Everyone has what I call a genre liaison. A genre liaison is a game that you love within a genre that you otherwise have zero interest in. For instance, you may never play games like Call of Duty, Halo, or Unreal Tournament, but for some reason you just love Rainbow Six Siege. Siege would be your first-person shooter liaison. I never buy or enjoy playing sports or racing games, whether they be simulations or done in a wacky, arcade style. They simply don’t appeal to me. However, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee was one of my favorite PSP games, and I’ll forever be a huge Mario Kart fan. I’ve never deviated from these franchises, especially when it comes to racing games, but I may have to make an exception soon.
There’s another highly anticipated game being published by Ubisoft this month, and it has nothing to do with Tom Clancy. It’s an arcade racing game, and probably the only racing game besides Mario Kart 8 that I’ve ever excitedly looked forward to. Fans already know; I’m talking about Nadeo’s Trackmania Turbo. If this game isn’t on your radar, it needs to be. This could very well replace Mario Kart 8 as your go-to arcade racer whenever you need to scratch that itch. No matter what you’re looking for, this humble, $40 love letter to long-time fans has something for you.
If you’re all about sharp visuals and a dizzying sense of speed, Nadeo has you covered. This game looks gorgeous. Environments are incredibly detailed and the game runs at a buttery 60 FPS, even during split-screen multiplayer. No matter which track you’re taming, whether you be on asphalt or dirt, your surroundings and brightly colored signs will be whipping past you as blurs as you try again and again to achieve record lap times. This game is all about speed, and Nadeo knows how to get your heart pounding.
If you’re the kind of person who only enjoys racing if you’re competing against someone, the stakes have never been higher here. If you know and love Trackmania already, you’ll know that there are no collision physics between cars. You’re always racing against ghosts which you can pass right through. At first this didn’t appeal to me, until I realized that you could race online against live ghosts controlled by real people – up to 100 of them. That’s right, 100-car races.
If you’re the type who likes to have a friend next to you on the couch while you shove each other and laugh, there is a plethora of local multiplayer modes. I’m most excited about “Double Driver” mode, which has you and your friend both controlling one car. Basically you each push on a joystick, which will essentially control half of your car. You’ll have to shout at each other and work together to take turns and avoid obstacles as a team, and it looks like a riot.
What else do you want out of an arcade racer? How about just plain, simple fun? This whole series was inspired by classics like Sega Rally and Daytona USA. You use three buttons to control your car, which at the beginning of a race is dropped from 100 meters in the air from a helicopter. How simple and how fun can you get?! What, you’re only interested if there’s ample replayability? Why, haven’t you heard about the track editor? Create the track of your dreams and upload it for all to play, or download one of what will likely become countless tracks made by others. It’s there if you want it, but out of the box you’ll have 200 tracks that span 4 unique environments. Each of those environments, by the way, feature a completely unique type of car with unique aesthetics and handling.
Do I sound like a salesman? I can’t help it – it’s so rare that I get psyched about a racing game, and I do want you all to buy it. I want as many of you online as possible. I want to take part in a 100-car race on launch day, and I want this track editor to take off. Super Mario Maker has proven that an enthusiastic community can keep a game fresh for, well, for as long as you want to keep playing, I suppose. This could just be my perfect racing game; my shiny, newly-designated racing game liaison. Here – watch a trailer and get hyped: