Trackmania DS

Review from Phil - Wednesday, 08 April 2009 @ 10:52am

I never fully understood the popularity of the Trackmania series. Sure, it enabled gamers to experience high-speed racing on a variety of custom courses, but the presentation and visual design felt soulless and ultimately barely enjoyable. Trackmania has now come to the funnest little console around, and despite being a faithful installment to the traditions of the series, it rarely sparks any worthwhile interest.

Based on a post Simon made several months ago, I found that the PC title Trackmania Nations Forever was available to download at zero cost. I'd heard about Trackmania before, so I tried it out, and it was fun. Not the groundbreaking racing I'd heard about, but a good time-filler. The problem I have with the DS version is that it's pretty much the same thing, only with worse graphics and extra racing modes which really, really suck. Note - I'm comparing this directly to TMNF, a free game where TMDS is, more than likely, too expensive.

TMDS has more than the standard Stadium mode found in TMNF, but I assume these modes have been explored in different entries to the series. The rally mode might have been fun if the cars weren't a complete bitch to control. Yes, I get it - this is a wacky physics-y racer that doesn't handle like your standard racing game. Just because it's different, it doesn't mean it's good.

Big stadium with nowhere to go

Ok, fine. I know I'm really stepping out here by criticizing Trackmania. It's a beloved franchise, but after so many years is this really the best they could do for the DS? I'm sure fans have waited for so long to get their hands on a portable version of their favourite game, and all they get is more of the same. I'm just disappointed by the lack of effort with DS ports in general. Sure, they make new tracks, but that's easy. How about coming up with a more intuitive way to play on the small screen?

The racing itself is handled well and it's buttery smooth. For those unaware of exactly how Trackmania plays, you choose your level and aim to win gold, silver or bronze medals by achieving the best times. It's highly competitive with everyone aiming to shave milliseconds off the best times, and for a short while this can become addictive, at least in Stadium mode (because the cars actually handle well).After a while of racing and winning medals, you'll feel slightly empty inside because the game does little to congratulate you on your success. You might have some satisfaction by beating the times of some nerdass Trackmania junkie religiously hovering over the game in his parent's basement - but not much.

Hillbilly hoedown

Puzzle and Platform modes are the most noteworthy additions outside of standard racing action. Platform has you navigating obstacle-laden courses with lots of jumps, but this never feels quite satisfying because the physics aren't exactly floaty. It's still car-on-ground action and instead of feeling like a car-based platformer it feels like forcing a road car clumsily around platforms. Puzzle mode has you constructing a track to form an efficient route to the finish line, which is kind of neat - but it all comes down to the strength of the track editor itself, which is quite weak.

The editor interface is clumsy and hard too learn, at least I found it to be. I've never really enjoyed creating my own levels in games - isn't that what the designers are paid to do? You'll spend hours constructing some giant course which may or may not be better than the existing courses, and then what? Sit there and drive it over and over again? Share it with your friends who will do the same thing? The niggling feeling from the start of this game is that Trackmania doesn't have much of a soul or much of a purpose. It feels empty.

Wow, what a devastating crash...

As far as racing goes on the DS, this is a solid enough entry, but without anything radically different or deep to explore, it feels pointless. Is it that important to have a portable version of this particular series? No, not really. When a game goes portable it needs to have a reason for doing so. Trackmania DS exists because it can.

Pros

A reasonable port that works well on the DS, and the graphics are pretty impressive for such a tiny screen.

Cons

It feels empty, soulless, and ultimately inconsequential. The track editor is too fiddly and the cars that aren't F1 in Stadium handle terribly.