Game: X-treme Express
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Midas Interactive
Release Date: 18th March 2003
I picked up this game, thinking that train racing could potentially be pretty fun and that if it wasn't I could always give it a scathing review alongside some other PS2 baddies. What I got was pretty much middle of the road, for both of those predictions. The game is based around racing trains from one terminal to another, across 6 different locations, and features up to 80 different unlockable trains from different countries and areas (although some trains, like the British one featured on the game cover are literally just a generic train with flag livery).
The game features World Tour, Grand Prix, Free Run and Versus modes, which play fairly similarly save for the Grand Prix mode. This features challenges which must be completed inside of races, such as ramming other trains off the track and winning races without derailing. Although the game is focused on racing this seems to be the best gameplay mode, besides Versus mode since the obvious fun of the game comes from being able to ram others or use the trains to race in creative ways, rather than just following the tracks.
Graphically, the game is fairly basic and blocky; the game's landscapes and locations are simple backdrops and the trains themselves aren't particularly detailed. The control system allows players to switch tracks at points in the rail, and control the throttle and brake. It is possible to ram opponents off the track and derail from going too fast. When this occurs the player will travel between tracks until they cross a set of points at which point they will be guided back onto the tracks.
Perhaps a better derailing system would have been a 5 second penalty for players, as it can be quite a while before encountering another set of points. The player travels at a slower speed whilst derailed so it is possible to get too far behind opponents. Another slight complaint is the ease with which other racers can derail your train, since it's such a disadvantage. With races being moderate in length, its disappointing to lose after a somewhat unfair derailing and subsequent grind until the next set of points.
The game plays fairly well, although it can be a little boring at times; the most exciting moments are when trains are about to collide, naturally. If anything it'd be nice if the game were a little more balanced, the AI seems to do a little too well with the difficulty set to normal. At the end of the race the players must stop inside the boundary of a platform, having to reverse if they go too far. The AI doesn't seem to get the hang of this, so a good finish can boost your position.
The in game music is fairly poor, and contributes to the cheap overall feel of the game alongside the simple graphics and menus. There's not a whole lot of tracks and gameplay can get repetitive pretty quickly. The best fun seems to be competing against friends, as you can derail eachother without having to worry about AI opponents. The scenarios can also be good fun, depending on the objective, but the other modes are too similar to normal racing and are somewhat of a let down.
Overall what I thought was perhaps going to be a terrible cheap game proved that it had some fun to it, and it wasn't too badly programmed. To be fair to the developers it's a difficult concept to make exciting and they did their best. If all budget titles worked half as decently as this, there'd be a lot less regret upon first playing them.
Rating: 57/100
Grade: D
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