Extreme G

Summary

Genre: Racing
Number of players: 1-4
Rumble Pak: Yes
Controller Pak: Yes
Expansion Pak: Not used

Review

Extreme G was the first high speed racer out for the N64 - and what's more it boasted extremely fast gameplay, as well as very good grapics - something F-Zero X couldn't manage. However, as we all know, a truly great game doesn't rely on graphics, but on the gameplay. So how does Extreme G fare?


Gameplay: The bikes you ride on are all super-fast machines, which makes for some very impressive races, and generally some pretty close ones too. As well as racing action, there's also a variety of weapons you can pick up along the race to make life just that little bit more difficult for your opponents. Also, you have a built in weapon too, which you can use to slow your opponent down slightly, allowing you to overtake.

This is all well and good, and does actually add something to the game, however it doesn't actually get help with the most annoying fault the game has.

It's easily possible to win a race merely by having your bike face in more or less the right direction, meaning that races are more down to luck than skill. While this is all well and good for players like Maverik, for the rest of us it does tend to get slightly annoying and very boring. The real problem is the shields, which mean when you hit a wall instead of crashing, you instead lose some of your shield, and bounce right off.While this is quite a good idea in terms of the fact that it keeps the race going, your shields are generally so high that throughout the course of the race even if you hit practically every wall you wouldn't lose all your power, and hence no matter how erratically you drive, you won't crash.

Also, the speed of the game is a little too fast. Sure, the whole idea behind the game was to have a fast-paced racing game, but you can take these things a bit too far, you know. For the most part, things happen so quickly you often don't know what you're doing.


Challenge: Some of the later races are pretty tough, most likely because the computer-controlled bikes can see what they're doing, and rarely bump against a wall. It will take you a fair while to complete it, but the gameplay is such that you won't really want to be playing it for that long.


Graphics: Decent. They're actually pretty good I think, but you move too fast to be able to tell unfortunately. The bikes look pretty nice though, and every set of tracks has a different feel to it. It's just a shame you can't enjoy the graphics a bit more during the races.


Sounds: Nothing special, it has to be said. Fairly stock - standard throughout. No commentary, weapons don't sound as good as they could have, and the music is bland at best.


Multiplayer: Up to four players can test their luck by competing against each other head to head to head to head. There's rarely slowdown, but when it does happen it's actually more of a blessing than an annoyance. Multiplay is very similar to single player play, which is more of less what you'd expect of the races.

Also present is a battle mode which is very bad. Fairly small arenas with bikes zipping around at high speeds mean that winning is more of a question of who hits walls least than who hits each other most. A bit of a shame, particularly when compared to Mario Kart's superb battle mode.


Summing up: A bit of a let down, outdone in basically every respect by F-Zero X. Too bad.


Gamesmark: 65%


Reviewer: Tangycheese