So I put a fair few hours into this yesterday.
Let's do the GOOD and the BAD. Starting with the BAD.
BAD - The framerate is awful, it seems to target 30FPS but doesn't get there all the time, and uses some weird sort of motion blur effect to try and mask the drops. It really does 'lurch' sometimes and the controls become like wading through treacle when it does, in a way that is genuinely unpleasant. Frankly, with any other game, this would have most likely been a deal breaker.
But.....
GOOD - Holy shitballs the game is frigging awesome!
It pretty much got me from the very first race. The tutorial is simple and effective, and it's quite refreshing to not have to remember a zillion different things you can do, with their associated buttons. It's just standard racing game controls and two extra buttons. I like.
Right from the off it's tough, which I also like. So many racing games seem to work on cruise control for far too long, whereas this game comes right out of the gates swinging. (I also liked this about Dangerous Driving.)
The Power Play mechanic is genius, it sounds like it would be ridiculously over the top and powerful, but in practice there's a real knack to using it effectively, and you need to learn what the various power plays around the track are, as it's very easy to completely whiff with them, or indeed, fuck yourself royally. It's not just a case of 'press the button when the icon flashes'.
The sound and music are great, I actually quite like the music and adjusted the balance a bit so the music stands out more than at the default volume levels. It fits the game rather well IMO.
Graphically it's very impressive, the level of visual fidelity is quite something, although clearly beyond what the 360 is really capable of, if there were a 1080p/60FPS remaster of this available for the XB1X, I'd drop £50 on that sucker in a heartbeat. Some of what the game does is right into sheer 'ZOMG DID YOU JUST FUCKING SEE THAT?' territory. I can't think of any other game where I've had to dodge a 747 crash landing into a runway.
The car handling is solid, nice drift mechanic that feels just right. The cars themselves are pretty good too, they all feel different to use and there's definitely some mileage in matching the car to the event.
So yes, this is a mighty fine game, and one which I am looking forward to firing up again this afternoon whilst Mrs Hearthly and Jnr are up at the in-laws.
And to think it's been sat in my 360 games collection for years, and I've never played it before! (I got the game off a mate who was retiring his 360, he literally just gave his games collection away to people in the office, and I grabbed Split Second, but for shame, I never so much as put the disc in my 360.)
eBay says you can buy a physical copy for £3-£4, I recommend that everyone who owns an XB1, but doesn't own this game, avails themselves of a copy.
(You can also buy it as a backwards compat digital download for £8.99.)
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