Trackmania Nations Forever

[Octeris]

Alright, here's the lowdown on this recently released (April 16th) racing game from Nadeo.



First thing's first, this game is FREE from Steam! So there aren't a lot of reasons not to at least give it a try.

Gameplay-wise, it's a hoot. Essentially you are racing against ghosts of 3 set times on each track (these may be downloaded from the Network, though I am not sure). You beat the times for Bronze, Silver, or Gold and get the respective medal. There are a few different types of tracks which each pose different approaches, and difficulties which vary the gameplay further. Multiplayer is also available in which you can race your friends on even more tracks, some which are not available in solo play.

Race - Just as it sounds, get the best time, this is a Sprint (from a starting point to an endpoint).
Endurance - Race, but with a looping track. Get the best total time in a Circuit-style.
Obstacle - The tracks will have quite a few obstacles, as the name implies. These vary from pillars to simply tracks trying to make racing difficult.
Acrobatic - Tracks with jumps, ramps, and sideways racing.

The game includes a replay editor (which you can also use to export to video, though I couldn't get it working right), a track creator, and a car painter. I haven't really had the liberty to try out much of the editing but from what I can tell based off previous versions of the game, it is powerful. There is a pretty solid community behind the series who share tracks and cars.



This is just a rough cut of the intro of an Acrobatic track and a replay of the same track.

Trackmania Demonstration from Octeris on Vimeo.

These pictures and the video don't do this game justice whatsoever, it looks absolutely stunning. For being a free game it is extremely well made and I commend the devs for their work. You truly feel like you are the one burning rubber in that indy car, tearing through the air towards the finish.



Have a good one!

Steam still doesn't pull up Nations Forever with a search. So here's the link to download it. http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=11020

[Rico]

WOW!  That is cool!  And some neat acrobatics and great graphics.  Nice game for FREE!