The shooting man's racer.
Sure, big-budget and high-profile releases are great, but sometimes it just feels like everything has gone too far. Innovation is good, but sometimes it's nice to have a game off to the side that almost makes you feel like a kid again. TrackMania Sunrise is an arcade game if I've ever seen one. It has the frenetic, fast pace that shooting fans like myself crave, while having the simplicity and elegance of a high-profile racing game, with the arcade elements that make it so unique. I haven't seen an arcade racer stick so true to the genre and come out so right in many, many years. There is no flashy AI, engrossing storyline, or particular point to this game other than to simply have fun, which is what video games are all about.
It's surprising how minute of an amount of penetration Sunrise has in the United States. French developer Nadeo has turned out a true gem, one that I don't think should be missed by any long time gamer, or new gamers alike. And for the retail price of $30? Sunrise is better than a lot of major title releases, and costs much less. What more could you ask for?
Now, on to the game. Creating tracks is a breeze, and is loads of fun. You can spend hours upon hours making tracks and creating all sorts of crazy jumps and puzzles. Your tracks can be shared online, and there's already an extreme wealth of puzzles online as it is. Multiplayer is quick, addicting, and engaging. It's particularly unique for a racer because you don't actually race. You have an allotted amount of time to do the same circuit as many times as you like, aiming for a lower time each run. The person with the lowest run at the end of the match wins. There are other game modes, but this is definitely the one I have, and will spend the most time on.
Surprisingly, GameSpot's official review gives a rather poor graphics score, which really surprises me. Back when I purchased Sunrise in June, it had some of the best graphics out there, or so I thought. The water effects are great, the cars look awesome, and the foliage can sometimes look fake, but can also look extremely good. With full screen motion blur (Which mind you, brought my GeForce 6800 GT to its knees), it shows something rarely seen. I've noticed that basically all of the good looking Xbox 360 titles use motion blur to add a little extra quality to the game. This game has that, and came out over 7 months ago. The video engine is rather flexible for this being relatively dated. Only recently have widescreen monitors become more common, but this has supported widescreen from day one. I can't tell if it's true widescreen, but it looks extremely good on my widescreen monitor. For those of you gaming on high-definition televisions, widescreen is a must. I have yet to play the game on a large HDTV, but playing on just my 20.1" LCD is awe inspiring enough.
The audio is rather standard, but it's really hard for any game, particularly a racing game, to go above and beyond. It fits the gold standard of supporting EAX, and I had 5.1 channels pumping through my Sound Blaster Audigy 2. The audio configuration setting allows up to 7.1.
One thing you should have before you consider playing is a controller/gamepad with ANALOG control sticks. It's frustrating to play this game with the directional pad. Playing with a D-Pad on a controller is the same story as playing with the directional keyboard buttons. This game is truly designed for an analog controller. You need a wide range of control, and that's what an analog stick offers. I can barely stomach playing using the directional buttons. I play with a Logitech Dual-Action Gamepad. My model has a few calibration problems with the left stick which posed a problem at first, but in the game options you can increase the dead zone, which fixed my problem quite effectively.
This game is bargain bin gold, and nothing less. Nadeo has really cooked themselves up a whopper, even if sales don't reflect it. I highly recommend this game to anyone. It's an enjoying, and rewarding experience, and the multiplayer is practically endless. With it's fast pace and crazy track design, this game is something even the hardened shooter veteran can enjoy. It's nice to take a break from all of the major genres and remember what it was like to be a kid, popping quarter after quarter into the Pizza Hut arcade machines.