It was nice, hopping into a server and being in the top third, finishing first or second in many matches. I downloaded a custom car (A volvo 240) to drive around it. And for a while I had the “just one more” rush that I haven’t felt in a while.

And then today, I was reminded why I left.

Most of the matches are time events, who can finish the course the fastest. Players have a set amount of time to get a good time on the track. The game becomes less about racing and more about precision driving, matches become bad enough so that one ends up restarting dozens of times because they didn’t get the first jump or turn right. If you continue then you’ll be behind on every other checkpoint, and end up with a time that won’t raise your rank, so it’s a wasted run. It makes more sense to just restart every time if the run isn’t perfect, since it’ll be wasted time. During this time you see other players go faster than you, and your rank decreases, and there’s nothing you can do because you can’t hit the first jump JUST right in order to get a PERFECT run. It’s frustrating.

And, sometimes player created levels are just cruel to players. Dead ends, blind turn jumps, and other awful design decisions make the game harder to play. One one map there was a spot that was impassible unless players drove along the edge of the wall enough to tilt the car onto the higher platform. One had to force their way through. Not every map is this way, but it’s apparent every once in a while.

On the good side, there are some brilliantly made levels that are always a treat to drive on. Some with custom themes. These are, unfortunately, few and far between.

I think I’ll keep playing Trackmania, as I have no racing game with such an active online community that is also free. I dabbled in sim racing with Race 07, but I found the online experience lacking. One of the problems with Race 07 was that people would quit if they were losing, leading me to be the last one on the track along with the drivers who were perfect. Another problem is that it’s three goddamn years old and nobody plays it.

I also have Forza racing, which I should put more time into. I spend all my time on the computer so time spent staring at my TV feels “wasted” and “unproductive” (Like this is any more productive) but also my little router died (netgear! fuck) and I’ve been to lazy to buy a new one.

Racing, while not the most popular genre among gamers, feels like the most primal a thing to do in a computer game.

The main component of any sandbox game is the transportation. Planes, trains, automobiles. How else are you supposed to get around the game world? Prototype and Infamous tried to do away with “driving cars around” by making the game world fit into a city, and make getting around “fun” or something. I guess it worked. people liked it. There’s also the issue of making the game world interesting and dynamic enough to make hanging out in the game fun. By hanging out, I mean going on rampages, driving around, and generally jerking around the map.

Just cause 2 makes this “jerking around” the focus of their demo. You basically get 30 minutes to screw off in a large section of land. I’ve played it about three times, with only one session that was really fun throughout. I’m having issues duplicating this “fun” session. Basically: it ran smooth. The game sorta switches between 30fps and 60fps, and it does this no mater what you’re doing in game, and it’s a buzzkill. When it doesn’t do this, and you have a good controller, the game is fun.

Although, it’s hard to gain perspective from the demo of the real game. You’re in an isolated island nation (complete with desert, tropical, and mountain areas…odd) and I guess you have to assist some rebels overthrow the government. So: bay of pigs, but with one guy. And you’re invincible. I guess the game assumes that “blowing shit up” is going to be the player’s main reason to keep playing.

You know. the US probably gave this fictional island nation all of it’s guns and shit. It’s like Iran Contra, or shit like that. What is this country’s main export? I guess that’s why it’s military dictatorship. Where is the public transit? Why are there Tuk-tuks in the middle of the desert? I assumed those were for urban areas but oh well. Why are there so many taxis in the middle of the desert?

Okay; at every town there’s, like, a roadblock. A military roadblock. Fairly realistic. Occasionally there will be a bunch of civvies in the “Oppression position” while the guards…wander around. And they shoot at you when you shoot at them!

So, your character is supposed to save the whole country, probably by himself. In order to do this (in the demo) you have to cause “chaos” by destroying infrastructure. Like water towers, gas stations, and power stations. But wouldn’t this just make living in the country worse? You’re basically a revolutionary prankster, except you’re killing everyone instead of egging people’s cars.

But, I guess that’s what gamers want. I guess the developers realized most gamers are infantile sophmoric dumbasses (Have you READ kotaku? or destructioid? no wonder Roger Ebert doesn’t consider games an art) and decided to play to those impulses with the game. It’s very polished, very impressive, and it’ll probably sell a lot of copies.

I had the most fun tooling around in cars. The physics are a treat, as well as the graphics. I giggled as I ramped my car off of curbs and hills, making it tumble across the desert. Exploration and transportation are things the game does well. I don’t know why I haven’t picked up the game “Fuel” as driving around is that game’s main goal.

So yeah. I’m probably not going to buy it, unless I get it to run on my system without it going to 30fps.