Reviewed By: Justin Dorey
Trackmania United is number four in the Trackmania series, an online arcade racer for the PC kept alive by a relatively small but dedicated community, particularly in continental Europe. The game, which is currently only available to buy online and download, is an amalgamation of the previous incarnations but with a graphical and front end tune-up (Even this reviewer's monsterous PC was slowing down on the highest-spec graphics, that's an achievement!). It 'can' be played offline, but it's essentially a community game, so buying the game without having access to an internet connection would be missing the point. The concept is quite unique amongst racing games - there are no collisions between players and your opponents as they take the form of ghost cars. Unlike in head to head racing where you have a small degree of control over your opponent depending on your driving style, you simply race for times, for the fastest lap like an elaborate qualifying session - but without the Schumacher-esque 'mishaps'. If you crash, it's your own fault. The only limiting factor is your own ability, or lack thereof.
One of the most impressive design features is that if you do screw up, you can instantly reset yourself back to the start line with a single push of the delete key (Which I promise will be worn through by the time you're done with the game. You'll screw up a lot - everybody does.) There's no point wasting time completing a crappy lap. It's about the pursuit of perfection, the Holy Grail that is the 'perfect drive'. It's about fine-tuning technique and control, choosing the right line, nailing those corners, holding the perfect drift and positioning yourself perfectly with every jump, loop de loop and wall ride. (yes - you heard me correctly!).
You see, Trackmania isn't just about racing down straights and round bends. A typical track might have you driving at 800mph along a vertical wall, through loops and jumps, across turbo boosts and a finishing with a 360 degree reverse roll with half-twist in the pike position. But whilst it certainly isn't a simulation of any real life sport (None of the cars are licensed, for example - although eagle-eyed players will note similarities between these cars and real-life models), the cars handle perfectly predictably, sliding when you corner with too much speed, losing speed if you don't nail a jump, responding believably to gravity, with added arcade touches like a small degree of mid-air control and the Gran Turismo style wall-bouncing. You'll spend your time trying to identify where you are losing speed compared with your opponents. 'How on earth did he manage to beat me by 0.21s? I must be braking too much on the approach to that tight left'. Sometimes a track won't even let you make a jump unless you're on a near-perfect drive.
There are literally thousands of tracks created by the online populous, filling the entire spectrum of quality. Creating a track is simple using the marvelous in-game editor, creating a great track is another thing altogether, requiring patience and imagination in large quantities. There are some first class track designers in the community creating some truly inspired tracks, that when driven well provide an exhilarating satisfaction that's rare in the gaming world. The key is to find a few servers you like with a good range of quality tracks (look for the ones that are usually pretty full, particularly in France and Germany). There are some tracks which have taken on legendary status, and it's nice when these are dropped into a playlist occasionally. A quick search for TrackMania on Youtube or a visit to the videos section on the official site will show you just how active - and creative - the community surrounding this series is. These guys are passionate; they've built thousands of tracks, made countless car models, clocked amazing times on all the courses, endlessly debated the merits of the game, and of course, created some of the coolest stunt videos of all time. Be warned though, most good tracks are pretty unforgiving, and there are equally as many newbies complaining in the chat channel. I'd never really had to practice a racing game in my life before I played Trackmania.
The offline race mode certainly isn't lacking in content, with a huge array of courses and difficulty levels. The mode is divided into themed settings - Stadium, Island, Desert, Rally, Bay, Coast and Snow, with each offering far more than just a new coat of paint. Each setting comes with its own unique vehicle, and hence its own style of design to suit that vehicle. For instance, you'll start off with relatively slow, moderately manoeuvrable Indy cars in the Stadium courses. Here you'll find wide, winding courses that mix it up a little, switching between dirt and concrete surfaces. Move on to Island, however, and the style of racing changes completely. Now you're behind the wheel of a super fast racing car, and suddenly the Stadium shenanigans feel completely sedate. You're blazing along at twice the speed, whipping around corners, catching mammoth air and zooming through loop de loops. Progress to the Desert courses and the tone changes yet again. To the Southern American sound of a steel slide guitar, you'll find yourself in a box of a car that threatens to roll every time you take a corner, let alone sharply, and the courses are narrow with lots of tight, right angle turns and controlled jumps.
Of course, the Race mode action doesn't stop there. Even if you've somehow clocked gold times on all the courses, you can always add more to the collection. See that "Get A New Challenge" button at the bottom of screen? Of course you can't, but just imagine for a moment that you can (work with me people). Simply hit that and the game connects to the server and picks a user-created map for you to download. You can't choose your map, but the selection isn't entirely random, instead being based on meta data. Once you've raced the course you're given the option to rate it on difficulty and design, which then gets added to all the other opinions in the database, theoretically meaning you'll only ever get popular maps. Plus, the editor is powerful enough that the best user-created courses can rival the maps that ship with the game. Almost limitless content baby!
Sadly, Trackmania won't appeal to those more interested in Endurance racing, as the courses aren't particularly long, lasting usually between 20 seconds for the sprints and 5 minutes or so for the more complicated tracks. It certainly won't cater for people whose tastes lie in finding 'The Real Driving Simulator', if you fit into this category, perhaps you're better off finding a Playstation 2 and grabbing a cheap copy of Gran Turismo 4. However, if you're looking to break away from the norm and try something that feels responsive, yet with an arcade approach that will make even complete beginners look good, I would highly reccomend giving Trackmania a go. There are plenty of aspects of this game which I've not covered, as there truly is a plethora of activities one can persue within the game, and I've not even touched on car customisation (Intuitive, Fast and when I say 'customisation' I mean TOTAL customisation), in-game currency (which takes the form of 'coppers', which suggests to me either vast amounts of loose change or law-enforcement slave-trading) and the puzzle modes, which would take another page and a half to describe in full detail. So I suggest getting the game and having a look for yourself, it's all good!
I've always taken the rather arrogant view that I'm a more than competent gamer, certainly in my social circle and the few online games I play (Having been on a couple of real track days myself, with my ARDS test around the corner - I can safely say that Trackmania won't offer the same level of adrenaline by a longshot, but that's not the point, is it?). Trackmania humbled me to begin with, it took a fair while before I was fully in tune with the nuances of the game, and there still remains plenty of players above my level - the online ranking system always lets you know where you stand, be it locally, nationally or internationally. But that's the great thing about this game, if you're anything like me and you hate knowing there are people out there better than you - it makes you want to improve, to prove to yourself that you can match them. It's a rigorous test of gaming skill, nerve and concentration, but on the occasions that you best these opponents, you will feel truly proud of yourself. Are you up to the challenge?
And of course, if you play to win, you'll have a game controller. Using the keyboard is an exercise in futility!
Graphics: 9/10Gameplay: 8/10Audio: 8/10Lifespan: 8/10
Justin's Overall Verdict: 8.5 / 10
- Buy It!- Rent It!- Leave Well Alone!
