Reviewed: September 9, 2001
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Acclaim
Developer
Acclaim Studios Cheltenham
Released: August 22, 2001
Genre: Racing
Players: 2
ESRB: Everyone
7
10
10
7
8.7
Supported Features:
Racing games are some of the most popular of all console games and represent a huge percentage of sales each year. Exploiting our basic desire to travel at excessive speeds, these games can range from Indy Cars to NASCAR stock cars and can put you in the cockpit of a plane, or a boat, or even on a supersonic motorcycle that can break the sound barrier.
XG3 Extreme G Racing puts you on (or rather inside) one of several two-wheeled rocket bikes as you compete against eleven other racers on ten amazing tracks that defy gravity and sometimes even logic. XG3 offers a unique blend of arcade-style action with some underlying strategy as you advance through the various classes earning money to equip your bike with weapons and accessories to make you more competitive.
XG3 is a great arcade racer, but it is hardly an original title. There will be obvious comparisons made to many other games in the genre that it draws from heavily. While playing XG3, the elevated track designs reminded me of the MegaRace games while the power-up system was lifted right from N64's F-Zero. And of course the entire game smacks of a Wipeout-clone. None of this is bad however; as Acclaim has blending all these elements into one of the coolest racers available for the PS2.
Since last October, most PS2 owners have been anxiously awaiting the release of Wipeout Fusion, the latest supersonic hovercraft racing title from Psygnosis. Naturally you will all be wondering how XG3 compares and whether you should spend your $50 now or save it for later. The answer is simple even though you might not like it. Wipeout Fusion isn't out. In fact, aside from a few static game screens from the Japanese version, there is very little I could use to form a comparison, and without seeing Wipeout Fusion in motion I wouldn't dare make such a comparison. And for those of you who are taking the "wait and see" attitude, remember that Wipeout Fusion hasn't even been officially announced for US release.
So with the obvious lack of a Wipeout-style game on the PS2, Acclaim has stepped up and given us XG3, the fastest and most adrenaline-pumping game I've played all year. I'm not ashamed to admit that this game put a blister on my finger during my first session, but not even that could stop me. After a quick stick with a needle and a Band-Aid I was back at the controls. I pause now long enough to write the following review.
XG3 Extreme G Racing offers a large selection of riders and bikes divided into several racing teams. Riders have stats like height, race, age, and blood type that serve no real purpose, while the various bikes have unique color schemes and various designs that also serve no real purpose. All the bikes handle and perform the same in their unmodified state, which begs the obvious question, "Why?" If you are going to take the time to offer a large assortment of vehicles then let's give them stats like top speed, handling, braking, etc. and mix things up a bit.
There are several game modes to choose from. The Arcade mode lets you race any unlocked tracks for the pure fun of it. Naturally you only have one track available when you first start the game so you will need to proceed to the League play immediately to compete and win races to unlock the remaining nine tracks.
League competition is divided up into several classes based on engine size. Each series consists of three races with prize money being awarded based on your finishing position. You are required to earn x-amount of credits before you can advance to the next series. This becomes increasingly difficult as you progress through the game and the speeds get faster and the competition gets better weapons.
Between races you can visit the XG Mall and go shopping for all sorts of upgrades and weapons. These can be as simple as a faster engine or Rocket Launcher, or as advanced as Heat Seeking Missiles or a Rear Turret Cannon. The more powerful, the more expensive, and you will need to use some strategy when it comes to spending your hard-earned winnings.
The races take place on ten amazing tracks that break just about every law of physics. These tracks rise and fall and twist and loop like your worst roller coaster nightmare and at a blistering 60fps I defy you to play this game from the first-person view and not get queasy. Actually, the game is so fast that you are practically forced to play from the default chase view just so you can see far enough ahead to plan your attacks and keep your bike off the walls.
Each race is prefaced with a panoramic fly-through of the course and then you are off. The actual racing is very reminiscent of F-Zero in several ways. For the first part of the first lap you are unable to fire weapons or use your turbo boost. Eventually you will be alerted that these functions are now enabled and that's when the fun starts. As you try to follow the twisting narrow tracks you can use your turbo boost to blaze past the competition in a colorful slipstream burst. Or you can linger back and line-up your opponent as you unleash bullets, rockets, EMP blasts, missiles, or many other powerful weapons.
Unlike other arcade racers that offer combat action, there are no on-track power-ups to clutter the scenery or distract you from the racing action. You take only the weapons you have previously purchased and your ammo is drawn from a shared pool of energy that can be replenished at several purple power-strips located around the track. Combat still plays a secondary part of this game. XG3 is about racing at insane speeds around tracks where you are forced to memorize every curve, loop, and twist.
Your bike also has a Shield that draws its energy from the same source as your turbo boosters. This adds a whole new dimension to the game as you are now faced with several new situations. If you drive recklessly and bounce off the walls your shields will absorb the impact and reduce your available turbo thrust. Conversely, if you turbo boost around the track until your shields are drained then a minor collision with a wall or a lucky shot from an opponent could prematurely end your racing career in a fiery explosion. Learning how to "feather" the turbo button to achieve maximum speed with minimal power drain is an acquired skill and one you must master to win the later races.
There is also a fiendish device called the Leech that you can install on your bike. This device emits a beam that can lock onto another bike and drain its energy while replenishing yours. It's quite effective yet hard to use as you must maintain an approximate speed and distance to the target or the beam will disengage. There are green power-up strips located around the track that will replenish your shield/turbo energy and you can even outfit your bike with an Energy Scoop that will absorb the energy from these strips at an accelerated rate.
XG3 has a few minor flaws when it comes to the overall gameplay. The analog stick is extremely twitchy and there is no way to adjust the sensitivity. Even after about 15 hours of racing I still find myself bouncing off the walls unable to get that smooth steering motion needed when you are racing faster than the speed of sound. There is also a lack of some HUD information that is normally a part of every racer. You have no way of knowing what the track looks like ahead or where your opponents are in relation to you. This could have been solved with a top-view mini-map like the one in Gran Turismo 3. It would have also been nice to have some sort of position indicator above the bikes ahead of you. At speeds over 500mph, sometimes you can't even see a bike until you fly past it or rear-end it.
With only ten courses and no reverse or mirror modes the game gets repetitive rather quickly. Once you qualify for the next engine class you are running the same tracks again only at much faster speeds and facing better-armed opponents. The tracks are huge and will take hours to memorize, but once you do, the game could lose much of its initial appeal.
XG3 really shows off the graphical horsepower of the PS2. The levels are huge and the tracks twist around in some insane designs. The details are amazing. It almost looks as if the designers consulted actual structural engineers when designing these tracks. There are massive pylons, beams, and cables that support the twisting tracks and bridges and give you the illusion that these courses could really exist if somebody would build them.
The various themes for the levels are unique and include levels that twist through skyscrapers in a futuristic Blade Runner city, and a track through a majestic painted desert winding through canyons at speeds that would make the Roadrunner blush. Another track spirals and loops through a chain of tropical islands and then there is my favorite, Oceania, an amazing track suspended over the ocean by cables with an amazing vertical 180 loop that plummets the rider into an clear undersea tunnel at supersonic speeds.
There is absolutely no fogging and you can see every detail on and off the track clear out to the horizon. Oceania has whitecaps that roll across the ocean and waves that crash against the pylon track supports. The skies look great with puffy clouds and rich colors, and if you look hard enough on the island track you can even make out small birds circling above. The trackside detail is amazing and includes animated objects such as windmills and scenery complete with grandstands full of spectators with flashbulbs going off. The city courses are alive with activity including hovercraft zipping around, giant flashing neon signs, sweeping spotlights, and enormous video billboards.
Weather effects such as snow and rain are present on a few of the tracks and while they don't affect the handling of your bike they do present a visual challenge in that visibility is reduced. The designers have even added a droplet effect where the rain/snow hits the camera lens creating a small, distorted circle then streaking across the lens - almost like driving in the rain without your windshield wipers.
There are some other subtle effects such as the blurring heat waves coming off the engines of your bike. The weapon graphics and animation are excellent and the targeting function for the heat-seekers is extremely cool. Of course the hottest effect in the game is when you hit 750mph and break the sound barrier. The peripheral graphics blur then whip past in a sonic boom as all sound disappears except for a small engine hum. It's a great effect, but there are very few tracks that let you achieve, let alone maintain such a speed for more than a few seconds.
My only complaint in the graphics department is that the game looks so good you will want to admire the scenery, but at speeds in excess of 500mph that would be fatal. Unfortunately there is no replay mode, so you are unable to watch your race from any external camera angles. If you let the game "play itself" after you cross the finish line you can watch the computer run a lap, but it's just not the same as a real replay.
XG3 marks the 37th game in my PS2 library and it's the first one to display the Dolby Surround logo. I'm not saying there aren't others out there, but if they do exist they are few and far between and have managed to elude me for almost a year. This is surprising considering that there were many Dolby games for the original PSX system including many first generation titles. On a system that uses DVD as a major selling point you would think we would have more Dolby games.
Anyway, the Dolby Surround is excellent and puts XG3 at the top of my best sounding games list. The sound effects are futuristic and unique and fit the game perfectly ranging from the quite metallic hum of the engines to the rumbling bass of the turbo boost. This is the first PS2 game that has actually caused my 14" sub-woofer to stir.
Ministry of Sound provides five great music tracks that offer a thumping mix of high-energy techno that fits the game perfectly. It triggers an adrenaline rush that puts you in the "zone" as you zip along at supersonic speeds. If you have a Dolby setup you will be amazed at the multi-channel music that literally surrounds you, even in the menus.
XG3 is admittedly a short game by design, but the steep requirements for advancing through the various circuits should keep you playing and replaying for at least 20-30 hours. There are also several methods you can take when playing this game. My first time through I never bought a single weapon other than the Leech. I relied on pure racing and my ability to "steal" opponent energy whenever I could. I plan on mastering the weapons on my next trip through the game.
You can also use the Arcade mode to extend the life of this game a bit and the Time Trial mode allows you to break lap records earning some additional credits for more powerful items. Ultimately, it would have been great to be able to play these tracks in mirror and reverse modes. The courses are so huge that this simple addition would have easily tripled the gameplay value.
XG3 lets two players race against each other in a split-screen vs. mode, or they can join the same team and do the league mode in cooperative play. This is a very nice feature and offers tremendous multiplayer value to the game. There is a whole new set of tactics involved when you are working as a team and you will have to take those tactics into consideration when equipping your bikes.
The game's blazing speed never wavers, even in split-screen mode. Many of the tracks are narrow enough already that the limited view of half the screen doesn't detract from one's ability to play the game.
Despite the twitchy analog control and a few very minor design flaws (omissions) in the HUD, XG3 Extreme G Racing is one of the hottest arcade racing games you can get for your PS2 right now. The huge twisting track designs look like they were ripped from the mind of some demented roller coaster engineer, and the level themes are truly inspired with some amazing locations and environmental graphics.
The stunning visual effects combine with some amazing 3D audio to immerse you in a futuristic racing world where you literally feel like you are breaking the sound barrier. Opponent AI is formidable and will keep you on the edge of your seat and always checking your six. XG3 is pure, intense, racing action that will keep you coming back for more and more.