XGRA is a futuristic racing game by now-dead developer and publisher Acclaim. It was, in fact, one of their later releases before the company closed. As such, it is currently the most recent title in the Extreme-G series which goes back to the early days of the N64.
XGRA, or the Extreme-G Racing Association, is a very fun game. The game is what you get if you take the basic futuristic arcade racing game, remove everything not fun, and emphasize all the fun parts. It does have the flaw of being too short and easy (it won't last long, and you'll almost never fail a race), but even so, it's good enough to be worth playing again. At first it will take a little while to get used to the game system, but within a few races you'll have gotten it down and it becomes simple to do very well. Other than the rare hard race the main challenge is achieving the optional team goal, some of which are quite hard. In the spirit of "making it fun", however, those optional goals are just that: not required. You must do them if you want to unlock all the special bikes, but otherwise you can ignore them if you wish.
The game may seem simplistic, but despite that the fun factor cannot be understated. This game is a huge improvement over Extreme-G 3. It is clear that Acclaim Cheltenham's second effort with the series was vastly improved over its first, and it is quite sad that they won't get a third try. Clearly Acclaim Cheltenham agreed with me over the XG3 fans in that XG3 was flawed, and XGRA is now much more like the older Extreme-G titles. It's still got the graphical style of XG3, but better, but the gameplay is much improved. One addition to the game is customization. You can select a pilot, a team (with that team's bike), and change several ratios to change the top speed and handling of your bike. There are eight pilots and eight teams, each of which uses one of three basic bike models, one of three different handling systems, and one of four basic weapons systems. The different handling types truly feel significantly different, so going from one team to the next really does matter. Also, while the "teams" concept returns from XG3, now the pilots are independant of the teams. You choose a team to go with after each circuit, with better teams being available if you did better (by completing more secondary objectives). The game is organized as if it were a real racing tournament being broadcast on TV, from the menu system layout on. The game intro is like the start of a sports show. Once in the menu system though the layout is admittedly somewhat plain, without the interesting looks of XG2 or XG3's menus, but it works and has enough style to look good enough. The sports TV broadcast theme is well integrated throughout the game. There are announcers before the first race of a circuit, having some banter about the upcoming race. Also, during the introduction to each race, there is a flyover with a track description from the game's main narrator. These introductions to the courses are funny and well done, if very corny. The game doesn't have much of any story other than this, and is lacking a solid ending beyond the satisfaction of winning the final circuit, so it's not perfect, but it does have something as a story/theme, which is more than I can say for many futuristic racers...
One of the most important parts of a racing game is its tracks. This game has 14 tracks in 7 environments, a solid variety. The tracks are great and are very well designed. Like so many features in this game, the improvement from XG3 is huge. These are far removed from XG3's sterile, dissasociating tracks that do not really feel attached to the place they are supposedly set in. You never interacted with the environments and spent the whole time on the narrow tracks driving on that one same road surface. Now there are many surfaces you drive on. It varies from open surface areas to streets on the ground to floating roads like XG3, and even those last though even those are more varied, with parts solid and parts cool looking metal-grate floors. And the width varies, from narrow roads to big open canyons. In addition, the tracks branch and split and twist over themselves. Multiple paths abound. Simply, the track designs are fantastic. The tracks are very well designed and truly feel like they belong in the places they are set in. This is a huge change from the previous game, and its importance to making this game great cannot be understated. In addition, most tracks also have an Extreme Weather variant which makes the track much more challenging. From sandstorms on the Mars tracks to rain in the city or the blinding snow of Vostok, Extreme Weather is awesome, and is done with the game's trademark attention to detail -- for instance, in Vostok when you enter a tunnel the snow stops for an instant, until you emerge from the other side and get blinded by the white again. This is very cool and it affects your play too -- you can actually get lost at times, though the game keeps you on course by not allowing you to drive backwards. Just keep going and you'll get there eventually, though like with all good racing games learning the track helps. XG3 had uniform tracks, always with the same road surface and design. It got very boring very quickly. You never actually interacted with the world and never even drove on the surface! In addition, the game had a grand total of one shortcut (though there were two or three other places with track splits as well). XGRA changes all that, and all for the better. From the beautiful space station with its zero-G twisting corkscrew path through the silence of space to the snows of Vostok, XGRA has fantastic track designs that really draw you in to the game's world. And it doesn't hurt that they're also incredibly fun to race on...
The game's controls work very well. The game is, as advertised, slower than XG3 -- But that's a good thing! XG3 was perhaps a bit too fast for its own good, and the minute decrease in the top speed means that it's a bit easier to control your bike. It's still an incredibly fast game, so nothing was truly lost. The bike controls are vastly different this time around. Bikes feel much heavier and turning is quick -- just like the graphics, a cross between XG2 and XG3. I really like the improvement here. The loss of speed is minimal and the much simplified controls work so much better for this kind of game. Extreme-G isn't F-Zero and never should be F-Zero. It's Extreme-G, and it's about blasting through a track above the speed of sound. You should be worrying about the upcoming turn, not managing your shield meter or stopping at the next pit stop... and that's exactly what you do this time. The game focuses you on the racing. The whole control system is replaced: there is now one brake, instead of two, and it simply slows you down. The shield and weapon energy recharge strips are similarly removed. Instead, your ship automatically regenerates its shields and weapons slowly, or you can use powerups to recharge more quickly if you feel it necessary. This is all done thorugh the new weapons system. In XG3, you bought weapons and switched beween them inrace. It was hard to aim and hit people with most of them and often you just didn't use them. Also everything was on one trigger. Now, you have two triggers, like XG1 and 2. There is a main weapon -- which varies depending on which team you are (the main weapons are a machinegun, lightning gun that bounces, grenade launcher, rockets, etc) -- and a secondary weapon system, which best compares to the system in Gradius. On the top center of the screen is your items bar. The currently selected choice will be highlighted. Power ups are scattered across the courses. Like Gradius, each time you get a powerup it moves to the next box on the list on top of the screen. And like Gradius when you're at the weapon or powerup you want you press select to choose that option. Then, pressing that button again will activate your choice. This system replaces not only the weapon system, but is a major part of your shield and weapon recharge system as well. The secondary weapons include returning items like the Leech (drain shields and speed from the person in front of you), speed boost, mines, and the sideattack weapon, but there are new ones like a nuke bomb, options to fill up your weapons or shields, and the Deathstrike. There is a bit of a balance problem, however. The Deathstrike instantly destroys the CPU vehicle in front of you. It makes killing your opponents easy. It's the last powerup so it takes a few to get to but once you get it you can target someone and have them instantly killed. It makes most all the powerups before it not that useful... and is just too strong. Not that great for a games that is already too easy... however, it is in other ways welcome -- it is actually quite hard to destroy the other racers without it, because the main gun is at the start quite weak and requires time or good aim. The same goes for the other weapons. Before you unlock the Deathstrike, kills actually can be hard to get. With it, the game may be unbalanced, but if unbalanced means fun, I'll take imbalance...
As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the game system has changed dramatically from XG3. Gone are the shield and weapon bars that had to be carefully managed and slowly recharged on infrequent recharge strips you often had to stop on to fully use. Gone is the broken, useless weapon system. Gone are the dual airbrakes and the overly complex controls they brought. In is simplicity and fun. The auto-recharge for weapons and shields removes most of the frusteration about running out of either. The simple powerup-based item system works very well and is easy to use. Having a main gun and a secondary item, with one brake, like XG1 or XG2, returns the game to the style of its predecessors while still being unique (for those games had a very simple 'collect weapon X pickup, then use weapon X pickup, etc' system, while this one is much deeper and more interesting). Also, while a speed accelerator is one of the items, it doesn't speed you up as much as XG3's Boost button did. Instead, Wipeout-style, the tracks are full of boost arrows -- though the number of them puts any Wipeout game to shame. The arrow-filled tracks, speeding you along, are a beautiful sight to look at, not to mention much more fun to race on. Oh yes, and if you go off course you simply get reset back on to it, instead of instantly failing the race like XG3. Much better.
The totality of these changes really changes the dynamic of the game from games like XG3 or F-Zero. By removing the hassle and slowdown of having to stop for shield or weapon recharge, they keep you moving and keep you having fun. Now, you never need to stop and never need to stop having fun. It is true that it makes it harder to kill others, as their shields recharge too, but hit them hard enough fast enough, or simply use a Deathstrike, and they will go down. This takes practice though -- your first time through the game, the hardest secondary missions will probably be the killcount ones. Skill in this will come with time. You just need to learn to hit harder and faster than perhaps you did in XG3 or Wipeout. It works pretty well overall and with effort you can destroy most of the field when you try. Between all of these features, this is a great game you won't soon stop having fun with.
Oh, the structure of the game modes. First, single player is broken into speed classes. In each one you have a set of challenges. Each challenge, or circuit, will have a specific ruleset and number of tracks, and you need to win each one by points on the leaderboard (all first places is thankfully NOT required). The challenges start at 3 tracks long, with 6 challenges, but by the top speed class there is just one, eight tracks long, with the rules changing each time. The rulesets cooincide with the multiplayer mode game types. These include Normal Racing (do the standard number of laps for your class), Warmonger, where there are turrets on the track shooting at you and you get points for kills, Pure Racing (no weapons), Extreme Weather (explained above), Short Race (fewer laps), Endurance (more laps), etc. Unfortunately you can't double these up, so you can't do a extra long rainy Warmonger race, but it adds nice variety anyway. The main goal is winning, though, of course, so you have enough points to beat the challenge and the speedclass. However, there are also secondary objectives, special goals for each mission given to you by your team. These vary from 'Beat Rider X' to 'Beat 4 riders', 'destroy 2 riders', or 'destroy 4 signs for team X' (this one's interesting. You have to shoot and blow up signs that are above the track for the team in question... there will be red markers on them to show they are the ones you must blow up but you'll have to explore all of the many paths of some tracks to find enough signs. :)), and some others. If you succeed, you'll get rewards -- weapons, upgrades for your bike (this is how you get them now, instead of buying them like XG3 -- yes, this means you can't choose what upgrades to get and are simply given them, but it works well, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything), unlocked features... but if you fail? You just won't get them. You are allowed to fail these and progress through the game, unlocking those things will just take longer. This makes the game even easier. I regularly fail. If it made you succeed these, the game would be significantly harder... still though, if you want the best bike you'll have to come back and play the game again and not fail any secondary objectives, so like usual they both make the game fun (by allowing you to beat it without too much trouble) and make it fun (by giving the expert something to do by having to beat them all).
As for multiplayer, it works well. Unfortunately the two-player co-op campaign from XG3 is gone, and is missed, as that mode was one of the best in that game, but the four-player splitscreen (with computers to make a total of eight vehicles) is intact. This mode is simplfied in comparison to the main single player game. You have no choice of drivers and no workshop to tune your bike. Just choose a team and track and race... the pilot option isn't missed as that seems to make a minimal impact, but the customization is a bit unfortunate. Nothing huge though. You get all fourteen tracks, all of the bikes and their disparate looks, handling systems, and weapons, a full field of vehicles, and access to all of the different game modes (Extreme Weather, Warmonger, etc). Find some people who like arcade racing and there's more than enough here to entertain for hours and hours.
Finally, I will address the graphics and sound. The graphics are good. Admittedly it shows its origin as a PS2 port, but even so it looks quite nice and the sheer graphical style of the designs shines. The game, quite simply, looks beautiful and is incredibly stylish to look at. The sound is about as you'd expect, well done without any flaws of note. The music is similar. The game has a fantastic arcade racer shoundtrack. However, there is a flaw here-- for some reason, in addition to the main techno ("Dance") soundtrack, the game has a "Rock" soundtrack too. The rock soundtrack is awful. However, you can disable it and turn on only the Dance option -- this is HIGHLY recommended. Leave the rock off permanantly and you'll have a great time with this game's very good racing game techno soundtrack. No flaws here.
In conclusion, XGRA is a great game. It may be easy (my first time though I beat the game (not all the secondary objectives, just the main game) without ever failing or having to retry a race) at first, but deeper in, and if you try the secondary objectives, its gets respectably hard. Try for all first place finishes with bonus objectives and you've got a serious challenge on your hands. This game is just plain fun to play. It truly is racing with everything fun put in and everything not fun removed, and it is one of the best racing games of this console generation. Highly recommended.
Gameplay: 10/10
Single player: 9/10
Multi player: 9/10
Sound/music: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Total (not an average): 9.5/10. Fantastic game, one of the best racing games of this generation. Anyone who has any interest in arcade racing should not just consider this a must buy but own it already.
KH2 is probably my most anticipated game coming up in the near future, and I've been looking forward to it for a while. Now that it's only about a month away, I thought a thread would be appropriate. We can post...news and stuff.
I'll list the things I know about it so far:
First off, It seems there will be a mixture of old worlds as well as new. It seems that Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah, and Hollow Bastion will return among others, with newcomers such as Mulan, The Lion King, Steamboat Willie (Mickey's 1920 B&W debut), and Pirates of the Caribbean.
While Sora, Donald, and Goofy return, it seems that the first few hours of the game will not feature any of them. Seems the beginning of the game is played as Roxxas, some blonde twerp that, to my knowledge, we don't know too much about right now. My guess is the part of the game with Roxxas will be similar to the Destiny Islands part of KH1, a training area where you can get a feel for the game without jumping right in.
Final Fantasy cameos abound once again. Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, everyone is back. Sephiroth will no longer be simply an optional sideboss. Word has it that he'll be worked into the story this time around, and its been said that he's even tougher than he was in KH1. Damn. I couldn't even beat him at Lv. 75.
In what is, without question, the most awesome thing to happen to video games since sliced bread, Auron of FFX fame will not only make an appearance, and not only use his original voice actor, but will even join your party to battle Hades in the underworld. Excuse me while I change my pants.
The combat system has been overhauled. Now with more strategy than the simple hack-n-slash mechanics of the original. The camera is also going to be a little less finnicky too.
You may have seen screens of "White Heartless". While the Heartless remain, these white beings are actually called Nobodies, and how they fit into the storyline is, to my knowledge, still unknown.
Sora will be able to merge with one or both other party members to take on a new form to fight under. For instance, fusing with Donald and Goofy turns him into Master Form Sora, who weilds two Keyblades!
The Gummi Ship may actually be fun to fly this time around. The flying bits are going to be much faster, the courses more varied, and the enemies will be tougher. They have even promised enemies that take up the whole screen. Can you imagine StarFox-style Gummi Ship boss battles?
Feel free to add, for I know I've forgotten things. Man, I want this game.
Alright, I apologize for all the time this took to publish. I know you're all anxious to find out the big "bomb" as I like to call it. I promised February. I held up to that. All the other promises were delayed. Again, I'm sorry. I've written and re-written this post several times, carefully considering what exactly it should be comprised of. Without futhor rambling, here is the 18th update:
February is here. The unveiling of the Nintendo "Revolution" is only months away. Excited? I am. Because while I know much, I do not know all, nor have I claimed to. I know hardly anything about e3 at this point. Part of me doesn't want to ever know. I want to be just as shocked as you all are.
This post isn't about e3. This post is about a huge component yet to be known about the so-called revolutionary console created by Nintendo. This post is meant to be riddled with hints. I will give you a straight forward response to some of you concerns.
One of the secrets is not holograms. Awhile ago, there was a display that had "virtual water" and fish in it that interacted when stimulated. Unfortunately, this was just a cool display.
One of the secrets is not a built-in microphone in the "Revolution" or touch screen on the controller. There are a few things to learn about the controller yet, but nothing as big as a touch screen or anything like that.
So what are one of the secrets? Well, I'm certainly not going to list all of the undisclosed information. I will expose one of the biggest known secrets, though.
Nintendo On. Everybody remembers it. Some want to believe, others want to forget. Don't worry, anti-Ons, the Nintendo On is 100% fake. What isn't fake, however, is the basic idea presented in that video. The idea to create something so new, something so ahead of its time, something so unreal. The technology displayed in the Nintendo On video would be far too expensive and unexplainable. That said, did you notice some of the peculiar coincidenses that came from the video? Reggie, during e3, told everyone, and I quote, to "prepare to let your right brain run wild." This was no simple coincidense. To think with the right side of your brain is to think creatively. It's to become an iconoclast and defy known structure to do something different.
So what does this all mean? In simple terms, the Nintendo On video partially and unknowingly exposed something Nintendo have been working on creating for the mass market for years: virtual reality. No, not a Virtual Boy. Nothing like that. The VB was primitive in nature. It was a nice idea, but it had too many limitations and issues with comfort. It's been over a decade now. The technology has taken a gigantic leap forward. Yes, Nintendo want to bring you virtual reality.
This, my readers, is the peripheral. Not just any peripheral for the Revolution...THE peripheral. I didn't really say what Nintendo were making exactly. I just told you about a Virtual Revolution. I didn't say how this would work. I didn't mention the hardware behind this. I simply said virtual reality. This is optional VR. But this isn't just a gimmick for a few flagship first party games. No sir, this technology will be used a lot. The best part of all this is that you probably have the wrong idea. How can virtual reality be displayed? Does it require something bulky to put around your face? I don't think so. :-)
And what fun would it be to fully expose this revolution?
Good news and bad news: The bad news is this update is nearly over. The good news is this is a two part update, and the second part will be posted in a few days. The bomb has been dropped, but it hasn't hit ground yet...
Quote:In-Camera Video Processing
The camera itself is capable of not only receiving the information, but also processing it. It's no mean feat in something so small, and it allows the console to run unfettered, as the image processing doesn't suck up all its bandwidth.
Thirty Frames per Second
The camera is capable of capturing 30 frames per second. If you need a standard for comparison, think about this: Television is displayed at 30 frames per second, most video games are displayed at 30 frames per second (though developers are striving to make 60 the norm), and film is captured and displayed at 27 frames per second.
Stills
Like any good video camera, the camera is also capable of taking still images (with 1.3 megapixels of memory) as well. Your faces can be imported into games or accompany your name on leader boards for even more recognition and fame.
Low Light Performance
We gamers love playing in the dark—most gaming environments have very low illumination, and the camera is designed specifically with that in mind
These are just a few bare facts, but they give you an idea of its capabilities. The natural question then becomes, "That's great, but what can I use it for?" Banerjee made it clear that the functionality is there for the camera to offer video chat through next-generation Xbox Live
Video Chat
To further illustrate the point, he mentioned, "It's not just the camera, we have the microphone as well." The microphone plugs directly into the controller and allows your voice to carry through to the recipient's TV or stereo speakers.
The microphone connected to the Xbox 360 Controller allows group chat, unlike the Xbox 360 Headset. Video chat and video messaging with your friends will become an integrated part of the Xbox Live experience.
Gesture Gaming
The specs for the camera are something to behold, and the ability to hold quality video chats with your friends is just plain neat. But what use does it have in gaming? Banerjee responds with a couple of interesting points. "It will open the door for the future of gesture gaming, and it goes hand-in-hand with the software that's developed for it."
In short, the camera offers developers the ability to add elements of gameplay that could directly respond to your own actions. For example, imagine controlling a squad of soldiers by silently gesturing where to go, instead of issuing a voice command and alerting nearby guards.
This ushers in a new generation of fun online motion detection-enabled games where you use your body to control on-screen characters over Xbox Live. The camera and microphone offer the functionality, so now it's up to the game developers to find innovative ways to implement it.
These two accessories offer us a taste of the sort of innovation the next generation of gaming will bring. Now, let's let our imaginations run wild and wait for developers to do the same..
Sounds neat. Too bad Microsoft will probably overcharge us for it.
It's all well and good that this person has decided he can get something else to do his math for him, and has decided that calculating something so simple as HIGH SCHOOL ALGEBRA is just too hard and pointless. However, who does he think makes those calculators and computers? If kids are given half a chance, they won't be learning math at all, and we'll get a nation of dullards. Oh right...
i cant seem to find any places that sell naruto or any anime stuff,
i can find comic book stores but they never have any of the things that i want could anyone give me any web sites or a place in penellice park.:cuss::cuss::cuss::cuss:
Brand new super franchise to be revealed in May [21/02/2006 14:13]
Nintendo will announce a new franchise for Revolution at the annual E3 games show this May, with the goal of creating another big success story like gaming behemoths Zelda, Mario and Nintendogs.
"This year's E3 will be Revolution's coming out party", according to Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing. In an online interview Reggie confirmed that new franchises and "a lot of information" will be uncovered at this year's event.
Reggie also revealed further nuggets of info, confirming that the name Revolution is still a code name, that Nintendo has shared over a thousand Revolution development kits with developers across the world, and that a third version of DS wasn't "an unreasonable assumption".
When questioned about Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Reggie was positive that Nintendo would launch the game for GameCube in 2006, later adding that "GameCube games will only be compatible with GameCube accessories" and that Revolution titles are the only ones that will use the new controller.
With Sony and Microsoft still fighting over who's got the best technology and multimedia support, it looks like Nintendo has been busy with what gaming is all about - the games. May 2006 can't come soon enough.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
You've probably seen it already in the news, but the upcoming Nintendo Power shows the New SMB for release on May 7th. There hasn't been a new 2-D Mario for quite some time, but this one looks like its going to catch up on that. It's a mixture of Mario 64 and Sunshine graphics and art styles with gameplay taken from every Mario game and streamlined in to a completely new experience. What excites me the most is that the ability to grow and the fireflowers are back, not to mention the level of difficulty returning to its roots, leave it to Nintendo to remmind us why we love Mario.
