Just as Xbox 360 players will be able to race as their avatar in Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, those who buy the Wii version will get the chance to race as their Mii. The “All-Star” move is the same as was shown last month, and involves a bunch of friends coming to your rescue and lifting the car off the track. New images below:
When Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing releases early next year, the cast of Sega characters in the Xbox 360 version will be backed up by a few others. Most notably, Rare’s Banjo & Kazooie will appear (as a single playable duo) in their Nuts & Bolts vehicle, probably ready to blast all of the small fries like Tails out of the way.
Additionally, you’ll also be able to play as one of Rare’s other creations – your Xbox Live avatar. Once you’re on the circuit in the thoughtfully named “Avacar”, you can call in the avatars of your Live friends to help if you fall too far behind.
Today’s Blur news is both good and bad. The bad is that Activision is clearing the decks to make way for the release of Modern Warfare 2 and as a result, Blur will now not go on sale until early 2010. The good news is that there’s now some boxart to look at, and it’s very pretty (and very Wipeout) indeed. Full image after the jump. Continue Reading »
I’m always a little hesitant to feature mobile phone games here, primarily because there are very few which are effective at making driving on a tiny handset fun. DrawRace is different – it’s a driving game which is perfectly suited to the device on which it appears, iPhone.
If you’ve had the chance to play Firemint’s Flight Control, you’ll know how much fun it is to guide planes around by simply drawing their route. The concept is the same in DrawRace, with the exception that it’s a driving game and it looks very much the part. All you have to do is draw the line which you want your car to follow using your finger and the game does the rest.
With more than 20 tracks, it’s incredible that they’re selling it for just 99¢/59p. I’m hoping that it becomes popular, because it has the potential to teach people a thing or two about racing lines. Local multiplayer is supported and there are online leaderboards as well. The game is available on iTunes now.
FUEL has rolled on to the weigh bridge this week and it’s interesting to see a variety of different opinions and scores from games industry critics. The game lets you explore a massive open world (said to be the biggest ever produced) and compete in a variety of dirt racing events in many different types of off-road vehicle.
Gamespot (60%) – “Fuel is an ambitious game that tries to do a lot, but it doesn’t deliver where it counts. Perhaps if the driving were more exciting, checking out the world would be a bit more interesting. Fuel’s driving model isn’t bad–it’s just unspectacular. Some players will embrace Fuel’s overall ambition. But if you’re interested in racing–and there’s a good chance you are–then you’ll likely be disappointed by the game’s shortcomings.”
Eurogamer (50%) – “Of FUEL’s many promises, too many are either broken or undermined by its handling, layouts, logic or interface shortcuts. There’s no denying Asobo’s achievement in building such a daring, beautiful landscape on such a vast scale, but the core of any good racing game is falling in love with its vehicles, the things you can do with them, and the places you can take them, and by that measure FUEL is distinctly average.”
EDGE Magazine (80%) – “Packed with diversions, Asobo understands what makes its off-road wonderland a thrill to tour , and even if some of the fundamental stuff has been sacrificed to the creation of this huge world , Fuel still makes it across the finish line on a far-from-empty tank.”
Konami have released images of the four cars included in the new downloadable car pack for GTI Club+. It’s quite strange seeing these modern vehicles in the classic game environment, but I think it works very well. Check out the Vokswagen, Fiat, Peugeot and Mini below:
Today’s PlayStation Store update brought good news for owners of GTI Club+ as the first downloadable car pack launched for the game. For £2.39/€2.99 you get a BMW Mini Cooper, Volkswagen Polo GTi, Abarth (Fiat) 500 and Peugeot 207 GT.
GameTrailers headed down to the Sega booth at E3 and managed to get one of the developers of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing to show them some gameplay and explain what’s going on. The visuals are looking very impressive and I’m a big fan of the Sonic-style crabs on the beach. I wonder if they fire little flashing circles from their claws?
Aside from the two Gran Turismo announcements, Sony also revealed one further racing title at E3. Modnation Racers is a cartoon-style kart racer with impressive track editing tools and online multiplayer modes.
The game is being promoted alongside Sony’s platform game LittleBigPlanet and it bears many similarities to that title. Players can create their own character and skin their own vehicles, but most significantly they can create their own tracks and share them online with others. The demonstration given on stage was particularly impressive – the team created an alpine figure of 8 circuit complete wtih a variety of trackside objects and environmental features in a little over five minutes. The landscaping tools are reminiscent of those in SimCity with the ability to raise and lower water and land positions.
There are a variety of racing options, including single player, two player split screen and online multiplayer for up to 10 people. The game is scheduled for release on disc (not PlayStation Network) in 2010. The first screenshots and the E3 gameplay demonstration appear below:
Apart from Forza Motorsport 3, Microsoft also used its E3 press event to reveal one other racing game – Joy Ride. This cartoon-style racer will be free to play and includes Xbox 360 avatar support. Details on gameplay are scant at the moment, but the developer intends to generate revenue by selling additional tracks and cars to players. The game will be available on Xbox Live Arcade this winter, and to sweeten the deal track purchases can also be shared among friends. The first screenshots are below:
The first true competitor to Mario Kart for a very long time is almost here and it could only come from one place - SEGA. See screenshots, movies and details »
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