Game: XGIII: Extreme G Racing
Console: Nintendo Gamecube
Developer: Acclaim
Release Date: 27th November 2001
XGIII: Extreme G Racing is a game in a similar vein to F-Zero and Wipeout; it features futuristic motorcycle racing against 11 AI opponents at speeds of over 600kph. With 6 teams to choose from and just 4 Grand Prix (named after chemical elements) to win in the main racing mode, the game may seem a little short for a 6th generation racing title, but it has its own ways of elongating the experience, for better or worse.
The motorbikes featured in the game have shields and weapons which are intended to be used to protect players own bikes, and damage/destroy opponents respectively. There's also the option to use some of the power from the shield as a boost, but leaves players more vulnerable to attack from other bikes. When playing in career mode there are also upgrades that can be purchased for the engines and weapons.
Racing feels like a strange blend between travelling at what seems to be around 50-100mph maximum and your motorbike handling as if it's actually going at the speed indicated on screen. While this disparity isn't a huge issue, the game certainly feels slower than racing in F-Zero. Shown in the picture above are purple lanes for refilling your weapon's ammo; there are also green lanes to recharge your boost/shield gauge.
In the "career" mode of the game players are entered into race tournaments where they must receive a certain amount of credits over the course of 3 races to continue. Helpfully, the game keeps a track of the position you'll need to finish in each race to achieve the target. From the outset the number of credits required is very high, and difficult to achieve for anyone who's just picked up the game. Assuming players finish in 7th place, as the pre-race screen suggests is required, they'll need to win the next two races in order to reach the credit target.
In most games this wouldn't be a problem; after all you're usually supposed to win a majority of races in racing titles, but without a fair amount of practice and a good amount of luck, there'll be a lot of 2nd and 3rd place finishes. For perfectionists this can be frustrating, and it's not ideal that even a superb performance isn't guaranteed to result in victory (however realistic it may be). The difficulty of progressing in career mode is probably the most offputting feature of the game as a whole.
Once players have earned some credits through winning races there's the option to upgrade their bike with bigger engines, or a variety of weaponry which can be switched out during races depending on what's needed. While most upgrades seem fairly expensive when starting career mode, they're well priced as long as you're playing through all 4 sets of races.
Graphically XGIII is pretty impressive, coping well with the high speeds of racing and futuristic track designs. The backgrounds seem a little flat in places, but that's the only real visual issue. The game's soundtrack is made up of electronic music which is reminiscent of Wipeout on Playstation; it's nothing that you'll be wanting to download and listen to outside of the game, but it fits with the themeing and mood of the game well.
Overall Extreme G Racing isn't a particularly unique game in it's themeing or content, and its career mode has a few flaws, but there's some good core gameplay underneath. This is the sort of racing game which seems like it'd be fun to play with friends, making best use of the weapons provided. Unfortunately for Acclaim, the futuristic racing genre was well populated when they got to it, and so making a truly innovative single or multiplayer experience was beyond their capability.
Rating: 68/100
Grade: C
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