Extreme G3

Man oh man, them Tron motorcycles sure is fancy!

Previous installments of Acclaim?s sci-fi rollercoaster racing series have always come across as second-rate Wipeout clones?cool-looking (but not particularly cool-playing) games that just didn?t have the fine-tuning necessary to compete with Sony?s S-Class futuro-racing franchise. Knowing its adversary?s latest model was somewhere in the works, Acclaim put some hard time in the shop and beat Sony to the punch, turning out an impressive sequel that?s a quantum leap for the series?a hyper-fun, super-polished, vertigo-inducing thrill ride that will rush plenty of adrenaline through your veins?for a while, anyway.

The most immediately cool thing about Extreme G3 is the tracks: Each knotted, impossibly surreal airborne structure is a mighty impressive piece of engineering indeed, and the sense of speed induced as you whip around bends and break the sound barrier on your Tron-cycle teeters between nauseating and terrifying?and never fails to impress. Plus, the sense of scope is huge, the frame rate is sky high, there?s no fog hiding any pop-in, and little touches like the way shadows react with the light, or the Akira-like tracers left in your cycles? wake, add major points to the Style Factor.

Extreme G3?s controls are tight, with much easier-to-use air brakes that make sliding across the track in hairpin curves a relatively simple task. Acclaim also wisely decided to design the tracks with fun in mind; they?re challenging, mind you, but not annoying, especially since you can?t fall off of the tracks.

The game isn?t without its holes, however. The Wowee! Factor can last for only so long, and once its gone, there?s not much left to keep Extreme G3 afloat. The music seems like a collection of half-assed techno demos and doesn?t pack quite the electronica punch that remains part of Wipeout?s trademark. There are plenty of teams and racers to choose from, but there?s really no big incentive to play through each of their careers. The purchase-only weapons system (no on-track pick-ups here) seems only half thought out with icons that are difficult to juggle and nearly impossible to see when you?re riding a motorcycle that just broke the sound barrier upside-down.

Ultimately, the shadow of Wipeout still looms over Extreme G3?even with all its enhancements. Most WipeOut race fans will play Extreme G3, say, "wow, cool," and just drool over how potentially cool WipeOut Fusion is gonna be.

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