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Downforce Review
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Downforce provides a lot of laughs in multi-player mode, but the single player experience is a little lacking.
Downforce is set in the not-too distant future, a time when drivers have become disillusioned with all of the safety regulations governing the world of racing. A few adrenaline-hungry drivers decide to break away and form their own high octane racing league, a league which has been condemned by the FIA as too dangerous, and banned from using circuits around the world. The races take place in and around major cities.
Of course this scenario is unlikely in the real world, it has allowed the developers to go over-the-top on car designs, course layouts and ensure that each race is about fun rather then pit strategies.
In my preview I wrongly slammed Downforce as being a poor-mans Burnout, to be fair it does still feel like a racing title with Burnout crashes stuck on. However a recent press-day highlighted how much fun this game can be, and essentially thatās what it is all about.
Downforce features a variety of game modes, interestingly with a few neat touches that you wonāt have seen before. The standard Championship, Free Race and Multiplayer modes are here; simply select a car from the 14 different stylised vehicles on offer and race around the 21 different tracks. As you progress through the Championship youāll open up new vehicles and tracks to add to your collection. A novel mode is the Trophy mode, structured in three tiers of difficulty with each tier comprising of eight races. In the lowest tier youāve got to place 3rd or above to progress, the 2nd tier requires you to place 2nd or above whilst, yep youāve guessed it, the top tier requires you to place 1st in all races. Itās a challenging mode that will tax any gamer, as well, thereās a special something for the gamers that can place 1st in all of the races.
Whilst Downforce is a reasonable single-player game it shines brighter in the games multiplayer modes, the standard race modes are on offer however itās the Time Tag mode that provides the most laughs. Here players must win points either by holding onto a set distance for a certain time, crashing their opponents off the track or straight out winning; win a point and the cars respawn with a quick counter and itās off again, the person with the most points after three laps wins. Itās a mean mode that will see you developing fiendish tactics in order to win, tactics to learn include waiting for your opponent to race off after the restart and then ram them straight off the road! It works bizarrely like a modern day re-make of the classic Micro Machines game from Codemasters.
Whilst the game modes offer a lot of enjoyment, the actual driving experience wonāt win any awards. Itās a solid experience without any real problems, but without any real highlights. Thereās a nice feeling of weight to each car, and each one reacts responsively to your controls but nothing grabs you to make you go WOW!
Thankfully the gameās realistic crashes help to spice up the action, with a physics engine provided by Karma Physics. This allows for some stupendous crash scenes as cars disintegrate into nothing with all manner of body parts sent spinning into the air! After you crash thereās a quick replay and youāre respawned on to the track to continue racing, this has been implemented more successfully then Burnout as the respawn happens quicker and doesnāt distract from the actual racing as much.
Eschewing real courses has allowed the developers to use their wildest imaginations and come up with some great courses, most of which take part in cities ala Monte Carlo. The courses have been designed to enhance the racing experience, but also give you opportunity to dump your opponents into walls and other such dubious yet fun activities. One course set in the mountains of Geneva allows you to dump your opponent off the cliff, through a missing barrier, surely theyāre not gonna respawn after that one!
Visually Downforce does a lot of things right, ok we may have seen more detailed vehicles in Gran Turismo 3, however theyāre all competent enough and thereās a nice individual style to each one. As Iāve said before most races take place in cities and so thereās a heck of a lot going on on-screen, huge airplanes take off and pass by overhead, boats jump about in the ocean, itās not a major point but itās much more impressive then the static locations of most driving games. Perhaps the most impressive visual aspect to Downforce is the games split-screen multiplayer mode which stays extremely quick, with no loss in quality, framerate or objects on-screenā¦
