-Phantasy Star Online 2 for PC announced, 2011 (no details yet, but hopefully it'll be good... the original is a true classic!): http://www.segabits.com/?p=4330
Yes, Speed Racer for the Wii is a pretty good futuristic racing game. It was connected to the recent (and actually pretty good) CG movie of the same name, but doesn't use its, or the animes', plot. Instead this is just a straightforward racing game with no real story. Fine with me, that's all a racing game like this needs.
The game is fun to play, fast, has a great visual style and nice (if not great technically) graphics. It has standard, but mostly good (more on that later) motion-based controls. However, it's kind of short, has only five environments with three (plus reverse) track variants each, and is a very simplistic game. The game just does not have much depth. Fun, yes, but depth, no. Also, there are almost no new ideas -- almost everything in this game comes from F-Zero, or Mario Kart, or Extreme-G, or Wipeout, etc, etc.
The biggest flaw is the AI. In order to keep the game exciting, the developers made it so that the computers are almost always all in a tight group, battling eachother. Getting destroyed resets you on the track with only a delay. Computer cheat ridiculously to catch up and pass you. You can never, ever get ahead and get a lead, the whole pack will be right on your tail at all times. I hate this Mario Kart style catchup/"always on your back"-based AI, it has no place in a futuristic racing game.
This is actually kind of odd, because design-wise this is a simple, easy to pick up, and straightforward game. The designers obviously were trying to hit a mass market appeal thing here, because the game has so much less depth and complexity to its design than any F-Zero, Wipeout, or Extreme-G game, to name just a few... but on the other hand, the same AI they put in to make the game exciting also makes it very annoying at times. This is definitely a double-edged sword, for any market.
As for depth though, the only element of memorization in this game is learning boost strip locations. That is important, but it doesn't even begin to compare to F-Zero or Wipeout, and yes, it looks simplistic compared to XGRA too. This is a flaw, I like some depth in these games and miss it here. It's fun to play anyway, but it would be better with depth. I sometimes have felt that I shouldn't be liking the game because of how simplistic it is, but it's so much fun that I can't help it... :)
So yes, I do like the game, but at times the AI can really be aggravating. It's fortunate that the game looks so nice and is so simple and easy (and fun) to play, because otherwise I'd have quit in frustration already I think... but the high speeds, flashy visual design, and fun gameplay keep me coming back even so. I really do like the art design, very bright and colorful tracks in a way futuristic racing games rarely try to do, reasonably good techno music that keeps the tempo up (there isn't enough of it so it repeats a lot, but it is decently good), a good variety of vehicles... I've been playing quite a bit of this game since getting it, and am over two thirds of the way through already -- it's not that long. It's definitely fun while it lasts, though!
The game has good controls, too, for the most part -- I like the motion controls for racing games, they work well. The F-Zero X/GX-inspired attacks also work great with motion controls -- there's a slam (move the Wiimote sideways quickly, as you'd expect), a spin (turn it...), and a jump (move it up). The first two of those obviously come straight from F-Zero -- this game is good, but has very few new ideas, or depth for that matter. The only problem with the controls is when you get stopped against a wall. It definitely has the feel that the game is designed for you always to be moving forward, and doesn't really know what to do when you're stopped against a wall and need to turn back into the race. It takes an incredibly long time to turn, the speed of the turn is just agonizingly slow. If not for the catchup, one stop of this type would finish you for the race... but saying "this one bad design decision makes this other bad design decision a little less annoying" isn't exactly strong praise. :) Still, as long as you are going forward, the controls work well, and the motion-based attacks are great fun.
The AI issues are always present, for instance when you're in one of those races where the computer keeps running up behind you and attacking you from the rear at the last second, dropping you back ten places with no hope but starting the entire eight minute race over again... I do not like the Endurance races, too long for a game like this where luck matters at least as much as skill. Other than that though, I quite like it. Oh, and there are only five environments to race in; there are three track variants in each location, with reverse to double it (or is it mirror?), though, so it's not so bad, and all the environments, as I said, look great. Bright, shiny colors, bright oranges and greens and blues all over... it's got a great look to it.
So yeah, definitely flawed, but a good game. It's fast, pretty, and fun to play. Overall, as a definite fan of the genre, I like it. I wish that they'd put in more normal AI and maybe had a little more depth, but oh well... at least it is mostly fun.
There's also a PS2 version of the game, which came out months after the Wii one and evidently changed some stuff. Maybe I'll check it out, if I find it for cheap.
Can you dig it? OK, check this: some online games are free to play, but they trick you into wasting hundred of dollars buying pointless baubles that make your character look like a faerie princess or something. But some of them are actually pretty good! And some are really awful.
Here's some that I played:
Need for Speed World
It combines all the thrills of fast-paced NFS racing action with RPG grinding and F2P cash grabs. For a few bucks, your level can advance faster! Fun! But the game itself is actually pretty solid, if you're just interested in single player racing and the always-good pursuit mode. The graphics are pretty good too, almost as good as a retail title.
Definitely worth playing.
Lord of the Rings Online
Went F2P just within the past few days, so I decided to jump in and check it out. Basically, this is your go-to F2P MMO now. It's solidly built, focuses more on PvE and solo'ing, and just overall looks and feels like a real game. I haven't played as much of this as some of the others, but I've seen enough to know that this is some good stuff.
Definitely worth playing.
Dungeons & Dragons Online
This is Turbine's previous MMO before LOTRO, so you can expect a similar level of quality. It plays out in much of the same way as it successor and injects more story into the game than most other F2P games. With LOTRO F2P now, it's kind of hard to really recommend it though.
Worth playing.
Monster Forest
An anime-inspired frolic through bright colors and non-threatening situations. On the other hand, it's surprisingly fun and has a nice, detailed art style. It's also got turn-based combat, pet collecting, farming, and other little additions that manage to set it apart from the crowded pack. The real downside is that it's painfully easy, with leads to boredom after a while.
Might be worth playing.
Aika Online
A bit of a standard WoW knockoff with all your favorite fantasy tropes, but it does have nice, speedy combat and detailed characters. Story's pretty thin and it features a decent amount of grinding, but it's certainly not all bad. I've played it for a few hours and I have enjoyed it so far.
Worth playing.
Shaiya
WoW knockoff big time, might be an even worse offender in this regard than Aika Online, but that impression could come more from my disdain for the drab art style. Either way, it's a lot like Aika Online, but less fun. It's reasonably well built, but...
Might be worth playing.
Mabinogi
Another anime-inspired romp through non-threatening situations. It's a bit more deep in the skill system than Monster Forest and there's enough going on to make things interesting. But the combat is painfully slow and awkward and the dungeons are bland and lifeless.
Might be worth playing.
LaTale
A 2D side-scrolling MMO with cutesy anime visuals and lots and lots of costumes and hair to spend your hard earned American dollars on to fund Asian gold-farming sweatshops. You filthy traitor. It's kind of fun and the graphics are nice to look at, but the combat and movement feel slow and awkward, when they should be really fluid.
Might be worth playing [but you should probably just download Maple Story].
Ranking:
1. Lord of the Rings Online
2. Need for Speed World
3. Dungeons & Dragons Online
4. Aika Online
5. Monster Forest
6. Mabinogi
7. Shaiya
8. LaTale
All of these games are free to download and free to play [provided that you don't enter the game's official store].
Wow... Sure, it doesn't look as good as this same game using "normal" methods, but this is intended as a proof of concept. It won't be something that can be done right now, they're using 4 servers linked together, but think of 5 years from now and we may see GPU/CPU combo chips that can do this themselves, stacking up with other rendering tricks as people learn how to properly make use of this method. The point is just how amazing what it does can do it. I'm in awe over those reflections, but really that's EXACTLY the only way that surface CAN respond to light reflection, which is all ray-tracing is. It's also extremely processor intensive, hence why it's taken so long to get to this point.
