Even World of WarCraft turns orcish green with envy: the free e-sports racing game Trackmania Nations has been downloaded a whopping 30 million times since its release in winter 2006. Only a few hundred thousand were interested in the commercial big brother Trackmania United. This discrepancy must drive the French developer Nadeo furious! Or to a new Trackmania.
Because what would happen if you brought all Trackmania fans together in one game? The answer is given by a project that is as logical as it is ambitious: Trackmania United Forever – equally freeware – like a full price game and also a free update.
Nadeo, the developers of TrackMania, have had to make some changes to TrackMania Nations Forever, because the financing basis of the free version (via in-game advertising) has disappeared due to the closure of Massive by Microsoft (we reported).
So that TrackMania Nations Forever can continue to be financed, Nadeo has now restricted the possibilities of free accounts. So the players of the free version can only access “Freezone Server” from the developer studio. In addition, few other servers can be managed / selected using the favorites function – other options are also discussed in the TM forum. “Without this surely not perfect solution, the survival of the Forever concept would be endangered,” says the official forum.
The basic principle of Trackmania Nations remains untouched: With paintable cars, you can jet rollercoaster-like courses, with the editor you can create your own track designs in no time at all. In the fight against the clock or the multiplayer competition, it is your skill that counts, collisions with other cars also fail this time.
But don’t worry, because the 100 new courses require more than enough concentration even without sheet metal contact. The 65 stadium courses of the Nations Championship, which top everything that has been there so far, are particularly successful. On speed courses, you test your speed of reaction with the help of acceleration fields and daring looping combinations, while acrobatics courses require a lot of tact with tricky jumps.
The control of the car is no problem for beginners either. It essentially only requires four buttons for accelerator, brake and steering left and right. The use of a game pad with an analog mini stick is recommended in order to be able to control more sensitively. Additional buttons are used to change the camera perspective, to open a chat menu or to display scores. Operating the course editor requires a certain amount of training. Then you can easily create racetracks.
The game modes race, puzzle and platform are well known to serial fans, the stunt mode is new. In this you have to collect points in a few minutes through daring stunts on uneven slopes. That sounds fun, but fails because of the weak physics and the fact that you have to start again from scratch with the smallest mistake. But there are also enough routes for the other more fun types of games. If you know all the official slopes by heart at some point, you still have the extensive editor in which you can design your own courses.
If you have succeeded in a particularly good route, you can even make these available to other players and receive so-called Coopers, the currency in the game, as a reward. Likewise, you can use the money in the shop to buy routes from other gamers. Technically, little has changed compared to the predecessor, the graphics are nice, but suffer from performance fluctuations and have an editor’s look that cannot be dismissed out of hand. The control of the seven different vehicle types is very direct, but still requires some training.
For all newcomers, developer Nadeo, on the other hand, bundles a thick racing game package with the new edition. In the four single player modes there are at least 265 racetracks available, which racer can say that. However, as with any series part, many of the courses are often very short and only a few seconds long. Because you only drive against the clock, there is no real competition on the slopes.
Only up to two ghost cars can be shown on request, but there are no billiards with them, even in multiplayer mode. Instead, you try to get the best time on every slope, which is astonishingly motivating. Again and again you manage to improve your best time by a few hundredths. Via the successful online link you can immediately see what your time is ultimately worth, the statistics compare your best times with other players from your country, state, city or even a special group of friends.
35 further new routes are spread over the beginner championships of the six other scenarios island, desert, bay, snow, coast and rally. The courses of the other difficulty levels remain the same as in Trackmania United. A bit of a shame, because the Forever package provides around 200 fresh components, which we would have liked to have admired on more difficult courses.
In the snow scenario, you can now also jet over the Great Wall of China and bend around hay bales on the rally routes. The absolute star in the component repertoire, however, is the new changeable turbo, which changes the strength of the acceleration thrust every few tenths of a second. Especially in multiplayer mode, this small random element ensures a lot of malicious joy.
35 courses remain, and you can beat them in the new stunt mode. With the help of all sorts of ramps, humps and jumps, it is important to line up as many spectacular tricks as possible under time pressure and above all not to land on the roof or off the track. Because if that happens, you have to start the entire run over again. The actually very entertaining stunt mode thus becomes the case for frustration-resistant professionals – reset points would have worked wonders here.
Including interchangeable turbo and stunt jumps, Forever is now expanding the track editor to almost 1,500 components – an Eldorado for professional architects. So that beginners can also enjoy handicrafts, there is now a simple variant of the kit: depending on the scenario, the route environment is already pre-fabricated with houses, forests and hills, you only have to distribute the start, finish, checkpoints and road elements – a breeze.
The result lands on the Internet with just a few clicks of the mouse, without you having to leave the game. Forever further improves the already very successful community integration. In completely revised and considerably more comfortable menus, you can send your self-made route to the entire friends list or search for (now basically translated) fan pages for fresh cars, courses or stunt videos. If you want, you can even send your solo drive as a ghost car to a buddy and challenge him to a duel – great!
Upgrade Forever
“Trackmania United” has nothing to do with realism. This game focuses on action, wild jumps and crazy routes. The races are not only characterized by the daredevil jumps mentioned, but also by a lot of steep turns and even loops. There are also strong energy fields in some places. As soon as you drive over this, your engine will fail. Only those who have accelerated to a sufficient speed in good time and do not bump unnecessarily when rolling on can make it to the next energy field, where the engine starts again. This is a completely new kind of challenge, especially since there are other vehicles on the track that are also vying for victory.
Do you like action-packed racing games? Then you will receive an all-round carefree package with Trackmania United. Lots of routes and modes plus constant replenishment for online players result in a decent pound. The easy-to-use handling, which still offers enough air to improve your own abilities, is playful. In addition, there are seven game environments such as sand, snow or asphalt courses, on which it drives very differently. That leaves a very good overall impression.
As soon as you have won the gold medal in the regular races by beating the best time on the computer, you can compete on the corresponding course in international online competitions. The smart thing about it: the game records every race if you activate Internet support beforehand. Then you can not only study your own driving skills, but also take a close look at the other pilots and learn from them by simply looking at the ideal routes.
By the way, you can access your own repetitions via the menu item Media tracker. There you determine the tracking shot or add comments that you want to send to online viewers. Or go live against other players who are connected to you via the Internet or a LAN cable.
You can choose from tournaments, individual races or team competitions. If you allow your PC to be constantly connected to the Internet, the leaderboards for all courses will be updated continuously. So you can see how well you are doing internationally. But even if you are not an online player, you can compete with friends. Then just drive one after the other on the same computer, afterwards the times are compared.
Update: Anyone who already owns Trackmania nations will get the Forever update for free. Players who log in to the servers from May 2 will automatically receive a download notification.
Freeware: On our DVD you will find the full version of Trackmania Nations Forever. This Forever variant contains the complete Trackmania Nations solo campaign with 65 tracks, a fully functional editor and all components of the stadium set. If you also want to unlock the other sets and game modes, you can buy an upgrade to Trackmania United Forever in the main menu for around 29.99 euros.
Full version: You can buy Trackmania United Forever as normal in the shop for around 30 euros. Advantages compared to the Trackmania Nations upgrade: a detailed manual, 3D glasses and an autograph card from the development team.
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