E3 (#E3) Reflection – Nail’d

ATV racing games haven’t been getting much play in my gaming history. I would wager that the average player doesn’t reach for ATV racers at all. So when I was confronted with having to play one at E3 due to the kung-fu treachery set up by Bacon-chan and Aubrey (the South Peak PR) I felt as if I was being punished for crimes I may have committed in a past life. So out of duty I sat with the rep and started up a race.

To be absolutely fair to the Nail’d team the build wasn’t done so there was some graphical unpleasantness but the core gameplay seemed solid. I kind of stereotyped the game and started asking about tricks figuring that the game would rely on you doing some tricks for speed boosts since it was on ATV and those could be labeled extreme, I mean X-treme. However, the rep told me that the game was more focused on you landing your jump properly and that there were tricks but they weren’t a huge portion of the game.

What I’ve noticed is that there is a feeling of speed that I kinda haven’t felt since Wipeout. Many of the regular racing games I have been playing don’t have a feeling of speed, they are just heavily technical. A race may offer multiple paths and various hazards. Do I want to try to beat the train or take a longer path cause it’s safer, was one of the questions I found myself asking as I completed a lap. It’s an interesting element to have in a racer. There seemed to be a bit of an issue with the racer itself being extremely prone to exploding. I don’t know but I’m pretty sure if I was going 200 mph hitting a bush would not send me into a fiery wreck. I was promised that would be toned down a bit in the final release.

From what I’m told the soundtrack will feature some good stuff. So here’s hoping there’s a few gems in there (Dirt had the Futureheads). Oh and as for the race, I came in first.