my first impression was "this is too hard!" but once i got the hang of it, it fell right into "this is just right!", so kudos for the game's "balance" and, really, what should be considered a short learning curve that went from "frustrating" to "enjoyable" in just a few races.
i do have some points of concern:
after i did get a handle on the physics, the first 2 tracks were quite fun. i DO wish the races were more than 2 laps (i would like to see an option for more, atleast. 3-5 would have been nice).
after working my way through the first 2 tracks (and with the help of restarting on the same track after losing), i found myself at track 3. surprisingly, i won the race on the first go and i felt little accomplishment. it wasn't the same challenge that the previous 2 tracks were, for some reason. from the start of the race, i never had to contend with the other racers (and i wondered, did they get locked in a traffic jam or did the AI lock up?). just no competition...
so, on to track 4 and the exact same result: i won the race on the first try. replays showed my competitors well behind and with little hope of catching up as long as i didn't land my cart in the water or nose-to-nose with an ambitious spectator.
then, roll the credits and it felt very much like a demo; a taste of what the game
could be. i believe longer races (as mentioned before) and a couple more tracks (plus a re-evaluation of tracks 3 and 4... i don't know what really happened. did my stellar performances in the first 2 tracks leave my competitors disheartened?
) could make for top-notch entertainment.
technically, the game is solid, and the premise is very much "fun". i saw much attention to detail and the "extras" (namely, the spectators and the camera work) left me submersed in
your world, which is much appreciated (side note on the submersion: the first time i saw the spectator running away from me coming out of that turn, i thought it was running along side me, getting ready to hand me a water bottle, a la the Tour de France. i saw no water bottle coming, so i just ran it over.
)
Virtual Nomad
AMD XP 1800+ (~1.6 Ghz) / 1.5 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 8700LE 128 MB / Windows XP
