At E3 I was finally able to get my hands on Deep Silver and Techland’s ATV/Motocross racer nail’d after seeing for the first time just a few months ago. One thing is for certain: it’s a great, fun experience that fans of over-the-top, arcade-style racing games will get a huge kick out of.
The game’s driving mechanics aren’t overly realistic or demanding. There are only three buttons for the controls that are used for brake/reverse, accelerate, and turbo boosting. There is no drifting or spinning-out in nail’d, so players won’t have to worry about taking a turn too sharply and getting left behind in the dust. The game’s steering is also very sharp and extremely crucial during jumps if you don’t want to crash land frequently.
Turbo boosting is essential if you want to win a race, as speed is one of the biggest elements of the game. The turbo boosting will be managed by a meter on the HUD and can be refilled by landing big jumps, going through flaming rings mid-jump, or landing on the heads of competitors. Boosting can bail a frequent crasher out if used wisely, making the game not just about jumping, and steering skill, but speed and resource management as well.
Another thing that the game has going for it is the massive number of paths that players can take in each map to complete laps. The paths will weave, split, and intersect with one another throughout the level and it’s up to the player to determine which ones are the fastest or easiest for them to handle. They will range from simple split racing paths to more entertaining routes like riding on top of a train, onto billboards, over higher jumps, and more. It adds a great deal of variety and diversity that you don’t see very often in racing games and helps to make nail’d very unique.
As mentioned earlier, crashing will happened a lot during jumps in the game if you’re not careful. Crashing will cause your bike or ATV to explode and be placed back on the track a few seconds later. Players can also explode and crash if an opponent lands on them or slams into their side hard enough, which will make the game a lot of fun to play with friends in multiplayer.
After finally getting to play the game myself, nail’d is definitely looking and feeling like a great racing game in the making. Its emphasis on speed and fun, putting realism on the backburner, is helping to make the game a standout in the genre. Keep your eyes open for nail’d when it releases on November 15 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
