GENRE
	Racing
	DEVELOPER
	Probe
	PUBLISHER
	Acclaim
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	CONTROLLER PAK
	yes
	RUMBLE PAK
	yes
	RAM PAK
	no
	BUY NOW AT

Can it be Acclaim has yet another Nintendo 64 hit on their hands? After Turok (the best selling 3rd party title to date for Nintendo 64) comes Extreme-G, and extreme it is! It's a beautiful, fast, futuristic, and sometimes insane racer!

visuals

They're grrrrreat!, and what you'd come to expect from Acclaim after Turok. The hardware effects used when firing secondary weapons are especially impressive. The game moves very very fast, and keeps up a good framerate even with multiple bikes on screen at once. However, there is some slowdown if several bikes are shooting their secondary weapons on screen at once, but it's minor and does not hamper gameplay. Fog, ugh, I don't like it, but it's there. Nowhere as thick or as close as Turok's was, but it's there none the less. I'd have to say the only drawback the fog causes is that you can't always see the environment when going through large loops, which is a shame as it would have made them even more disorienting. (Maybe that's a good thing too as the game can make you feel sick with its dramatic drops and loops.)

audio

Ahhhh... the sound. It rules! The music is what you would expect, dance-techno-rave with pumping beats. The quality is very good too. If you like the sound and music in Tetrisphere you will not be disappointed with the sound in Extreme-G. I love the noise the cyber bikes make as they hum along the track. Actually, I've been hearing it now even when I'm not playing the game, strange indeed.... :-) The explosions boom, the laser makes a laser noise, etc. Probe did a good job on focusing the stereo aspects. You can clearly hear a bike approaching your rear as well as which side it's going to pass you on!

gameplay

The object of the game is simple; win the race at all costs. You control futuristic cyber cycles complete with on board weapons that glide along a magnetic metallic track at amazing speeds. The track designers must have loved roller coasters as many of the tacks have loops, corkscrews, dramatic straight down drops, and completely vertical climbs. To add more variety and replay value the designers have added some great shortcuts to each track as well. There is a total of four worlds, each with three tracks.

The "main" game is the Extreme Contest, which pits you against seven CPU controlled cyber bikes in three tournaments; Atomic, Critical Mass, and Meltdown. You can play each of these tournaments in one of three difficulty levels. This mode can also be played by two players! Just have player two press their Start button when you're selecting your cyber bike, and only one player has to qualify in each race to move to the next track. Atomic consists of four tracks, the first three are from the first world, and the fourth is the first track from the second world. Here's where it gets confusing. None of the tracks are named, and when you get to Critical Mass (the 2nd tournament of the Extreme Contest) you race eight tracks. Four tracks from Atomic and four new ones, but they are mixed together. Meaning, you don't race the same four over again, then the new four. I believe you race the first track or two from Atomic, then a new track, then the third track from Atomic, then a few more new ones, etc. [Even Nintendo Power pg. 15 October issue got it wrong trying to number the tracks.] Meltdown is very much the same except it's all twelve tracks. When I first started playing I had no idea which tracks were new and which I had raced. Very confusing as you have no idea how many tracks are left to race in the tournament. If the tracks were named so that you knew which track you were on and how many were left to go in the tournament it would have made things much clearer. This is a minor quibble as it doesn't change the gameplay itself.

There is a variety of cyber bikes you can choose to race with. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and their own on board weapon. Powerups can be picked up any time during the race and used by any cyber bike, including the CPU controlled bikes. Speaking of powerups, the myriad of weapons provided by Extreme-G will bring utter joy to your sado-masochistic heart. How about some heat seeking missiles, or mortar rockets, or reverse rockets, or any of three different types of mines? Ever hear of a Wally Warp? Drop the first piece which is the exit to the warp, then drop the second piece which is the entrance warp. When a bike hits the entrance warp, BAM, their transported to the exit that you dropped first, very cool indeed! And you thought the lighting bolts in Mario Kart 64 were fun, try Extreme-G's. The only thing I wish they had added was the ability to eliminate your opponents when their shields were depleted. I also would have liked some speech calling out the powerups, but I guess that would make it too similar to Wipeout. I can hear it now.... "Contender Eliminated" in that robotic voice. Again, this is a minor gripe and does not have a any impact on the game itself. Probe did however make sure the enemy AI didn't cheat, but they are ruthless! They unload their weapons on you without a second thought of recourse. The difficulty of this game increases quite a bit after the Novice level which should delight players that thought Mario Kart was far too easy.

Extreme-G has three camera angles as well. First-person, and two behind the bike cameras. Their first person mode screen tilts so dramatically that it's not easy to control and can make you feel motion sick. Who knows, in a few weeks it may be the only mode I play. But, unlike Top Gear Rally the behind the bike camera is default for each race.

Control NOTE:

The game controls great, and those of you that didn't care with for the PSX's Wipeout controls will be happy that Extreme-G handles differently. The analog stick is used to control the bike, duh. The down C button is a turbo boost (you get three per track). The right C is used to launch the secondary weapon (or powerup). The A button is used to fire your primary on board weapon, B is the break, and the Z trigger is the gas. Don't like that setup? Well thank Probe for allowing you to setup the controls any way you'd like! The game handles well once you get used to it. The walls don't stop you dead in your tracks either, but they do slow you down. Hey, you can even climb the walls on portions of the track to pass your opponents! The only track that you can actually fall off of (other that bridge outs) is the "Lava Level", which is just so darn pretty. You even race on the ceiling in that level as the entire track flips.

multiplayer

One of my favorite parts of the game. You can play two players vs. the CPU! You can play two, three, or four players in the following modes: Head to Head, Capture the Flag (pick up the most flags), or Battle (ala Mario Kart). You have an option to split the screen horizontally or vertically in two player mode. In three player mode player one gets 1/2 the screen and player 2 and 3 get 1/4. Although I'm not sure that's very fair.

overall

In case my above gushing was misleading I'll spell it out for you. I love this game! It's not perfect, and the fog can get you down, just any Londoner. ;-) You can tell that time and hard work went into this game, and it has paid off. You must at a minimum rent this game to see if suites your taste. It may not be for everyone, especially those that prefer slower "master the track" type games.

Yes, another racer, but this one is different enough to stand out in what can be called a slew of racing games on or coming to the Nintendo 64. What other racer has this kind of speed, with 12+ tracks that loop, and great weaponry that always makes fun in four player mode.

Put that helmet on and get ready burn rubber, er, uh, scrape metal that is!

9.0/10