PSX5Central
Playstation/Gaming Discussions => PS3 Discussion => Topic started by: ##RaCeR## on August 25, 2002, 11:49:58 PM
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OK, I bought the game from EB early this morning, and it has been pouring rain for weeks here in Brisbane, so for the whole day nearly I have been playing this game.
ONE WORD - Dissapointing
Firstly, the graphics. Now, I maybe a graphics whore, but lets get one thing straight, this is one ugly game. I have honestly no idea as to why the game is so ugly and don\'t know why Codemasters couldn\'t deliver the same looking game as did their videos and pics. Because this is a touring style game, the locations are all real, meaning that the are all quite bland. That being said, I don\'t know why there is so much slowdown and popup - I mean, there really isn\'t that much trackside detail other then accouple of trees and maybe a windmill or two. Sure, there are 14 cars + on screen at once, but c\'mon, each car would only be around 10 000 polygons. There also really isn\'t much reflection mapping on the cars either, and shadows have no effect on cars ie, if you drive under a tree, your car is not shadowed. There is also terrible aliasing throughout. The only plus side maybe would be that the cars have been modeled very well.
Gameplay is a mixed bag. Its certainly not what I expected. Its a mix between GT and Burnout. There is ridiculous fish tails around every corner, and once on grass, your brakes have no effect, you just slide all the way to the end of the track, which can be along way, depending on the track. The other cars tend to have AI that goes from being completely ruthless to downright stupid. Cars will not use their brakes and just slam into what ever they car, making it more Destruction Derby then World Touring Cars. The damage model is very good though, yet its also very unrealistic. Crash into a wall at 200 MPH, and brake a fog light. Crash into a car at 50 MPH and your car almosts flips and loses the bonnet.
The story really, really sux, but its good to see some inovation in the area, particularly in the racing genre. I feel that this game started off with a really dodgy dev team, and was probably handed over when Codemasters realised the hype surrounded by it. Its a shame that the game feels really, really rushed, because it could have been completely awesome.
If the XBOX version can iron out all the above problems (lets say it basically needs to be re-written) then I might have another stab at it then.
As for the PS2 version, well, it could have been so much better. We know that the PS2 can deliver amazing graphics and gameplay, ala GT3 and GTC, so its not so much an issue over the PS2 capabilities rather dev experience.
Thankfully for me, this game is going back to EB for a full refund. Even the back of the box depicts XBOX dev shots.
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Interesting comments Racer. I guess this is a game that you either love or hate, personally I love it. The gameplay is solid and very challenging.
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Thankfully for me, this game is going back to EB for a full refund. Even the back of the box depicts XBOX dev shots.
Codemaster\'s should be wiped off the earth for this.
Oh and thanks for the preview...
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I dunno why u guys have so much hope on this. I remember the PC/PSX TOCA game as being ugly as crap as well.