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Dom Robinson reviews
Extreme G3 Racingfor Sony Playstation 2
Acclaim
- Price: £39.99
- Players: 1-2
Wipeout on motorbikes is the best way to describe Extreme G3and the reason the game became one of the highlights of the week at DVDfeverwas not because the game’s lead designer, Nick Harper, was one of mybest friends at school but it’s the fact that it brings shit-hot arcaderacing action to the PS2. If this had been a launch title, it would have crappedall over the competition.
While we wait for Sony to release the third in their popular air-skimmingseries with Wipeout Fusion, Acclaim have beaten them to the startinggrid with a race against eleven other bikers. You can play the usual arcademode or enter into the league which is where the the competition begins asyou race on three tracks through each league, scoring 25,000 points per leaguein order to graduate to the next one. Points make prizes too and you canupgrade your vehicle as the game progresses.
I hit upon what I thought was a problem at first since I didn’t do quite aswell as I could on my first goes at the first two races in the initial league,meaning I had to come second out of twelve bikers in race three. I very nearlymanaged it, but just as I was about to overtake the guy in second place, Icrossed the finish line. Grrrr! Then I went back, played the first two racesagain, doing much better and thus only had to come fourth in the last onewhich, after all that practice, was a piece of cake. Be prepared for lots ofpractice to begin with though.
Both the graphics and sound are first-rate – something which, so far, onlysnowboarding sim SSXhas achieved. Yes, screenshots in magazines looked nice and colourful, but itwas when I saw footage of the tracks in motion on Cybernet (broadcaston ITV and the Sci-Fi Channel) after several cans that was a real mindfuck.
It’s fast and furious fun with no pop-up and the only time it slows down isbecause you’ve crashed into the track sides. Practice makes perfect thoughand you’ll learn where to make sharp turns and by how much, as well as using theleft and right shoulder buttons to turn more steadily.
While we also wait for the first PS2 game to be released entirely in DolbyDigital 5.1, the Dolby Surround sound in Extreme G3 is fantastic. Theengines of the bikes roar at full power, weapons can be fired fore and aftand it’s topped off with many other ambient noises in keeping with the game.Whereas a DD5.1 soundtrack would provide specific cues of where the bikersare behind you as they creep up, there are arrows at the bottom of the screento indicate where they are. You can use the rear-view monitor to confirm theirposition, but not for too long because you need to concentrate on where you’regoing too!
One tip to try, particularly when starting a race is to nudge the other bikers,but it depends on where you hit them as that will decide whether it pushes them or you just slightly behind, or right far back in the pack. Also, it’ssomething slightly different to note that when firing at an opponent, the shotsdon’t “stick” to the track like in Wipeout, so you need to be accurate.
What are you still doing reading this review? Go and buy it!
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.