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Space-age racing games have come a long way since F-Zero on SNES (And probably a few more before that), progressing through legendary franchises such as Wipeout, F-Zero, and Extreme G. This offering comes as the next instalment in the latter. Yes, XGRA (Xtreme G Racing Association) is, if you couldn't already tell, the sequel to XG3, itself the sequel to the sequel to Extreme G. Confused? Don't worry; it's about to get a lot more confusing, and a lot faster, too. So gear up, strap yourself in, and grip your controller until you get blisters. XGRA wants you...
Racing games have never had much of a story, and XGRA is no exception. It chooses to play its minimalist story out in the Season mode, where you compete in, well, a season. You're given a hell of a lot of options, too. First of all, there's your class. You start off in Invitation Class, where you can choose one bike, which has the bare minimum specifications, and will just about let you crawl around the course. Complete all the races set in the Invitation class, and you'll move on to the next class, in this case, Subsonic. Here, your choice and specification of bikes/teams improves slightly, and you gain access to your weapon systems. Heh.
And so on and so forth. You continue to complete races, progressing through the classes, unlocking more superior bikes, and more powerful weaponry. With each class you unlock, you have the option to change team. This can often work to your advantage, obviously, as some teams have more 'adequate' bikes than others, and you can only find your perfect team by defining your own racing style. For example, some people will prefer to speed around, powersliding and boosting their way ahead of the competition, whereas others will prefer a slower, more manageable machine, with enough firepower to reduce the grid to an easier number. Sounds complex, but it all comes pretty naturally, once you get to grips with it.
Your choice in team can also be influenced by the contracts they set for you. Contracts are 'extra' missions for you to complete in each race, which, upon completion, will unlock 'bonuses', like concept art for characters, weaponry, levels, etc, or stronger weaponry, sturdier armour, and whatnot. These contracts are usually something manageable, like breaking a race or lap record, or reaching a certain top speed, but sometimes they stretch to something far more sinister, like 'taking out' a member of an opposing team, or even a specific rider. These contracts make every race that little bit more on edge, because even if you come first in your race, you can never be quite sure you've fully excelled as far as you can, until you see that race time which, of course, isn't displayed until the end.
Graphically, this is one of the finest pieces of, well, art that I have seen in a long time, especially for a racing game. With most levels being a futuristic industrial type setting, the cold, hard steel blended with the gaudy flashiness of the announcers, sponsors, fans, and whatnot, is so well done, it could make you cry in appreciation.
Pieces of adversaries flying around you, explosions on every side of you, towering mountains trapping you into the narrowest of spaces with at least 4 other riders, and mind bending transparent tunnels hurtling you through space. They're all seamlessly beautiful, and give you that slight tinge of impossible realism that's so important in a game of this type. The only disappointment, really, is that due to the nature of the game, it all goes by rather quickly, and you don't get enough time to truly appreciate the span of the graphics.
The audio element of this game is inspired, and something I'd definitely like to see repeated in future titles from everyone. When creating your player profile right at the start, you're asked to choose your music genre. You have 3 choices. Rock, Dance, or both. Granted, it's a limited selection and also, some of the rock stuff sounds more like dance than some of the dance stuff, but it's a step in the right direction. It's original, and I love originality.
The auxiliary audio's on spot, too. Engine noises, weapon sounds, the satisfying explosions when you crash, even little commentary and in-race pep talks from your team manager, all sounding superb and well integrated to add to the experience.
Then of course, if you get bored of blowing the AI up on your own, you can blow them up with a friend. 2-player multiplayer on this game is as fun as you’d expect it to be, where you and your friend can work together to take out the other players, or just go all out on them and each other. As you’d expect, it makes for some pretty interesting arguments. There really is very little else to say about the multiplayer other than it’s basically every other race, with one of the riders being someone you know.
But how does it all play? How does it FEEL? Well, it feels like what I imagine driving a car down a pair of train tracks without a steering wheel at a very fast pace feels like – You know you’ll make it to the end ok, but it isn’t gonna look pretty and it’ll get pretty uncomfortable.
And this is the game’s biggest failing. You’re never really in CONTROL of your vehicle. It’s more like you’re just guiding it roughly around the track, because you ARE going to hit a wall or three, so don’t expect it to look impressive. (Also, default controls are fiddly, using R1 to accelerate, so make sure to check that out if you’re used to more traditional methods of control.) For many, this can detract from the interactivity of the game, and to some it’ll seem like you’re just watching your bike rocket round the track, without doing a lot about it.
But really, it simulates rocketing through outer space in a high-powered semi-hovering cycle pretty well, and you’re never overwhelmed by the speed, because even if you’re not exactly controlling the action, you’re at least always guiding it. Weapons work incredibly well, with each green sphere you pick up upgrading you to the next level, until you get the final, most powerful weapon, which blows up... quite a bit.
Conclusion:
So overall, then. It’s one hell of an enjoyable ride; everything you’d expect from an Extreme G title. High octane, high adrenaline, high speed action with danger and skill thrown in for good luck, all amount to the most finely polished and well-worked futuristic racer for a long, long time. Superb.
