APEX for Xbox - very nice!

Highly recommend this new game from Infogrames. It's sort of like Gran Turismo 3 but had a story thrown in - although not as involved as Pro Race Driver. Basically you stumble on an abandoned garage with a bunch or prototype car blueprints. You pick one and have it built then you race it. The more you race the more notority you get. You create a brandname and a logo and the higher you place in the races the more cars you sell. The more you sell the more new prototypes you can build until you expand into a multi-model car factory turning out assembly line concept cars. Along the way you will get mini-challenges from other manufacturers, magazines like Car and Driver, and even a foreign sheik who is looking to buy lots of sports cars. The graphics are outstanding - as you might expect for an Xbox exclusive with a good vareity of tracks (city, mountains, speedway), and hundreds of cars to build and unlock. No cockpit view but there is a nice HOOD view that shows the terrain reflected in real-time. There is car damage but it appears to be visual only - I never saw a lack in performance although you can get damaged enough to where a shower of sparks trails your car. Lot of fancy effects like lens flares on the headlights and sun, dark shadows, smoke, sparks, reflections, and bump-mapped surfaces that make the pavement look as real as possible. Physics are pretty good and car handling is great with either a wheel (using Madcatz) or the gamepad. Realism is about the same as Project Gotham and you are neither rewarded or penalized for good/bad driving. This means there is a LOT of rubbing going on. Game is huge with at least 20-30 series with 3-4 races each for the Dream Mode, and then you have the arcade mode to play all the cars you unlock and there is a nice 2-player mode. Definitely one of the best racers you can play on the Xbox right now.

On 02 Mar 2003 17:50:29 GMT, Angry Gamer wrote:

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> Highly recommend this new game from Infogrames. > It's sort of like Gran Turismo 3 but had a story thrown in - although not as > involved as Pro Race Driver. > > Basically you stumble on an abandoned garage with a bunch or prototype car > blueprints. You pick one and have it built then you race it. The more you race > the more notority you get. You create a brandname and a logo and the higher you > place in the races the more cars you sell. The more you sell the more new > prototypes you can build until you expand into a multi-model car factory turning > out assembly line concept cars. > > Along the way you will get mini-challenges from other manufacturers, magazines > like Car and Driver, and even a foreign sheik who is looking to buy lots of > sports cars. > > The graphics are outstanding - as you might expect for an Xbox exclusive with a > good vareity of tracks (city, mountains, speedway), and hundreds of cars to > build and unlock. No cockpit view but there is a nice HOOD view that shows the > terrain reflected in real-time. There is car damage but it appears to be visual > only - I never saw a lack in performance although you can get damaged enough to > where a shower of sparks trails your car. Lot of fancy effects like lens flares > on the headlights and sun, dark shadows, smoke, sparks, reflections, and > bump-mapped surfaces that make the pavement look as real as possible. > > Physics are pretty good and car handling is great with either a wheel (using > Madcatz) or the gamepad. Realism is about the same as Project Gotham and you > are neither rewarded or penalized for good/bad driving. This means there is a > LOT of rubbing going on. > > Game is huge with at least 20-30 series with 3-4 races each for the Dream Mode, > and then you have the arcade mode to play all the cars you unlock and there is a > nice 2-player mode. Definitely one of the best racers you can play on the Xbox > right now.

no live, what a shame. when will microcrap put out a live racing game?

no live, what a shame. when will micro***put out a live racing game?

the great galooga <"the great galooga"@home.com> wrote:

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>On 02 Mar 2003 17:50:29 GMT, Angry Gamer wrote: > >> Highly recommend this new game from Infogrames. >> It's sort of like Gran Turismo 3 but had a story thrown in - although not as >> involved as Pro Race Driver. >> >> Basically you stumble on an abandoned garage with a bunch or prototype car >> blueprints. You pick one and have it built then you race it. The more you race >> the more notority you get. You create a brandname and a logo and the higher you >> place in the races the more cars you sell. The more you sell the more new >> prototypes you can build until you expand into a multi-model car factory turning >> out assembly line concept cars. >> >> Along the way you will get mini-challenges from other manufacturers, magazines >> like Car and Driver, and even a foreign sheik who is looking to buy lots of >> sports cars. >> >> The graphics are outstanding - as you might expect for an Xbox exclusive with a >> good vareity of tracks (city, mountains, speedway), and hundreds of cars to >> build and unlock. No cockpit view but there is a nice HOOD view that shows the >> terrain reflected in real-time. There is car damage but it appears to be visual >> only - I never saw a lack in performance although you can get damaged enough to >> where a shower of sparks trails your car. Lot of fancy effects like lens flares >> on the headlights and sun, dark shadows, smoke, sparks, reflections, and >> bump-mapped surfaces that make the pavement look as real as possible. >> >> Physics are pretty good and car handling is great with either a wheel (using >> Madcatz) or the gamepad. Realism is about the same as Project Gotham and you >> are neither rewarded or penalized for good/bad driving. This means there is a >> LOT of rubbing going on. >> >> Game is huge with at least 20-30 series with 3-4 races each for the Dream Mode, >> and then you have the arcade mode to play all the cars you unlock and there is a >> nice 2-player mode. Definitely one of the best racers you can play on the Xbox >> right now. > >no live, what a shame. >when will microcrap put out a live racing game?

I'm guessing the next NFS will be live. Hopefully something will be demo'd at E3 this year.

On 03 Mar 2003 06:34:54 GMT, [email hidden] (Angry Gamer) wrote: >I'm guessing the next NFS will be live. Hopefully something will be demo'd at >E3 this year. Midtown Madness 3 will be Live enabled. Hopefully I will have DSL again by then, it looks like a pretty killer game. I wonder if they're going with a persistent world or just having street racing and mini games... Jason

"Jason Moyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On 03 Mar 2003 06:34:54 GMT, [email hidden] (Angry Gamer) wrote: > > >I'm guessing the next NFS will be live. Hopefully something will bedemo'd at > >E3 this year. > > Midtown Madness 3 will be Live enabled. Hopefully I will have DSL > again by then, it looks like a pretty killer game. I wonder if > they're going with a persistent world or just having street racing and > mini games... EA isn't supporting Xbox Live yet, so don't get your hopes up about the next NFS. From the preiews I have read about Midtown Madness, I don't believe it will be a persistent world. Pro Race Driver by Codemasters is going to have Live support. Hopefully it plays better on Xbox than the PC demos that were recently released. Kyle

As far as I'm aware, you're incorrect about PRD having XBLive support. Initially that was what the delay was for - to enable live. But a month or two after the PS2 version was released Codemasters announced that there would be no Live support. Shame. I'd love to be proven otherwise. I'm sure it'll still be pretty good....I played it on the PS2 and it wasn't bad at all - I got a lot of fun out of it. Handling leaves a bit to be desired but the number of tracks / cars / graphics / damage model / story / etc make up for it :) Hey and the XB version is going to have 20 cars on the track at once...I think the PS2 could only handle 12? massivechicken. "Kyle Roberts" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:gAL8a.65400$[email hidden]...

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> > "Jason Moyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > On 03 Mar 2003 06:34:54 GMT, [email hidden] (Angry Gamer) wrote: > > > > >I'm guessing the next NFS will be live. Hopefully something will be > demo'd at > > >E3 this year. > > > > Midtown Madness 3 will be Live enabled. Hopefully I will have DSL > > again by then, it looks like a pretty killer game. I wonder if > > they're going with a persistent world or just having street racing and > > mini games... > > EA isn't supporting Xbox Live yet, so don't get your hopes up about the

next > NFS. From the preiews I have read about Midtown Madness, I don't believeit > will be a persistent world. Pro Race Driver by Codemasters is going tohave > Live support. Hopefully it plays better on Xbox than the PC demos thatwere > recently released. > > Kyle > >

"Gene Penman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:b40jjt$[email hidden]... > As far as I'm aware, you're incorrect about PRD having XBLive support. > Initially that was what the delay was for - to enable live. But a month or > two after the PS2 version was released Codemasters announced that there > would be no Live support. You are correct. I misread a preview from back in early February. Another reason to not buy it. Kyle