Extreme-G
Reviewed by Hans Bergengren
---PAL--- Version
I bought the game with some hesitation, the only information I had was
the headlines in n64hq.com's Review House section (which all were positive)
and a few previews from various web pages. Probe aren't well-known for
producing top-notch games, even if they have had a few hits. What I remember
are a number of really dumb film licenses and other lackluster titles back in
the C64/Amiga heydays.
Well, all my worries were literally BLOWN AWAY the moment I flicked the
power switch. The game is a full-screen PAL implementation like all RARE
games, and also titles like Shadows of the Empire, Hexen and more. Excellent!
My ratings (listed at the end) use a 21-graded scale (zero being absolutely
atrocious, and twenty being the total opposite. Ten in the exact middle of
the scale means *average*, not "crap", as most people seem to think one
means by an average score).
Presentation
Just incredible! After showing some copyright information, the title music
starts playing and the Acclaim logo spins onto the screen, framed by what
looks like smoke. Then the Probe logo follows, a missile (or perhaps it's a
spaceship, I'm not sure! :-) then appears and swings around the logo,
painting a red semi-circle in the process. Very nice!
Then the Magbikes appear on a desert track and sweeps by the camera.
A wipe follows, and the game displays the logo, followed by a series of
shots showing the bikes in action, all of it very slick. I'm especially fond
of the nice and professional video wipes the game employs when switching
scenes.
Hitting START brings up the title screen, which offers four choices. There
is single player racing (practice and time trial racing, plus shoot 'em up
mode), an options screen for adjusting sound/music volumes, language
(English, German, French, Spanish and Italian is available), and if weapons
should be allowed or not, amongst other things. The title screen also
offers the Extreme Contest option (with three "cups", each covering more
races than the previous), and a multiplayer option which I haven't tested
in reality except for a brief moment to check it out, but there are several
modes of play here too.
Again, Probe's polished design can be seen when selecting bikes. They
rotate on-screen above an impressive organic-looking background while
green lines sweep across the bike itself. Yummy!
Gameplay
Some people have called this game Wipeout on wheels. Personally, I don't
know what they have been smoking, the comparison is VERY far-stretched,
Extreme G plays nothing like Wipeout (2097). Sure, they both have
Techno-ish music, weapons picked up from the track, limited shield
power and are set in a futuristic environment, but that's IT as far as
similarities go. They actually are two very different games, and Extreme G
is the clear winner of the two.
Extreme G may very well have been influenced a quite lot from Wipeout,
but this game manages to graciously avoid Wipeout's most glaring faults,
the largest being the sticky walls of the track. Hitting the scenery in Wipeout
would in most cases bring the hovercraft to an almost dead stop, Extreme G
is much more forgiving in this manner, which is really nice, since the
track moves at such a tremendous pace, especially when using the nitro
booster. There are twelve tracks spread across four distinct graphical
styles, and they are all well designed and unique; no track looks, or
plays the same as any other.
The weapon pickups are plentiful, there's a large assortment of missiles,
mines, shields and other armaments ready for use. The only problem is
that it's somewhat difficult to distinguish all those icons, so often you
just pick something up and have no idea what that particular weapon
does. Fortunately, the weapon mounts itself either on top the bike, or
trails it just behind, so it is sometimes possible to recognize a certain
weapon from it's polygonal shape.
Actually, the Magbikes have two kinds of weapons, one primary, that is
standard-issue with every machine, and then the other type described
above. The standard gun has a lot less punch than the pickups, and has
limited ammo as well, although picking up shield recharges when your
shield is fully topped up gives you a few rounds of ammo, or lapping
the course will reload it completely. There are three types of these
guns, usually a bike with a smaller weapon will have a larger ammo
capacity, so it's relatively easy to find a good trade-off between the
two.
Control
Controlling the bikes is initially somewhat tricky and daunting, the
powerslide button has to be employed with care to be able to take
some of the more violent turns without scraping along the edge the
whole time. One soon gets the hang of it however, even though mastery
of the controls probably requires much practise. I really don't want to
know how it plays with a digital D-pad, probably quite awfully. :-) The
joypad layout is simple in theory. I reconfigured it slightly, so the
secondary weapon fire is located on C down, and nitro on C left.
Powerslides are activated with the R button, the gas is on Z and
break on B, that's it.
All that's needed from then on is a deft left thumb and some quick reactions...
The bikes have vastly differing performance, some just stink when
racing on the higher skill levels, they might take turns like a F1 racer,
but when they accelerate like they were loaded with five sacks of
cement, some of them just don't cut it. Others are the total opposite,
and also are very hard to race with. Then there are the Roach and the
Neon bikes... The Neon has a wimpy primary weapon (laser), but is
maxed out in every other respect, the Roach has the excel cannon and
slightly lower performance. I still prefer the Neon of the two, but
it's so incredibly fast it's easy to scrape the walls despite it's
excellent turning ability. Activating Nitro on the "Meltdown" cup...
Now, *that's* *speed*!
Graphics
Astounding, simply astounding! This game MOVES (although the frame
rate is a little sluggish in places, mostly when lots of stuff is exploding
on-screen), and it is so incredibly beautiful at the same time. I was
fearing spartan environments and wimpy weapon effects and find
exactly the opposite! There's a LOT of transparency effects, and the
game pushes an impressive amount of geometry around the screen as well.
Fogging isn't anywhere as bad as I had expected, the "horizon" is no
closer than Wipeout on Playstation/PC, f.ex. On the other hand, the fog
in the game almost completely obscures pop-up, something Wipeout
never managed, even though the tracks twist and turn quite a lot. The
fog works better in this game than in many others on the N64, the
dystopic and futuristic graphics together with the fog gives a direct
impression of badly polluted landscapes. I like it!
I said in my Goldeneye review that it had the best graphics so far on
the N64; I may have been wrong. This game is perhaps even more
impressive! The tracks are very long and winding, many of them even
have multiple paths in some places, something that surprised me quite
a lot the first time I played the game. There's plenty of colored lights
and shading on the tracks, lots of alpha channel effects too. Hardware
bi-linear filtering for the textures and edge antialias on the polygons
is used (of course), and just about everything looks great.
There fortunately is very little glitching in the game, there really
isn't anything that glares the player in the eye except in the multiplayer
battle mode, where there is some texture folding problems. On the other
hand, who has time to look at that while duking it out in a deathmatch?
Sound
Excellent. Not that varied, but then again, why would it have to be?
Engine noise is convincingly futuristic and high-techy, and each bike
has it's own distinctive sound. Weapons sound nice; there's a nice
"plonkk!" sound when releasing a mine behind the bike, and explosions
are bassy and very pleasing to the ear. The title music is somewhat
flat and unconvincing, the in-game music is much more exciting.
Extreme G's thumping soundtracks stir the blood and gets the adrenaline
pumping, the tunes fit each track exactly. I'm very impressed, even
though techno-style music is *not* one of my favorite styles of music.
I am also very impressed by the good use of doppler distortion, hearing
the bikes approach, the whine of their engines lower sharply as they pass.
It is equally exciting to hear the Static Pulse weapon approach with a
roar that gets louder and louder as it comes closer...
Overall
This game is one of the funniest games I've played in ages. The somewhat
sensitive controls fortunately doesn't distract the player from noticing
that this is a Bloody Fun Game! It's got that instant hookability most
simple concepts have (Rock 'n' Roll Racing on the SNES comes
immediately to mind), and coupled with it's glorious visuals, it's a clear
winner. It's multiplayer support seems solid enough, frame rates doesn't
drop too badly (most of the time), and I can't wait until I get a chance to
test it for real.
Rumble pak support is excellent, much better than in Goldeneye. Maybe
not as good as in Star Fox/Lylat Wars, but still very effective. Banging
into things and feeling the pad vibrate actually does improve the game,
even though it doesn't sound like that just by reading about it.
The only thing I worry about is the long-term interest this game may
be able to generate. How fun will it be in a couple of weeks, or months?
We'll just have to see, there are twelve tracks after all, plus some
hidden stuff, and not to forget; the battle mode tracks and multiplayer
options as well. Maybe longevity isn't much of a worry after all...
Ratings: (Min: 0, Max 20)
Playability: 18
Presentation: 17
Graphics: 19
Sound: 16
Music: 16
Overall: 18