If there are three constants in this whacky, ever-evolving insane asylum we call the games industry, it’s that 1) free stuff is awesome; 2) the world needs another Stunts; and 3) seriously, free stuff is awesome! What’s that you say? Freeware spiritual-successor to Stunts, you say?
Welcome to Trackmania Nations Forever, the most pure fun you’ll have had in a racing game for a bloody long time.
Newly available through Steam, this wonderful little title does just about everything you could ever ask for from a racing game. There are of course the straight point to point races and longer circuits; however Trackmania also features obstacle courses and acrobatic tracks, complete with corkscrews, loops, insane jumps, and zeppelins (possibly blimps; I’m no dirigible expert).
The singleplayer game consists of about a hundred tracks separated up into different difficulty levels, with some unlocking when certain requirements are met (like win all silver medals on the previous five tracks, or make something in the track editor). The game follows a time trial format, rather than having multiple cars on the track competing; ghost cars are available, but there is no jostling for position or insane collisions to be found here. The goal is to beat the gold medal time on each track, something that is generally pretty difficult, especially in later races.
The rather awesome thing about Trackmania Nations Forever is the fact that there are both national and worldwide scoreboards which keep track of times, number of medals, and other fun info; it’s pretty cool finally getting that gold you’ve been after and watching your international rank jump 2,000 spots. These scoreboards give the Nations singleplayer a rather multiplayer feel, which is quite nice and acts as an incentive to tackle those extra tough tracks again.
Of course, there is an ACTUAL multiplayer mode on offer here, and it is so stupidly entertaining that you’ll be hard pressed to resist it; imagine 32 cars driving through insane custom created courses in their quest to post the best time on tracks that will probably give you bouts of motion sickness, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of why this rocks so hard.
Yes, you heard that correctly, Trackmania Nations Forever also contains that most wonderful of features from Stunts; the track editor. Here you can let your wildest dreams of inverted road debauchery run wild; best of all, the editor is easy to use (including an easy and advanced mode), and works off a tile-based system that is as powerful as it is slick. Also included is a car painter which is a tad limited in scope, but still fun to use (the Evil Wombatmobile is currently fanging around in all it’s purple-and-golden glory, complete with advertisements on the side!).
Visually the game is surprisingly attractive for a free, lower-end title; sure it may not bring your DX10 behemoth of a graphics card to its knees, but it’s still a pretty game, and scales very well on a variety of systems. The sound effects are fine for what they are; car noises sound like car noises, and the crashes are pretty meaty sounding. There’s music in there, but I didn’t particularly notice it one way or another; at least it’s unobtrusive.
Trackmania Nations Forever is a game that has come completely out of leftfield for me; it’s incredibly fun, surprisingly robust, and, even more surprisingly, completely free. As an advertisement for Nadeo’s other Trackmania titles, Nations is damn impressive; it harkens back to the old days of shareware releases (although this is a far more complete game than most shareware titles ever were) that gave the player more than the five minute demos that are so common these days. After playing Nations and really enjoying the experience, I know that I will be investigating buying the other titles in the series, and that to me says that Nations Forver is a definite winner for Nadeo.
Trackmania Nations Forever is good looking, has unlimited potential, is undeniably fun, and (best of all) is completely free; there is just absolutely no reason whatsoever not to immediately get this game. Finally a worthy successor to Stunts has arrived in the guise of Trackmania, and it kicks some major arse!
Graphics: 7/10 (Surprisingly pretty while still being scalable to a wide variety of systems; it even works on my gimp of a laptop!)
Sound: 5/10 (Nothing stands out, but nothing stands out as being awful either.)
Gameplay: 8/10 (Purely fun, and surprisingly adept at everything from straight racing to completely zany stunt courses; the occasional glitch or unforgiving stage can’t take away from just how entertaining this is)
Longevity: 10/10 (Huge singleplayer, a great multiplayer, and a track editor that is surprisingly powerful ensures that this game will keep you occupied for as long as you want to be; the other games in the series are also cross-compatible, making the game even more versatile.)
Overall: 9/10 (An amazing amount of fun at a price that’s impossible to ignore; this game really does feel like the spiritual successor to the old DOS classic Stunts, and that alone is enough to make me recommend this game. Plus, remember, IT’S FREE!)
-Tim Sweeney
If you’re interested in having a game, add tim_the_corsair in Trackmania; or Tim the Corsair on Steam Friends for that matter.
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