Big 'ol nothankyou.jpg to the whole damaged-cars-drive-like-crap. From what I've seen of this game, that'd be like asking for the player in an FPS to start limping and then finally fall over before dying. Doesn't sound fun at all.
Personally I found the controls too basic. Other than steering all I could control was stop, go, and blow shit up. As far as I could tell the drifting was automatic.
I'll also forgive it for being still in development, but the collision box for the car felt too large.
Also needing improvement, the car-based HUD. Presented beautifully and easy to read, but way too little information.
This game sounds socially irresponsible. Do we really want people driving around blowing up filling stations and downing passenger aircraft? Won't someone please think of the children?
@phicaluk: It's ok, where we're from we have cab drivers who are happy to tackle to the ground anyone who dares to try anything explosive at an airport ;)
I can't imagine much re playability if the "damagability" is staged. People are just going to run an optimum lap that takes advantage of the level damage making it just like any other racer but with a different gimmick.
Devs need to lay off the gimmicks and just focus on solid controls and attention to detail.
@BallPtPenTheif: That could be a serious problem with the game. I am hoping that even though you know where something may happen, you may not have a way to trigger it yourself on that lap and you don't know who else might be able to or when . Plus with a good physics engine it hopefully will have a different pattern of debris each time. I am hoping that there are way more events that can be triggered in a single race. That way you never know which one will be triggered from race to race and which one you trigger will depend on how the race is going. We'll see.
Someone should let Black Rock studios know about Burnout Paradise or Motorstorm: PR. Then again, with Pure it seemed like they had nobody to tell them they overdid the bloom lighting, and that SSX basically did the whole racing + tricks formula better.
This screen looks cool though, hopefully it turns out to be worthwhile.
I didn't really notice since I tend to play a good racer forever, but I guess it has been a while since I got a new one...
I've been playing GT5P, Wipeout HD, Wipeout Pulse, Tourist Trophy, and occasionally Burnout Paradise, Ridge Racer 7, and races in GTA4. I tried Project Torque, but... what bizarro physics. I was drifting around like a madman in a 100hp FF...
I'm looking forward to Split Second, but never tried Pure...
Burnout Paradise is hands down the best, most enjoyable racing game I've ever played. Even getting platinum was fun from beginning to end. Too bad other PS3 developers seem to have forgotten that the game should "fun" while getting those trophies. Go figure.
Wipeout HD suffers from the fact that none of the tracks are new, the AI cheats, barrel rolls performed with a left-right-left or vice versa on the analog stick is...well...damn stupid (great way to kill your racing line in a tight race) and the game just isn't fun at the higher levels.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is still one of the best and it's not even finished. It sucks because...well...it's not even finished.
F-zero GX is STILL better than Wipeout (HD included) because it offers better track design, more tracks, 30 cars on-screen and customization. It should go down as one of the best futuristic racers made. (To be fair, Extreme G2 has better track design than Wipeout.)
MotorStorm/Motorstorm2 two of the best rally games you can buy...
Racing dying? Don't think so. Too many crap racing games in the genre? Of course, but how would that be different than any other genre at any given time?
@Billkwando bought his tickets for Hyde's US tour: If racing is dying, it's because of reviewers and people who levy strikes against a game for being short, meaning that you see most of the content within the first few plays. It's what has killed beat-em ups and shooters, and it's what could easily kill racers as well. Thanks to RPGs and modern adventure fair, the concept of replayability is getting forgotten, replaced by hours of doing mindless repetitive tasks.
There is a big crowd who enjoy serious racing sims, or at least realistic feeling-ish games with licensed vehicles and real-life locations (like Forza, and even TDU). And there's the driving games that are just out there, purely for gaming, like Burnout. Sadly, the game developers haven't found a happy medium in which you can have both serious racing and nonsensical fun. Why can't the give us options so that we can pick different driving physics and selectable environmental effects?
My ideal driving game would be the openness of TDU, the insanely wide range cars of the Gran Turismo, and the replay engine from GRID, and an optional batsh*t mode based on Motorstorm. Is that too much to ask?
...I guess it is. Now days, non-committed developers pump out mediocre driving games every year for marginal profits. Bah.
@Ash69: I am one of those who enjoy real racing sim, not this street racing crap where you can turn win a race without braking. Formula 1: Championship Edition can be a pretty hardcore game. That and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue are pretty tough games because they are real. I feel that the hardcore sim need to be revived...too many bs street racers these days.
@turbofreak: Well. With GT5 and Forza 3 in the pipelines and no release dates on the horizon, we'll have to make do. I have an inkling that not a lot of people on Kotaku are serious driving game enthusiasts, which is perfectly fine.
@turbofreak: I agree, although even the hardcore racing games can still be made accessible to a wide range people with different modes, control schemes and difficulty settings. I think Gran Turismo 5 may manage this upon release. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue was certainly very promising.
I'd also like to see the street racer genre we have today move back towards the genre's roots. The early Need For Speed games were great for the time and some of the older marque specific titles like Porsche Challenge, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge we great fun. I think Test Drive Unlimited tried to do a modern sucessor to these titles, but unfortunately ended up failing in various other ways.
"Burnout fans who've jumped ship due to Burnout Paradise's change in direction."
count me in as one of those. The whole "change the course with triggers" thing sounds really interesting...I'm looking forward to seeing how that one turns out.
This is my stance too. I was a fan of Burnout more than racing games. Most of them get VERY repititive to me. Paradise was probably a good racing games, but thats like selling good ice cream to a lactose intolerant individual.
i havent heard much for this game, and if not for the fact that Pure was better than average, I would cringe at Disney doing a Death Race/Burnout homage. Let's say the game has been put on my watch list.
06/08/09
06/08/09
06/08/09
I'll also forgive it for being still in development, but the collision box for the car felt too large.
Also needing improvement, the car-based HUD. Presented beautifully and easy to read, but way too little information.
05/07/09
05/07/09
05/07/09
05/07/09
05/07/09
Everything but Nintendo consoles and the portables. It's already confirmed.
05/07/09
Devs need to lay off the gimmicks and just focus on solid controls and attention to detail.
05/07/09
04/22/09
This screen looks cool though, hopefully it turns out to be worthwhile.
04/22/09
04/22/09
I've been playing GT5P, Wipeout HD, Wipeout Pulse, Tourist Trophy, and occasionally Burnout Paradise, Ridge Racer 7, and races in GTA4. I tried Project Torque, but... what bizarro physics. I was drifting around like a madman in a 100hp FF...
I'm looking forward to Split Second, but never tried Pure...
04/22/09
Wipeout HD suffers from the fact that none of the tracks are new, the AI cheats, barrel rolls performed with a left-right-left or vice versa on the analog stick is...well...damn stupid (great way to kill your racing line in a tight race) and the game just isn't fun at the higher levels.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is still one of the best and it's not even finished. It sucks because...well...it's not even finished.
F-zero GX is STILL better than Wipeout (HD included) because it offers better track design, more tracks, 30 cars on-screen and customization. It should go down as one of the best futuristic racers made. (To be fair, Extreme G2 has better track design than Wipeout.)
MotorStorm/Motorstorm2 two of the best rally games you can buy...
Racing dying? Don't think so. Too many crap racing games in the genre? Of course, but how would that be different than any other genre at any given time?
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
My ideal driving game would be the openness of TDU, the insanely wide range cars of the Gran Turismo, and the replay engine from GRID, and an optional batsh*t mode based on Motorstorm. Is that too much to ask?
...I guess it is. Now days, non-committed developers pump out mediocre driving games every year for marginal profits. Bah.
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
I'd also like to see the street racer genre we have today move back towards the genre's roots. The early Need For Speed games were great for the time and some of the older marque specific titles like Porsche Challenge, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge we great fun. I think Test Drive Unlimited tried to do a modern sucessor to these titles, but unfortunately ended up failing in various other ways.
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
04/22/09
03/11/09
03/11/09
count me in as one of those. The whole "change the course with triggers" thing sounds really interesting...I'm looking forward to seeing how that one turns out.
03/11/09
I didn't just Jump ship I stopped playing racing Games.
Burnouts new direction in Paradise basically killed my love of the game.
I Loved every burnout up to paradise.
Open world was just too much for "Me" to handle what with the insane speeds and action.
and the Lack of single console multiplayer killed the friend interaction.
03/11/09
This is my stance too. I was a fan of Burnout more than racing games. Most of them get VERY repititive to me. Paradise was probably a good racing games, but thats like selling good ice cream to a lactose intolerant individual.
i havent heard much for this game, and if not for the fact that Pure was better than average, I would cringe at Disney doing a Death Race/Burnout homage. Let's say the game has been put on my watch list.