giving you a car that handles like a boat seems a bit mean spirited.

I've a feeling I'll end up picking it up, however, as I'm craving some arcade racing since Ridge Racer 7 got to the annoying super cheaty AI Nitrous stages.

I like Split/Second. From the demo it is a rather good shallow racing game. If the tracks are varied and all silly good fun, then the game will obviously be enjoyable.

I really liked Pure, but it just failed to keep me interested. I hit a brick wall on difficulty, and just didn't like the idea of playing it lots to get better. It showed a lot of promise, but I think the first few races were the most fun, and it just got a little samey.

Lave, you should try the demo of Dirt 2 to see a game that is more like normal racing that you might enjoy.

It is just a normal boring racing game, but it is fun times too.

Turn off the HUD, get in the cockpit view, and just have fun driving around with other rally cars, splashing in puddles, clipping into the other racers, making jumps and swervy corners are all brilliant.

Flatout was really good, but Pure was rubbish. I like the PGR games, but not that much. Hmmm, I might just give both of them a miss.

I am still really not sure about blur to be honest.

Also, Split/Second is a far far better looking game.

If you like neither driving or racing in the real world, then simulations of such things probably aren't going to appeal. If you do, then a cheaper, more convenient version probably would. And unsurprisingly, in the real world, you need to brake unless you're on wide oval circuits. (and I find such racing not interesting to watch.)

On the flip side, I find the lack of challenge in getting past someone in most arcade racers fairly uninspiring.

It's a grower.

I've had a few more goes at it now and got used to the handling. It still feels a bit like driving through treacle with too much oversteer but it's manageable and you can make the car go pretty much wherever you want with better throttle management during the drifts.

Once you get the handling nailed you can start to enjoy the racing which is a shitload of fun. The alternate routes and smashing buses into the side of people plus the rewards for building up your power bar are such that it becomes tactical as well - drop an exploding crate on person in front or accumulate power then make an entire building explode into three cars in front of you. Somehow them doing it to you never feels unfair and there is just a large enough window of opportunity for you to escape if you're lucky / drive well.

I'm 95% sure of picking this up now.

I want this as the adverts make it look awesome, and if it wasn't then they wouldn't have spent all that money advertising it, now, would they?

If you've played the demo and didn't think much of it, try to play it a few more times. When the multiple routes open up and stuff, it's a very different game. I thought it was shite on my first go, then had a couple more goes and found it to be quite the ace.

I have this.

I went into Gamestation for a trade-a-thon to get my hands on Read Dead Redemption but it turns out they haven't got any stock in. With credit burning a hole in my pocket I picked up Split/Second for £33 and it's currently installing onto the 360's HDD. I still have enough for RDR so that's just a matter of waiting out the stock shortage.

I shall report back in full once I have had a proper session with it.

I was considering Blur as well but this put me off somewhat.

Two Episodes out of Twelve in and it’s beaming awesome straight out of the TV into my brain.

The Powerplay mechanics make for a very different kind of racer compared to the likes of Burnout. Once you’ve gained enough power to launch a Powerplay you have to time it right in order to gain maximum effect and also not take yourself out. Sometimes this involves smashing a bus into the person trying to take you on the outside and hoping you can get away before you get caught in the action. Other times you might change the course ahead and in doing so destroy three opponents who were on that particular bit of course. You can also trigger shortcuts which are only active for a limited amount of time. Getting a triple wreck as the AI drivers smash into your now closed shortcut makes cackle stifling very difficult. You can also weigh up the odds as you approach an AI opened shortcut, gambling on making it through or not risking it and taking the long route round – there’s cheevos for using such a shortcut and also smashing into it as it closes.

The handling takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of dragging the back end round the tighter corners it makes a hell of a lot of sense and keeps you on your toes.
The courses so far are absolutely amazing – not only are they a treat to look at but the pyrotechnics and constant explosions never obscure your route and you feel like you are travelling at a remarkable speed, especially when zipping through the more claustrophobic sections. Burnout Revenge (and even Paradise to some extent) suffered from not really being able to tell where the hell you were supposed to be going. This manages to throw planes, ships, towers and bridges at you yet manages to do that in a fair fashion, giving you a decent window of opportunity and spritely enough handling to let you escape as the carnage descends around you.

It’s not an easy game – even in just the first couple of episodes I’ve needed to do multiple retries but every time I have restarted I have just been pleased to be able to try out different things on the course and see what other shortcuts and route changes I can fashion. I never feel cheated and as my knowledge of the courses increases then so do my placings. It may wear out as familiarity breeds contempt but so far so very good indeed

Only niggle so far is it doesn’t seem to remember your last view – I keep having it to switch it to bumper cam which is hardly game breaking but surely a simple thing to implement?

If it wasn't for Galaxy 2 this would be the next game I pick up. Hell still might be.

Was playing Pure again recently. Still love it. Black Rock Studies are probably second only to Sumo Digital when it comes to arcade racers. Oh and the excite truck people.

A holy trinity.

I passed the halfway point last night and there's still a hell of a lot of game to chew on.

The different game modes offer up some entertaining diversions with only Detonator proving to be a bit limp. It reminds me of the dreaded Beat the Bomb runs in Flatout:UC in that you've no chance at all first time through and have to learn where all the scripted actions take place to pre-empt accordingly. I've won them all so far but not without a clutch of retries I can see how they could cause frustration for a fair few folk.

The leaderboards seem broken as well at the moment but I assume that's a quick fix.

It's laid out very similar to Pure in structure and you always want to have a quick a go on the next track/car/game mode which then leads to you wanting to open the bonus round and then getting a clean sweep of 1st places and then you open the next episode and have a quick look at that and then the whole cycle starts again.

Single player complete - 1st place in all races and all but 1 of the SP cheevos done.

It sucked me in and made me shout "bullshit" far less often than a game with this mechanic should. Easily A+ with the caveat that I can see it annoying a lot of people as it's quite unforgiving at times. Me I like a challenge and I felt it was nearly always fair - once you get your strategy right and get the hang of the drifting then you can win races - it just might take you a few retries to work it out.

I had a quick go on the multiplayer yesterday and it's a very different kettle of fish playing real folk rather than the AI and you need to rethink how you approach each track and think on the fly a lot more.

I've also ordered Blur for no money through 's rather lovely super secret sub thingy so I can make a comparison between the two.

I have this. The drifting reminds me of Rage Racer, which I approve of muchly. I've only done the intro so far, but it looks promising.

BOOM

Hah, this is ace. Tense, quick and ridiculously eventful. There are some great moments to be had, and even getting pipped at the post isn't as infuriating as it should be.

Well, I STOLE IT.

I pre ordered with Amazon forever ago. From there the release date slipped and slipped (about four times) before it finally just said "we will notify you when this product is available". Hmm. I did some poking around and it seems the U.S got it and so did Spain. Odd.

So I downloaded it and now I can see why. I did some poking around and apparently this is a lousy console port. We're talking GTAIV proportions here. It's capped at 30FPS so no matter what you do or how much muscle you throw at it that won't change. It's also bugged to kingdom come with terrible slowdown and glitches. It has no PC settings to speak of and is a pile of slop.

But I still love it.

Yes I know that sounds hard to believe but with plenty of muscle thrown at it (which I have) and the resolution dropped to 1440x900 I managed to get it capping at 30 frames. I'm still suffering the stuttering I heard about but nothing I can't handle (if anything it gives me a chance to think as it usually happens during a power play when a bulldozer is being dangled over an opponent). It's also not fast either really, being that it caps at 30FPS. I mean Dirt 2 hurtled along so fast I dared to blink. But as much as it sounds like I am complaining I'm not. I actually like the slowed down pace. Weird eh?

I could also sit here and go on and on and on about the horrific rubber banding. But the game has been designed that way. If you pay close attention it says that in order to achieve a split second you must win a race by less than a second. So it's obvious there's going to be plenty of place swapping and all of that. Now I actually didn't mind Mario Kart 64 for that, it kept it fun til the last minute. I mean let's face it, if you went to a friend's house and he won every time you'd have either chinned him or gotten very bored.(the owner of the console that is). I mean sure it kinda takes some of the skill away but it does keep it nice and even on the playing field.

And that's what this game seems to do well. I've only done three races but I did win all three, but by the time I crossed the finish line I was a nervous wreck. That feeling of being thumped from behind is actually rather fun, it really gets the blood flowing

I agree with what's been said about timing your power plays right, but again I think this adds to the game given that it's rubber banded. It gives you the opportunity to actually learn an advantage. And I also like how you can change routes at any given time and open up a complete new part to learn. I fucked up and did so on my last lap once and it changed everything. I felt comfortably in front but after changing the track I took a wrong turn and was back into 4th. Time to get learning !

Over all then (even though it's a complete mess on the PC) I like this one. I can see fun times ahead.

Maxed.

Nothing overly grindy about any of the achievements and the Beat the Team ones were pure old school adrenalin rushes trying to shave milliseconds off your laptimes. Only you also have to dodge falling buildings and shit.

I got called a "cheating motherfucker" earlier by a very nice American gentleman for having the temerity to be able to drive better than him. More bezzies buy this please. Ta.

Will be buying soon as I can. But after Mario can't justify another game for yonks. Well that and it will go unplayed anyhow.

£25 in store at Gamestation on both formats.

Motherfucker.

£23 now from Game

Bought for £20 from GAME.

Played the first 2 episodes (aka 10 levels).

Wonderful. Beautiful. Sublime.

If it wasn't for SMG2 this would be my game of the year.

Meeeeeoooooooooooowwwww.

*Parked bus explodes into a rival*

Meeeeeoooooooooooowwwww.

An air traffic control building falls on the track causing the route to switch.

Meeeeeoooooooooooowwwww.

An Airbus tries to fit through your window screen.

Fucking great.

Yeah... Absolutely brilliant game.

I can’t believe how good it actually is. It’s like I’m playing a Burnout game that I’d never known existed! The graphics are nice too. The music is shit.

A guy took first place from me so I dropped a building on him.

I'm guessing from this that you've never played it before? What a treat!

It's the game I bring my 360 out of retirement for on an annual basis. Just undiluted fun.

I still maintain Pure was absolute dross.

Was Pure something involving quad bikes and you had to keep getting fuel?

You might be mixing up Pure and er…Fuel, there.

I liked Sled Storm. Does anyone else remember Sled Storm? The original one, not the one with SSX characters in.

Is that the one with the circuit based vehicle combat and all neon looking vehicles and effects?

You might be mixing up Fuel and er…Blur, there.

I enjoyed this until the solid brick wall difficulty spike at race 10(?) ish.

But I haven't brought a racquet.

I never finished it either.

Now you mention it, I never finished it either.

I still got a hell of a lot out of it in multiplayer though.

Is it the one with the single player campaign about infiltrating criminal groups with protagonist Alex Taylor played by Troy Baker?

Yes

There’s something annoying about these later events that’s pissing me off. The pack bunches up so frickin tightly throughout a race so one wrong move and you go from first to last in seconds.

That’s fine at the beginning of a race but when you’re around the corner from the finish line in first and someone drops a cruise liner on your bonnet you’re fucked.

It’s the Mario Kart of Burnout racers.

Yep

Has this just turned up on Gold or something?