@@rodrigogirao8344 the whole point of abandonware is that once it gets ignored by the original owner of the intellectual property users are free to do their own thing, not that it made any difference as it hasn't prevented anyone from doing it before it became such...
Funny thing worth mentioning: the Blur and Split/Second staff both went to Sumo Digital when their studios closed. They later ended up developing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which is also super underrated.
Because it came out in an era where japan was obsessed with western sales numbers and nothing else. (Thanks Phil Fish… look it up. Its all due to his gdc talk)
This is not the only time Namco decided to put Ridge racer franchise on the chopping blocks project cars too meet the same fate after the middle reception of the third game as well as the disasters launch of fast and furious crossroads and Bandai namco sold slightly mad studios to codemasters in early 2021 in that that same year EA bought Codemasters which means that slightly mad Studios is fused with codemasters
I miss racing games like, RUSH RallySport Challenge, Flatout 1 & 2, The earlier Burnout games, NFS: Hot Pursuit (original), Underground 1,2, and Most Wanted. Dirt 1 & 2 The Original GRID
the underground games are irredeemable trash that ruined the franchise to this day. nfs used to be a series of driving super cars and concept cars through gorgous environments and it devolved into open world drivel with riced up civics with horrible handling.
I know that the video is kind of about a different style of arcade racing, but I am very grateful that we have Trackmania in this day and age. Out of all the options that are available, this is the only racing game that scratches the itch for easy to learn, hard to master, easy to hop on, hard to hop off game...
I'm tired of all the seriousness and effort being put into sim racers, with the arcade genre being reduced to festival "you're the winner" racers and asphalt feeling drift fests.
@@ileutur6863 Well at least modern NFS isn't like this, for the most part anyway. You still get Cops, an NFS Hot Pursuit inspired Cops VS Racers update for NFS Unbound is coming in just over a month from now. The current NFS Unbound update, Volume. 7, is NFS Underground inspired, with drag races, a new drift handling model. And there are even more stuff to look forward to. I'm also hoping they add all, or at least a lot of the new Year 2 Roadmap content to the singleplayer because NFS Unbound's singleplayer is kind of neglected in terms of content. At least for now. Because if we give Criterion Games enough polite constructive criticism and feedback, then we may see this being changed relatively soon.
Modern arcade genre feeling like some hugbox shit where you're constantly being showered with supercars and validation. Man, screw that. Where are the snobbish opponents? Why can I no longer start with a beaten down econobox and then work my way up to the luxury stuff? It's all so tiresome.
@@DominatorLegendWorking your way up sounds tiresome. People's lives are too bad enough to want to have to start from the bottom in a video game, which is supposed to be an escape from their rotten lives. It's easy to blame greedy corporations, but to be honest, think about what people want to play after a hard day's bullshit. Challenge the player? Screw that. Life's challenging enough as is. We need an escape from that challenge. I have nothing against challenging video games, but life is already challenging enough as is.
@@MrGamelover23bro don't mix up reality with games. "working your way up" in a racing game is still an escapist fantasy. you won't get a supercar irl by street racing with your fiat and taking your opponent's cars and escaping cops. game challenges are not like real life challenges. "real life is hard enough" is a very sad excuse for accepting the neutered, soulless games of today.
As a indie racing game developer, I really think that this kind of games will be brought by indie developers, since we dont have the resources and goal to achieve the most money making racing game, but just want to put our ideas out there, mostly inspired by 2010 games since that the time we grew up!
Indie games sucks I need longevity and lots of features and a huge online player base sorry their is no going back I can't even have fun racing ai anymore I'm to good
There's a game series you didn't mention that could also fit very well in this category: WipEout. It was released after the original F-Zero but improved greatly on that formula imo. It's easy to learn in the slower speed classes but very challenging to master once you get to the faster ones, it feels genuinely thrilling to play. And what amazes me the most about those games are the physics. The ships have a realistic handling and weight without losing the "arcadey" feel of it. And i could also talk about the amazing soundtracks, the entire world building that feels like an actual attainable future at times, the backstory of the games, i could go on. Sadly it's not around anymore (if you exclude the Omega Collection which is a remaster for the PS4) but i think there's rumors for a new game on the PS5, hopefully that's true. Nonetheless, it also has an amazing spiritual sucessor and great tribute to the earlier games called BallisticNG, you should give it a try.
I still hate them for calling it that. And haven't bought a single nfs after that title they really alienated old fans with crappy criterion/ghost games driving style All of their games are not fun to drive. Blackbox was the best dev of arcade racers.
@@FencelineFilms You'd have to have been there at the time it released and have experience with the original Most Wanted to understand what a fundamental disappointment it was given 2012 did not live up to the bar set by 2005. If you were also a Burnout fan you'd be doubly disappointed because the studio behind those games was made to work on a game that ALSO doesn't live up to a Burnout-like experience. That just set up the stage for what EA and the other major publishers would do to franchise sequels moving forward. Scaled down and mediocre for every other iteration.
I count Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 a "simple racing game", due to its lack of story and straightforward gameplay. Little customization, just pure Racers vs Cops, and it's one of the best games i've played in a long time. I've put over 2500+ hours into the Hot Pursuit Remastered, it's just simple yet soo easy to pick up and play for a few hours. And for me atleast, that's all I need. I know it's extremely unlikely to happen, but i'd like Criterion to give the Hot Pursuit/Rivals style of gameplay another shot, especially after the disappointment that was Unbound. Despite them continuing support on the game, I think Criterion need to take a step back on the all out tuner shit and give us something more straightforward for the next game.
@@mayflower4645 Uhh... surprise?! lol what can I say, man? I''ve been told i'm a pretty recognizable guy 😂 I like Hot Pursuit the game and videos on it, so you might find me elsewhere lol
@@0047sssss They probably hate it because there's barely anything to the game, and neither the driving or the map itself is interesting enough for most people to encourage just driving around.
That reference you made with the thumbnail alone is pure cinema. I actually genuinely hope for you to keep getting further success despite not watching the video yet.
@@Fastminer07 hey, dude. have you heard about Carx? is like a studio that made racing games for mobile, and there's one called "carx drift racing Lite". which is like the "first ever" game of this franchise :)
@megajuanph11 Nah trail out did so badly what Flatout 2 did so well. Flatout 2 is a proper, almost simcade style racing game underneath. All the issues mentioned in this review are just skill ones. Trail out dumbes down the entire thing into a mindless crash-a-ton.
@@AnalogSins As a Flatout 2 enjoyer that has played it since 2006, its kinda both a skill issue and the game being a proper Eurojank game when it comes to physics
Well I m still playing Flatout 2 about 11 years (5-16) and still getting same enjoyment. I got this game Steam version at 2023 for respect because it was my childhood. Hey at least we got Trailout which is similar to Flatout 2
On New Years Day 2020 I fulfilled my ultimate Gamer Fantasy. Some of the British Formula 1 TH-camrs I watch were having a live stream playing Wreckfest with 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button. I figured out what server they were playing on and I raced Jenson in Wreckfest!
Another very good video man. If I’m gonna throw my two cents in here I think most popular genres have swayed away from simple games as consoles and PCs get more powerful. Many people don’t look at how fun a game is compared to how much content it has even if it’s not that fun. Looking at you Assassins Creed.
Yeah that's fair, I got the idea for this video partially from Emplemon's video where he talks about the death of simple games, and even though all the examples he gave were racing games, the idea applies to almost any genre
Ridge Racer Type 4 for me is amazing. I also noticed some of your videos is using the music from this game. That "Move Me" music (6:45) from the game is the one I always use in the Final of Grand Prix Mode when completing all the teams. That feeling when the music plays really just hit different that I can't just explain how well it is back when I was a kid. Until now I play the game again as an adult, understanding the small story of this game then I've realized why this music hits me deep and it became one of my best nostalgia ever. In the Grand Prix mode, the Real Racing Roots '99 Grand Prix Final was set to be in the night on December 31st, 1999. Fireworks being sent off the sky in the final lap of the race to pump out the last moments of Real Racing Roots '99, together with the New Year's Eve celebration. That momentum + "Move Me" music + The win, plus the changing era to 2000. That combo is something I can't forgot for such a simple game.
If you loved Flatout 2, you should play Ultimate Carnage! It's basically a 7th gen port of flatout 2 with more gamemodes (but still including the original race career!) and 12 racers instead of 8. More chaos and more fun!
It even recently received a "Collectors Edition" update, making it fully verified on Steam Deck, removing Games for Windows LIVE DRM, adding achievements and fixing some bugs.
@@geoffdb8118 Heavier cars, and "less complex" physics. Ulimate carnage is stil very good, but about 30% dumber physics compared to FO2 imho. Thats why i stick to FO2 even if online playing bugs pissing me of every day :)
it always warms my heart to see blur get mentioned in something. I always felt it was a massively underrated game, it was the only racing game I felt that ever captured the same kinda fun goofy magic mario kart has.
Anti-Gravity-Racer still follow your categories of simple racing games, they are easy to pick up but hard to master, ooze style and focus on racing. Some recommendations: Both Redout BallisticNG Fast RMX
I appreciate you mentioning the names of such memorable franchises! Thanks for introducing me to games i didn't know, and helping to preserve the name and history of these games!
Another one that might count would be the WipEout series. It’s an antigrav racer though, which is basically its own genre, but that aside I think it basically meets all the criteria
IDK how you people can recommend Trail out. Even if its better than any Flatout game after Ultimate Carnage, for me, trailout feels trash. Played it for an hour, and uninstalled. I tried hard to appreciate the attemt to create a new game like Flatout2, but failed to stand the inferiority after an hour.
Bonus points that you mentioned split/second! By far one of my favourite arcade racing games BUT I did use a trainer to always have a full power up bar lol
Another excellent video. Really happy to see Motorstorm in this review as I feel it is way to frequently neglected likely due to exclusivity. One of my favorite things to do in that game is using the boost to the point of destruction of the vehicle as your wreckage would still trip the start finish and at least in the first game it usually resulted in your wreckage getting a forward boost to the line. I had actually got some use out of it in the later races of the game. Also I am not sure if you have heard of it but for a quality indy racer that came out recently that I noticed you didn't mention, Might I recommend Art of Rally. Made by the creators of Absolute Drift with a more refined physics engine, downright awesome music, and an alternate history spin on rally with group b not getting axed and group s proceeding accordingly. It was pure delight after about 10 or so minutes adjusting to the high camera perspective. I know there are PC mods for it that give it a more "Normal" 3rd person perspective as well. th-cam.com/video/bQjhP0uGc8I/w-d-xo.html
28:09 hearing you talk about this specific type of boost mechanic reminds me of another game that had it, It's called 'distance: survival racing'. It's not a racing game but I think you should definitely look into it if you have time. great video as always!
I miss the days of SEGA-style racing games like Sega Rally and Daytona USA. There is a spiritual successor for Sega Rally in the works by the way, currently under the working title "Over Jump Rally".
WOOO BLUR!! I’m so glad you mentioned that game, to this day I can’t think of another racing game that feels like just like Blur. If only we actually got Blur 2
I still have hope the franchise gets revived or adapted by another studio like Flatout to Wreckfest. Its so incredibly unique and fun, i am happy my dad picked it up when i was a kid. I have the CD/DVD disc in the original packaging to this day. It even ran on my first shitty PC with a Xeon dual core, 9500GT and 3gb RAM on Windows XP and it looked great while running very smoothly. The campaign was great and i remember playing that game with my friends and with my dad on on the same keyboard split screen. This and a few other games are the only reason why i still have an optical drive in my PC.
Been finally looking forward for mentions of Ridge Racer and Blur! You did a fantastic job with the R4 music being included. Another bit I liked about Blur were the characters, even though there's not much to them. But it turns out it used to have an actual Story Mode with cutscenes that revolved around a group of characters traveling around the world, meeting new rivals. And it always bothered me how all of it got scrapped since it seems like it was more or less ready. It definitely would've made the career much more interesting to go through rather than the brief introductions to the events being set up by set characters. I actually played a mobile version of Blur so I even learned about characters that originally don't exist (or rather, not introduced) like Weaving, Jun, and Odalis. And for Ridge Racer, there's not much to say, I always love those cars and I still see them pop up every now and then in another Bandai Namco game. It's style is irreplaceable, and I still vibe to it's music whenever I get the chance to. Absolutely cooked, man. Can't wait for your next video.
ridge racer influences multiple indie racing games either partially or completely. One of the completely influenced games is inertial drift. You start the game and immediately doing touge style time attack/racing. the other thing they influences underground djs and music artists like music in nightrunners prologue beta/trial. Also lowkey thinking that both grid series (especially 1 and 2) are might be influenced by ridge racers since the meta lines/cornering are drifting
One indie simple racer I like to give a shout out is Inertial Drift. A blend of night time street racing with Ridge racer 4 and unique twinstick control scheme for drifting.
Fun arcade racers then: Ridge Racer, Motorstorm, Burnout, Flatout, PGR, Midnight Club, wipEout, TXR, too many to count. Fun arcade racers now: Uh... TCM, maybe some indie racers, and possibly NFS, if you're somehow still into the new NFS games.
New Star GP Horizon Chase Turbo Mantis Burn Racing Hotshot Racing Those are all really fun IMO, I happened to think the new Crusin' game was disappointing....
the algorithm on youtube home recommended this video and... YO, DID YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT R4 WAS AND HOW AMAZING THE SOUNDTRACK IS? I love you already.
Ahh Ridge Racer PSP, my introduction to racing games as a whole, leaving me astonished with the style that it presents, then hearing the RRT4 intro, it was marvellous. I really wished Bandai Nampo would look back into redoing a ridge racer game
Blur can still have a sequel, just get rid of the license cars and songs, replace them with unique or replicated cars, get a banger composer for the music, tell Activision they have a Mario Kart Killer, Market and Release!
Realistically, I don't think we're gonna have a 'Mario Kart Killer" unless Nintendo literally goes under, but it would be nice to see a genuine competitor with it, I feel like we haven't had one since the 90's
This! To get back to the Blur we love, someone else may have to buy the license and use replicas like Burnout to save money and concentrate on the gameplay. Once it's a hit, they will have the budget for licensed cars and boom, the Blur sequel we need.
@@nostalgigamer @AB-fr2ei As much as I would love license cars and songs in Blur, they are an attractive ticking time bomb. Once the licenses run out, they will be D-listed until they can renew the licenses again. Just look at every Forza, NFS, Gran Turismo game we can't buy legally anymore, GTA can't even get their songs back for a remaster. Meanwhile Split Second is still purchasable! Just do what CarX does, model the real life car and then debadge it and give it a different name, COD does the same thing with their guns.
Speaking about how stylistic Ridge Racer Type 4, with its OST and menus, and mentioning Auto Modelista and NFS Unbound's cell shaded graphics for style, I feel like people have been missing out on Inertial Drift. It's a mix of R4 and Auto Modelista, with a strong focus on going as fast and looking as cool as you can while sliding through corners. The OST is heavily inspired by R4, but also has eurobeat - as any drifting game should. It's also one of those "easy to pick up, high skill ceiling to master" games, and always fun to chase a faster time around the tracks.
Motorstorm Apocalypse is my favorite one due to the crazy spectacle they pulled off with the PS3, but that’s also it’s downfall because once you see it a few times, it no longer feels like a spectacle. Still very impressive to see.
I love those games too, but I think Pacific rift would be my favorite. Felt like I crashed too much into stuff with all that was going on in apocalypse. Still love it tho
I still play Apocalypse to this day. Its a timeless racer, and somehow runs better than Pacific Rift. The main thing holding it back is the fact that they locked customizatiom behind the multiplayer, which is never a good idea tbh
One series you missed on your list (that I've been coincidentally playing through in full recently) is the Rush games: San Francisco Rush, Rush 2, and Rush 2049. They focus more on searching each track to find shortcuts and secrets, and pulling off over the top stunts (which the series took advantage of after the first game by introducing a dedicated Stunt Mode.) The main gimmick of the franchise is "moon" gravity, letting you catch massive air off even the smallest jump. There are no licensed cars or anything, but it's a very fun and stylish series in the vein of the other ones you talked about in this video.
Amazing video! Just a few shortcomings on Split/Second though! As someone who owns the game on Xbox 360 and on PC because I simply love it (and it was friggin cheap on Steam once), it is a bit deeper than you initially let on. But yes, the game is completely borked graphics/controls wise unless you use a 1080p screen with an Xbox 360 controller. It's like a direct 360 port. 1. The actions/traps/shortcuts arent supposed to be a "you always wreck your opponents with it"-card. You need to select and carefully choose which ones you use throughout a race. Besides that, most tracks allow you to completely alter a course by waiting for the bar to fill up right to the end and then hitting that one. Sometimes a massive thing happens that will wreck everyone or it will 'only' change the course completely. This really changes up the strategy completely and makes the game slightly less boring because it will open up a whole new way to drive through a track. 2. There are 3 types of cars: The grippy racers, the slidey drifters and the burly can-take-a-few-hits SUVs. The stats dont really line up with how they drive though. And fun fact: If you are good at drifting, you can drift faster than you can drive straight... Which is ridiculous, but fun in a way. Also, the drifters are just OP and they dont understeer as nearly as much as the other 2. The game feels like it was completely rushed out to market only to let it die slowly... Which is sad. Because there is a whole story element attached to it. A whole sort of "death race-esque" vibe where the racing crash/death spectacle became the number 1 program on TV with sponsors, bets and more. They hint towards these cut story content a lot, but you are never able to experience it fully... And if you want to experience Flatout (1, 2 + ultimate carnage) in all its glory: Trail Out and Wreckfest. (Altough Wreckfest is more of a "simcade" so to speak). But you covered Wreckfest. But not Trail Out ;)
Honestly I didnt gave much to Ridge Racer, but after listening to the soundtrack I felt like someone slapped me with a saxophone on the face, and I like it. I find unreal how a _racing_ game, a genre not even that large compared to other genres has that level of musical quality
As one of the people who mentioned Flatout before... Woooo, finally! Shame you didn't enjoy the soundtrack loads (I admit Nickleback was an unusual choice but I'll argue that Flat on the Floor is one of their best songs) but glad you enjoyed it. It's surprisingly how well the damage model has held up after all this time tbh. I played the hell out of Wreckfest too when i got that, and im very much hoping they make a sequal.. it certainly did well enough to justify one.
I know that this is a 'racing game' video, and I know that you may perhaps not be all that interested in games I'm about to talk about but... one of those genres, simulators, has two games I am especially fond of for reasons that those games are simple on the surface, but absolutely revel in their complexity. I wish you would at some point talk about Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. Those games are absolute epitome of quality and their chill, relaxing gameplay is simply unmatched by other very 'try hard' simulators that fail to emulate what SCS Software has done. I believe the history and constant support over nearly 12 years of this game on the market, how it changed and keeps changing is worth talking about, because it's fascinating.
I’m sad about the changes Gran Turismo has gone through over the years. I loved GT3 through 5 but once 6 came around I really didn’t like it. I never picked up Gran Turismo Sport or GT7.
GT7 is great as long as you go into it and let go of the fact that you won’t have the old school career/license grind style campaign. (I just replay GT4 when I need my fix) but gT7 in VR with a wheel is something I play at least 2-3 times a month
GT went in the direction of a game all about racing itself instead of a collectathon all about cars, and it's understandable as nowadays it would be hard to pull carlists that are impressive enough compared to the competition, and the racing itself is some of the best wheel to wheel you can get outside of more serious sims out there. I'm glad they did what they did, because it let them not fade into irrelevance like Forza Motorsport.
bro thank you so much for unlocking this childhood memory, i used to play motorstorm arctic edge on a broken ps2 my dad had when i was 9 years old and now that im 17 i was watching this video when suddenly a wave of nostalgia hit me as i finally found out what game i was looking for all this time and i managed to get it working just now, oh the nostalgia you have no idea how thankful i am for this video
There is a game called grip that I think it fits into this category, the main reason why I like that game is that you are able to drive up side down and in any wall or ceiling, however I think that the tracks could have a more experiment design, but there is a good amount of tracks and the game can get really cheap on steam
fwiw, based on the specific complaints you have, and the footage you showed, i think you’re turning incorrectly in split/second. all of the cars have a unique and very weird drifting model, and the reason you feel like you’re understeering is because you’re supposed to - usually even required to - drift all of those sharp curves.
The Boost mechanic also was in a Wii launch title racing game called Excite Truck, which was released in 2006. It functions the exact same way with boosting too long blowing up your car and driving through water cooling it. The UI even looks similar. Edit: Also, FUEL Mentioned.
Astounded you didn't even mention Rage Racer (aka Ridge Racer 3) it has the same type of vibe, but a pseudo-Gran Turismo approach with its career mode, money, and tuning. Also the very first instance of a "decal editor" that I can remember. As always, it also has a banging soundtrack.
as for the problems you had with flatout 2's stunt mode, it's not made very clear by the game but using the control stick to adjust your ragdoll's trajectory slows down your forwards momentum slightly, which you can sometimes use to your advantage.
I loved both of the juiced games they were just so simple and fun to me. Currently playing through juiced 2 now and it’s like how did move away from those types of games 😔
I like Juiced 1, but I end up liking Juiced 2 less and less as time progresses since it just feels like a shittier ProStreet (a flawed game carried by art direction in of itself).
The Flatout legacy also lives on through a game called Trail Out which is this oddly batshit game that adds elements of Split Second (mostly the spectacle of explosions and gunships) to the game. Its a bit of a mess but its very endearing to me.
It's not just the quality of this guy's videos,but also the quantity of his all his content... giving best critiques in my opinion I love your Content.
I was thinking recently I wish there were games these days like the early need for speed games where you just pick a cool car and a track (usually based on a location somewhere in the world) and race. No open world, no special challenges, no weapons etc.
As someone who has played Flatout 2 and FlatOut UC, i can honestly say that this was, and still is, one of the best-aging racing games ive ever played. it's timeless in its own right.
The thing that holds flatout 1 and 2 back from being truly great is their difficulty. They are simply too difficult for the general racing fan. The frustration/fun ratio is ill-adjusted too far to the frustration side. I've found this true with most bugbear games...as great as they are.
Not exactly a racing game but Onrush had this effect for me. It was simple and easy to learn, hard to master. With an interesting spin on rally racing. Though it would have benefitted from a lap racing mode or two. I loved Onrush when I played it from launch. I can also understand why it fell through.
8:20 See that's the thing. Criterion *WANTED* to go full cel-shaded with the game (similar to Auto Modellista) during development, but ultimately changed course when play testers for the game reacted unfavourably to the choice, resulting in the hybrid we ended up. And now look at the more recent updates, where they are downplaying much of the unique visuals for the more 'realistic' look, because people didn't like the effects and the stuff they kept which I felt atleast gave Unbound more of a unique identity.
Knowing how the players reacted, I think I would have preferred something more along the lines of a modernized Carbon aesthetically than what we got if full cell shading was off the table.
@@Fastminer07 But can't say the reaction was any surprise, however. NFS is a long running franchise that was always grounded in realism (at least in terms of art direction). To see an Auto Modellista "knockoff" all of a sudden must be pretty alienating for longtime fans. To give proper context to my comment, look at the Zelda: Wind Waker fiasco when it came out. A lot of Zelda fans didn't stomach the stylistic cel-shaded graphics and gave the game a lot of flak for it... It's why Nintendo was forced to go back to a more realistic dark-fantasy aesthetic with their next entry in the series, Zelda: Twilight Princess.
@@Fastminer07 Alright. I know it's been three weeks since I commented this, but now I've got another question. I noticed that FlatOut 2 was included in this video. How did FlatOut 2 even die?
Your description of Blur, and feel of this video reminds me so much of Downhill Domination. It wasn't a bike simulator, it was a game. And was fun as hell, learn a few sections or just multiscreen battle your buddies in the bowl, it was always a blast
Oh I agree 100%. I miss the need for speeds and test drive unlimited games. I think it's a mistake to always go open world as a racing game. Just build good tracks first. You can still place them in an open world. But the most fun thin in forza horizon for example is just driving around in the open world. The racing is pretty bad. It should be the other way around. What I also absolutely need is an open world racing game with the physics of assetto corsa.
I can't disagree more with the Blur vs Split/Second take. The player-controlled hazards is still the most innovative gameplay mechanic in the genre. The Hyper focused UI was such a smart design choice too. Ngl the rest of your complaints are skill issues. Yes, I put a lot of time into the game but even when I only had an hour or two to start, I was taking out opponents and catching up after wrecking or making mistakes. Or maybe u should've tried harder to find a car that suits ur preferences?.. There's the stable but terrible turning trucks and SUVs, jack of all/master of none muscle cars, and then the quick/nimble/oversteer supercars. I remember buying the DLC Ryback Cyclone to compete with the meta Cobretti Slipstream bc I didn't like how the Slipstream drove. Meanwhile the physics in Blur never feel great, even in "grippy" or higher tier cars. I remember wrestling with the heavy weight of like, every car, trying to take turns the way I wanted. And u wanna talk about a lack of comeback mechanics? If you get too far behind, no item or shortcut will save u lmao Also it's sad that those games cannibalized each others sales. That, plus Activision ruthless sales demands and Disney backing out of publishing games (except for Disney Infinity).
I agree. Most of his points of criticism on Split Second's gameplay are actually his own skill issue. He should have reviewed the PS3 version too. The PC version is known to have technical issues. He didn't even say one word about Split Second's multiple other gamemodes aswell, while praising Blur's.
@@f1fan3000 right??? Detonator is the best time trial mode in any Racing game and the truck survival, while sometimes frustrating, had equally satisfying moments too. The backwards compatible 360 version on Series X is my go-to if I wanna relive the glory days haha
What I loveabout Blur is you can really feel the Project Gotham DNA: The style, the camera, the handling, and the fact that you needed to brake and manage oversteer on your drifts.
Trends in gaming almost never die forever. Just need to cool off for years. 3D platformers had a similar fate until "Hat in time" and "Mario Odyssey" came out. ALSO I know that you didn't compare them and just mentioned it but do not buy wreckfest if you are expecting it to be like flatout... In short. It's a sim derby game. MUCH slower in pace and destruction doesn't have that kick that flatout had. It's not bad, but I'm tired of people saying that "Wreckfest is the flatout successor".
Loved this video! I'm so happy u mentioned Blur! That game doesn't game as much recognition as it deserves! Me and my boys would go to a video game club (like an arcade but with PS3s, PS4s, Xbox 360s and Xbox Ones) to play Blur and couple other game. But Blur was the onlyracing game we played. Eventho couple of us had Xbox 360s with enough controllers to host 4 to 6 ppl, we'd still rather head to the videogame club cuz it was a whole new level of fun.
I just realized you havent done a video on unreal racing games. (Im calling them unreal as they are much more out there than fictional racing like Split Second and Forza) These games have racing as a core mechanic, but have different additional mechanics to them. There's Nitronic Rush and Distance, racing games with the unlimited but overheatable boost from Rally Point and Motorstorm, except the doors are wings and you can fly and the tracks are literally in 3D. Theres also the zero-g or anti-grav racers like Wipeout, BallisticNG, and Redout, that require the use of all joysticks and triggers to drive correctly. Would be cool to see your thoughts on these types of racing games.
I am not familiar with almost any of those games outside of their name and basic details, so it'll be a while before I tackle them, but I'm not opposed to it.
i feel like ambition is making us lose care and love for racing games, we really should start not searching for the full experience that doesn’t excel in anything particular in every single game but enjoying and creating fairly “limited” and very creative titles. Love the focus on music on this one, keep going
The object collision in Flatout being weird can be explained: the wheels don't interact with the loose debris on the track, only the car body does. Once you figure that out, collisions get a lot more predictable.
Fun fact: blur was supposed to have AN actual story mode. There are some cut cutscenes which included the characters actually speaking to each other (and a lot of cut content is still being found like cut boss cars, maps, and from what I heard there was supposed to be Aston Martin in as well)
Flatout 2 was the only game in which rubberbanding never bothered me. "Oh, Benton, you're catching up? Allow me to introduce you to THE WALL!"
Dude you don't even know how rubber banding works
Fo2 has one of the best balanced IA I've ever seen
Still playing, they even did an update last week...
don't forget Marteniz, she gets the wall to.
@@IztokRibicDJPICOwhat update are you talking about?
The reference with the thumbnail is SSS++ tier
It's even an Evo (although it's a 6 cause i took the pic from FH5)
It took me a moment but I got it. It's a god-tier reference
Didn’t get it, can someone explain? (I’m new to this channel and it amusing the amount of effort each video takes)
@@itsmemene2456 Seiji Iwaki Evo4
@@silverdashhd644 thanks a lot, you’re right ‼️ Didn’t notice at first sight
Fun fact, Blur is now abandonware, and can be freely downloaded and shared legally. Multiplayer still works too
I had to re-purchase for a more authentic shot of nostalgia 😆
Really???
Really???
There's no such thing unless the publisher says so.
@@rodrigogirao8344 the whole point of abandonware is that once it gets ignored by the original owner of the intellectual property users are free to do their own thing, not that it made any difference as it hasn't prevented anyone from doing it before it became such...
Funny thing worth mentioning: the Blur and Split/Second staff both went to Sumo Digital when their studios closed. They later ended up developing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which is also super underrated.
Now that u say that they feel like they’re on the same engine
That explains everything! That game was incredible!
No way! Had no idea. Never got around to trying Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed before, now I need to get myself a copy!
You gotta point about that. I have the Sega game, blur, and s/s on PC. I believe they are hype games
Sumo Digital also worked as a support studio for Hotshot racing
The game even made the switch from the Unity engine to the Sumo Digital engine
FlatOut 2 Mentioned
fun fact: The boost explosion in motorstorm propels you forwards. This means you can technically use it to push you across the finish line faster
Which I used so often to turn 1st in the last seconds🤣😂🤣😂🤣👍
True, won several races thanks to that.
I remember that in Arctic Edge there was an achievement that was unlocked by winning the race due to an explotion.
The AI does it too
I use that method quite frequently on Pacific Rift as well.😂
The ridge racer 7 community especially in Japan is still strong even today. It makes you wonder why Namco still decided to axe the whole thing
Because it came out in an era where japan was obsessed with western sales numbers and nothing else. (Thanks Phil Fish… look it up. Its all due to his gdc talk)
@@billyj.causeyvideoguy7361 which ended up with Unbounded.. Yeah ig that makes sense now
RR7 online is still active, right?
This is not the only time Namco decided to put Ridge racer franchise on the chopping blocks project cars too meet the same fate after the middle reception of the third game as well as the disasters launch of fast and furious crossroads and Bandai namco sold slightly mad studios to codemasters in early 2021 in that that same year EA bought Codemasters which means that slightly mad Studios is fused with codemasters
Namco only cares about Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune on arcades when it comes to the racing games.
NIGHTRUNNERS MENTIONED
WHAT THE FUCK IS ENGINE COOLING
WE MAKING DAISUKE BANKRUPT WITH THIS HEAT 🔥🔥🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
WERE VIBING TO EMOTION ENGINE ALONG THE WAY🔥🔥🗣️
WE ARE UNLOCKING THE UNAVAILABLE CARS IN THE PROLOGUE WITH THIS ONE 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥
not me redlining my 180sx for 3 straight minutes 💀
The descriptions on some of the used cars in that game are hilarious
I miss racing games like,
RUSH
RallySport Challenge,
Flatout 1 & 2,
The earlier Burnout games,
NFS: Hot Pursuit (original), Underground 1,2, and Most Wanted.
Dirt 1 & 2
The Original GRID
Colin McRae Rally 4
Original Grid was so good
the underground games are irredeemable trash that ruined the franchise to this day. nfs used to be a series of driving super cars and concept cars through gorgous environments and it devolved into open world drivel with riced up civics with horrible handling.
Ridge Racer Type 4
Burnout 2
NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2)
TOCA 2
NFS: Underground
Rush was the ultimate example of a simple racing game IMO.
I know that the video is kind of about a different style of arcade racing, but I am very grateful that we have Trackmania in this day and age. Out of all the options that are available, this is the only racing game that scratches the itch for easy to learn, hard to master, easy to hop on, hard to hop off game...
I'm tired of all the seriousness and effort being put into sim racers, with the arcade genre being reduced to festival "you're the winner" racers and asphalt feeling drift fests.
@@ileutur6863 Well at least modern NFS isn't like this, for the most part anyway. You still get Cops, an NFS Hot Pursuit inspired Cops VS Racers update for NFS Unbound is coming in just over a month from now. The current NFS Unbound update, Volume. 7, is NFS Underground inspired, with drag races, a new drift handling model. And there are even more stuff to look forward to.
I'm also hoping they add all, or at least a lot of the new Year 2 Roadmap content to the singleplayer because NFS Unbound's singleplayer is kind of neglected in terms of content. At least for now. Because if we give Criterion Games enough polite constructive criticism and feedback, then we may see this being changed relatively soon.
fr bruh im mad how watered down the crew and forza horizon became
Modern arcade genre feeling like some hugbox shit where you're constantly being showered with supercars and validation.
Man, screw that. Where are the snobbish opponents? Why can I no longer start with a beaten down econobox and then work my way up to the luxury stuff?
It's all so tiresome.
@@DominatorLegendWorking your way up sounds tiresome. People's lives are too bad enough to want to have to start from the bottom in a video game, which is supposed to be an escape from their rotten lives. It's easy to blame greedy corporations, but to be honest, think about what people want to play after a hard day's bullshit. Challenge the player? Screw that. Life's challenging enough as is. We need an escape from that challenge.
I have nothing against challenging video games, but life is already challenging enough as is.
@@MrGamelover23bro don't mix up reality with games. "working your way up" in a racing game is still an escapist fantasy. you won't get a supercar irl by street racing with your fiat and taking your opponent's cars and escaping cops.
game challenges are not like real life challenges. "real life is hard enough" is a very sad excuse for accepting the neutered, soulless games of today.
As a indie racing game developer, I really think that this kind of games will be brought by indie developers, since we dont have the resources and goal to achieve the most money making racing game, but just want to put our ideas out there, mostly inspired by 2010 games since that the time we grew up!
Indie games sucks I need longevity and lots of features and a huge online player base sorry their is no going back I can't even have fun racing ai anymore I'm to good
There's a game series you didn't mention that could also fit very well in this category: WipEout. It was released after the original F-Zero but improved greatly on that formula imo. It's easy to learn in the slower speed classes but very challenging to master once you get to the faster ones, it feels genuinely thrilling to play.
And what amazes me the most about those games are the physics. The ships have a realistic handling and weight without losing the "arcadey" feel of it. And i could also talk about the amazing soundtracks, the entire world building that feels like an actual attainable future at times, the backstory of the games, i could go on.
Sadly it's not around anymore (if you exclude the Omega Collection which is a remaster for the PS4) but i think there's rumors for a new game on the PS5, hopefully that's true. Nonetheless, it also has an amazing spiritual sucessor and great tribute to the earlier games called BallisticNG, you should give it a try.
Split Second, Blur & Ridge Racer are all game series i wish came back
But we all know they won't
But i had my fair share of memories with them
Like Gaben said: "Fun is obtained not throught realism, but reinforcement."
Games evolve Into simulations. There was a time were people were i to this or that 😅
man, if mw 2012 had been released with another name instead of mw, it wouldnt get that much hate as it gotten
I personally always think of it as an open world high stakes remake, which would be quite fitting cause mw2012 also came after hot pursuit
On steam MW12 is overall positive reviewed on steam
I still hate them for calling it that. And haven't bought a single nfs after that title they really alienated old fans with crappy criterion/ghost games driving style
All of their games are not fun to drive. Blackbox was the best dev of arcade racers.
@@FencelineFilms new generation replaces us old fans that's why noe they have nostalgia for a title that ruined the entire series
@@FencelineFilms You'd have to have been there at the time it released and have experience with the original Most Wanted to understand what a fundamental disappointment it was given 2012 did not live up to the bar set by 2005.
If you were also a Burnout fan you'd be doubly disappointed because the studio behind those games was made to work on a game that ALSO doesn't live up to a Burnout-like experience.
That just set up the stage for what EA and the other major publishers would do to franchise sequels moving forward. Scaled down and mediocre for every other iteration.
I count Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 a "simple racing game", due to its lack of story and straightforward gameplay. Little customization, just pure Racers vs Cops, and it's one of the best games i've played in a long time. I've put over 2500+ hours into the Hot Pursuit Remastered, it's just simple yet soo easy to pick up and play for a few hours. And for me atleast, that's all I need.
I know it's extremely unlikely to happen, but i'd like Criterion to give the Hot Pursuit/Rivals style of gameplay another shot, especially after the disappointment that was Unbound. Despite them continuing support on the game, I think Criterion need to take a step back on the all out tuner shit and give us something more straightforward for the next game.
The Blackbox fanboys hate the Hot Pursuit games because of the lack of ugly bodykits and cheesy storylines
@@0047sssssexactly
YOU
what are YOU doing in the comments of a video im watching a day after i encounter you in an online lobby
@@mayflower4645 Uhh... surprise?! lol what can I say, man? I''ve been told i'm a pretty recognizable guy 😂
I like Hot Pursuit the game and videos on it, so you might find me elsewhere lol
@@0047sssss They probably hate it because there's barely anything to the game, and neither the driving or the map itself is interesting enough for most people to encourage just driving around.
That jazzy techno dnb style of the 90's will never be topped
That reference you made with the thumbnail alone is pure cinema. I actually genuinely hope for you to keep getting further success despite not watching the video yet.
So this is where you were saving up FlatOut, Ridge Racer, etc.
yup
Flatout kinda revived in form of Trail Out
@@Fastminer07 hey, dude. have you heard about Carx? is like a studio that made racing games for mobile, and there's one called "carx drift racing Lite". which is like the "first ever" game of this franchise :)
@megajuanph11 Nah trail out did so badly what Flatout 2 did so well. Flatout 2 is a proper, almost simcade style racing game underneath. All the issues mentioned in this review are just skill ones. Trail out dumbes down the entire thing into a mindless crash-a-ton.
@@AnalogSins As a Flatout 2 enjoyer that has played it since 2006, its kinda both a skill issue and the game being a proper Eurojank game when it comes to physics
Well I m still playing Flatout 2 about 11 years (5-16) and still getting same enjoyment. I got this game Steam version at 2023 for respect because it was my childhood. Hey at least we got Trailout which is similar to Flatout 2
And Wreckfest ;)
On New Years Day 2020 I fulfilled my ultimate Gamer Fantasy.
Some of the British Formula 1 TH-camrs I watch were having a live stream playing Wreckfest with 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button. I figured out what server they were playing on and I raced Jenson in Wreckfest!
Another very good video man. If I’m gonna throw my two cents in here I think most popular genres have swayed away from simple games as consoles and PCs get more powerful. Many people don’t look at how fun a game is compared to how much content it has even if it’s not that fun. Looking at you Assassins Creed.
Yeah that's fair, I got the idea for this video partially from Emplemon's video where he talks about the death of simple games, and even though all the examples he gave were racing games, the idea applies to almost any genre
Ridge Racer Type 4 for me is amazing.
I also noticed some of your videos is using the music from this game.
That "Move Me" music (6:45) from the game is the one I always use in the Final of Grand Prix Mode when completing all the teams. That feeling when the music plays really just hit different that I can't just explain how well it is back when I was a kid.
Until now I play the game again as an adult, understanding the small story of this game then I've realized why this music hits me deep and it became one of my best nostalgia ever.
In the Grand Prix mode, the Real Racing Roots '99 Grand Prix Final was set to be in the night on December 31st, 1999. Fireworks being sent off the sky in the final lap of the race to pump out the last moments of Real Racing Roots '99, together with the New Year's Eve celebration. That momentum + "Move Me" music + The win, plus the changing era to 2000. That combo is something I can't forgot for such a simple game.
If you loved Flatout 2, you should play Ultimate Carnage! It's basically a 7th gen port of flatout 2 with more gamemodes (but still including the original race career!) and 12 racers instead of 8. More chaos and more fun!
played the hell out of it, it's sooooo good
It even recently received a "Collectors Edition" update, making it fully verified on Steam Deck, removing Games for Windows LIVE DRM, adding achievements and fixing some bugs.
Don't you find the physics to feel inferior to 2?
@@geoffdb8118 Heavier cars, and "less complex" physics. Ulimate carnage is stil very good, but about 30% dumber physics compared to FO2 imho. Thats why i stick to FO2 even if online playing bugs pissing me of every day :)
it always warms my heart to see blur get mentioned in something. I always felt it was a massively underrated game, it was the only racing game I felt that ever captured the same kinda fun goofy magic mario kart has.
Best car game of all time
Anti-Gravity-Racer still follow your categories of simple racing games, they are easy to pick up but hard to master, ooze style and focus on racing.
Some recommendations:
Both Redout
BallisticNG
Fast RMX
Did they kill off WipeOut? Or do they plan to revisit the series? Think that HD collection was the last thing they did
Don't forget the upcoming Aero GPX
@@kyledodson2992omega collection for the ps4 is the last thing they did. Too bad Sony killed Studio Liverpool after Wipeout 2048
WipEout 🤝 Ridge Racer
both racing games that has lots of great techno & hardcore music
@@PokaroquaiI like to play WipEout while listening to Ridge Racer music. Somehow it fits
I appreciate you mentioning the names of such memorable franchises! Thanks for introducing me to games i didn't know, and helping to preserve the name and history of these games!
I miss them really much.
Wipeout, baby, comeback!
...too bad sony closed Studio Liverpool.
Another one that might count would be the WipEout series. It’s an antigrav racer though, which is basically its own genre, but that aside I think it basically meets all the criteria
Fun fact there is a spiritual successor to Flatout called Trail Out and its a choppy on thevedges but the same adrenaline filled fun
IDK how you people can recommend Trail out. Even if its better than any Flatout game after Ultimate Carnage, for me, trailout feels trash. Played it for an hour, and uninstalled. I tried hard to appreciate the attemt to create a new game like Flatout2, but failed to stand the inferiority after an hour.
Bonus points that you mentioned split/second! By far one of my favourite arcade racing games BUT I did use a trainer to always have a full power up bar lol
Was happy to see the Night Runners clip near the end, one I'm really excited for.
BLUR MENTIONED WOOOOO
Man, that Ball_Fondler guy really came in clutch by forcing you to play the absolute GOAT of racing games
Another excellent video. Really happy to see Motorstorm in this review as I feel it is way to frequently neglected likely due to exclusivity. One of my favorite things to do in that game is using the boost to the point of destruction of the vehicle as your wreckage would still trip the start finish and at least in the first game it usually resulted in your wreckage getting a forward boost to the line. I had actually got some use out of it in the later races of the game. Also I am not sure if you have heard of it but for a quality indy racer that came out recently that I noticed you didn't mention, Might I recommend Art of Rally. Made by the creators of Absolute Drift with a more refined physics engine, downright awesome music, and an alternate history spin on rally with group b not getting axed and group s proceeding accordingly. It was pure delight after about 10 or so minutes adjusting to the high camera perspective. I know there are PC mods for it that give it a more "Normal" 3rd person perspective as well.
th-cam.com/video/bQjhP0uGc8I/w-d-xo.html
Did not know about the Blur Hz sound issue, thanks man! Great vid as always!
28:09 hearing you talk about this specific type of boost mechanic reminds me of another game that had it, It's called 'distance: survival racing'. It's not a racing game but I think you should definitely look into it if you have time.
great video as always!
I'll never forget when split second and Blur came out. Loved them.
I miss the days of SEGA-style racing games like Sega Rally and Daytona USA.
There is a spiritual successor for Sega Rally in the works by the way, currently under the working title "Over Jump Rally".
WOOO BLUR!! I’m so glad you mentioned that game, to this day I can’t think of another racing game that feels like just like Blur. If only we actually got Blur 2
I still have hope the franchise gets revived or adapted by another studio like Flatout to Wreckfest. Its so incredibly unique and fun, i am happy my dad picked it up when i was a kid. I have the CD/DVD disc in the original packaging to this day. It even ran on my first shitty PC with a Xeon dual core, 9500GT and 3gb RAM on Windows XP and it looked great while running very smoothly. The campaign was great and i remember playing that game with my friends and with my dad on on the same keyboard split screen. This and a few other games are the only reason why i still have an optical drive in my PC.
I thought I heard there was an attempt to make _Blur 2,_ but the developer went belly-up. ☹️
Been finally looking forward for mentions of Ridge Racer and Blur! You did a fantastic job with the R4 music being included.
Another bit I liked about Blur were the characters, even though there's not much to them. But it turns out it used to have an actual Story Mode with cutscenes that revolved around a group of characters traveling around the world, meeting new rivals. And it always bothered me how all of it got scrapped since it seems like it was more or less ready. It definitely would've made the career much more interesting to go through rather than the brief introductions to the events being set up by set characters. I actually played a mobile version of Blur so I even learned about characters that originally don't exist (or rather, not introduced) like Weaving, Jun, and Odalis.
And for Ridge Racer, there's not much to say, I always love those cars and I still see them pop up every now and then in another Bandai Namco game. It's style is irreplaceable, and I still vibe to it's music whenever I get the chance to.
Absolutely cooked, man. Can't wait for your next video.
ridge racer influences multiple indie racing games either partially or completely.
One of the completely influenced games is inertial drift. You start the game and immediately doing touge style time attack/racing.
the other thing they influences underground djs and music artists like music in nightrunners prologue beta/trial. Also lowkey thinking that both grid series (especially 1 and 2) are might be influenced by ridge racers since the meta lines/cornering are drifting
One indie simple racer I like to give a shout out is Inertial Drift. A blend of night time street racing with Ridge racer 4 and unique twinstick control scheme for drifting.
Fun arcade racers then: Ridge Racer, Motorstorm, Burnout, Flatout, PGR, Midnight Club, wipEout, TXR, too many to count.
Fun arcade racers now: Uh... TCM, maybe some indie racers, and possibly NFS, if you're somehow still into the new NFS games.
New Star GP
Horizon Chase Turbo
Mantis Burn Racing
Hotshot Racing
Those are all really fun IMO, I happened to think the new Crusin' game was disappointing....
Don't forget RedOut!
@@alaeriia01 RC De Go!
Maximum Tune and Initial D Arcade Stage are still around
the algorithm on youtube home recommended this video and... YO, DID YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT R4 WAS AND HOW AMAZING THE SOUNDTRACK IS? I love you already.
I miss blur so much, i remember playing with my friends and cousins.
Ahh Ridge Racer PSP, my introduction to racing games as a whole, leaving me astonished with the style that it presents, then hearing the RRT4 intro, it was marvellous. I really wished Bandai Nampo would look back into redoing a ridge racer game
Blur can still have a sequel, just get rid of the license cars and songs, replace them with unique or replicated cars, get a banger composer for the music, tell Activision they have a Mario Kart Killer, Market and Release!
Realistically, I don't think we're gonna have a 'Mario Kart Killer" unless Nintendo literally goes under, but it would be nice to see a genuine competitor with it, I feel like we haven't had one since the 90's
Hell no
I want to have real cars
This!
To get back to the Blur we love, someone else may have to buy the license and use replicas like Burnout to save money and concentrate on the gameplay. Once it's a hit, they will have the budget for licensed cars and boom, the Blur sequel we need.
@@nostalgigamer @AB-fr2ei As much as I would love license cars and songs in Blur, they are an attractive ticking time bomb. Once the licenses run out, they will be D-listed until they can renew the licenses again. Just look at every Forza, NFS, Gran Turismo game we can't buy legally anymore, GTA can't even get their songs back for a remaster. Meanwhile Split Second is still purchasable!
Just do what CarX does, model the real life car and then debadge it and give it a different name, COD does the same thing with their guns.
Holy cow, I got fullbody goosebumps at the Ridge Racer 4 intro. Brings back memories…
I want a good looking game. Doesn't necessarily mean it has to look realistic. Unfortunately real life optics seem to be the ultimate goal today.
Speaking about how stylistic Ridge Racer Type 4, with its OST and menus, and mentioning Auto Modelista and NFS Unbound's cell shaded graphics for style, I feel like people have been missing out on Inertial Drift.
It's a mix of R4 and Auto Modelista, with a strong focus on going as fast and looking as cool as you can while sliding through corners.
The OST is heavily inspired by R4, but also has eurobeat - as any drifting game should.
It's also one of those "easy to pick up, high skill ceiling to master" games, and always fun to chase a faster time around the tracks.
Motorstorm Apocalypse is my favorite one due to the crazy spectacle they pulled off with the PS3, but that’s also it’s downfall because once you see it a few times, it no longer feels like a spectacle.
Still very impressive to see.
I love those games too, but I think Pacific rift would be my favorite. Felt like I crashed too much into stuff with all that was going on in apocalypse. Still love it tho
I still play Apocalypse to this day. Its a timeless racer, and somehow runs better than Pacific Rift. The main thing holding it back is the fact that they locked customizatiom behind the multiplayer, which is never a good idea tbh
I like to play Apocalypse once every few years. It keeps that immersive feeling from fading away.
One series you missed on your list (that I've been coincidentally playing through in full recently) is the Rush games: San Francisco Rush, Rush 2, and Rush 2049. They focus more on searching each track to find shortcuts and secrets, and pulling off over the top stunts (which the series took advantage of after the first game by introducing a dedicated Stunt Mode.) The main gimmick of the franchise is "moon" gravity, letting you catch massive air off even the smallest jump. There are no licensed cars or anything, but it's a very fun and stylish series in the vein of the other ones you talked about in this video.
Amazing video!
Just a few shortcomings on Split/Second though!
As someone who owns the game on Xbox 360 and on PC because I simply love it (and it was friggin cheap on Steam once), it is a bit deeper than you initially let on.
But yes, the game is completely borked graphics/controls wise unless you use a 1080p screen with an Xbox 360 controller. It's like a direct 360 port.
1. The actions/traps/shortcuts arent supposed to be a "you always wreck your opponents with it"-card. You need to select and carefully choose which ones you use throughout a race. Besides that, most tracks allow you to completely alter a course by waiting for the bar to fill up right to the end and then hitting that one. Sometimes a massive thing happens that will wreck everyone or it will 'only' change the course completely. This really changes up the strategy completely and makes the game slightly less boring because it will open up a whole new way to drive through a track.
2. There are 3 types of cars: The grippy racers, the slidey drifters and the burly can-take-a-few-hits SUVs. The stats dont really line up with how they drive though. And fun fact: If you are good at drifting, you can drift faster than you can drive straight... Which is ridiculous, but fun in a way. Also, the drifters are just OP and they dont understeer as nearly as much as the other 2.
The game feels like it was completely rushed out to market only to let it die slowly... Which is sad. Because there is a whole story element attached to it. A whole sort of "death race-esque" vibe where the racing crash/death spectacle became the number 1 program on TV with sponsors, bets and more. They hint towards these cut story content a lot, but you are never able to experience it fully...
And if you want to experience Flatout (1, 2 + ultimate carnage) in all its glory: Trail Out and Wreckfest. (Altough Wreckfest is more of a "simcade" so to speak). But you covered Wreckfest. But not Trail Out ;)
Honestly I didnt gave much to Ridge Racer, but after listening to the soundtrack I felt like someone slapped me with a saxophone on the face, and I like it. I find unreal how a _racing_ game, a genre not even that large compared to other genres has that level of musical quality
As one of the people who mentioned Flatout before...
Woooo, finally!
Shame you didn't enjoy the soundtrack loads (I admit Nickleback was an unusual choice but I'll argue that Flat on the Floor is one of their best songs) but glad you enjoyed it.
It's surprisingly how well the damage model has held up after all this time tbh.
I played the hell out of Wreckfest too when i got that, and im very much hoping they make a sequal.. it certainly did well enough to justify one.
That little interlude at 9:00 took me somewhere familiar, warm and fuzzy, yet I haven't played Ridge Racer.
I know that this is a 'racing game' video, and I know that you may perhaps not be all that interested in games I'm about to talk about but... one of those genres, simulators, has two games I am especially fond of for reasons that those games are simple on the surface, but absolutely revel in their complexity.
I wish you would at some point talk about Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator. Those games are absolute epitome of quality and their chill, relaxing gameplay is simply unmatched by other very 'try hard' simulators that fail to emulate what SCS Software has done.
I believe the history and constant support over nearly 12 years of this game on the market, how it changed and keeps changing is worth talking about, because it's fascinating.
It's not really my kind of thing, but i definitely can get the appeal of it, and I might even make a dedicated video on it at some point.
Hey, what's the name of the song that starts playing at 12:03?
There's a music list at the end
@Fastminer07 thanks for the info man, great video as always!
I’m sad about the changes Gran Turismo has gone through over the years. I loved GT3 through 5 but once 6 came around I really didn’t like it. I never picked up Gran Turismo Sport or GT7.
GT7 is great as long as you go into it and let go of the fact that you won’t have the old school career/license grind style campaign. (I just replay GT4 when I need my fix) but gT7 in VR with a wheel is something I play at least 2-3 times a month
GT went in the direction of a game all about racing itself instead of a collectathon all about cars, and it's understandable as nowadays it would be hard to pull carlists that are impressive enough compared to the competition, and the racing itself is some of the best wheel to wheel you can get outside of more serious sims out there. I'm glad they did what they did, because it let them not fade into irrelevance like Forza Motorsport.
bro thank you so much for unlocking this childhood memory, i used to play motorstorm arctic edge on a broken ps2 my dad had when i was 9 years old and now that im 17 i was watching this video when suddenly a wave of nostalgia hit me as i finally found out what game i was looking for all this time and i managed to get it working just now, oh the nostalgia you have no idea how thankful i am for this video
I forgot how good Ridge Racer 4 is as a total package.
The campaign is a little lacking, and unlike modern racers, there's no customization or tuning, but outside of that, it's still an amazing experience
There is a game called grip that I think it fits into this category, the main reason why I like that game is that you are able to drive up side down and in any wall or ceiling, however I think that the tracks could have a more experiment design, but there is a good amount of tracks and the game can get really cheap on steam
fwiw, based on the specific complaints you have, and the footage you showed, i think you’re turning incorrectly in split/second. all of the cars have a unique and very weird drifting model, and the reason you feel like you’re understeering is because you’re supposed to - usually even required to - drift all of those sharp curves.
The Boost mechanic also was in a Wii launch title racing game called Excite Truck, which was released in 2006. It functions the exact same way with boosting too long blowing up your car and driving through water cooling it. The UI even looks similar.
Edit: Also, FUEL Mentioned.
Astounded you didn't even mention Rage Racer (aka Ridge Racer 3) it has the same type of vibe, but a pseudo-Gran Turismo approach with its career mode, money, and tuning. Also the very first instance of a "decal editor" that I can remember. As always, it also has a banging soundtrack.
as for the problems you had with flatout 2's stunt mode, it's not made very clear by the game but using the control stick to adjust your ragdoll's trajectory slows down your forwards momentum slightly, which you can sometimes use to your advantage.
I loved both of the juiced games they were just so simple and fun to me. Currently playing through juiced 2 now and it’s like how did move away from those types of games 😔
Juiced 2 was such a good game. I’m well overdue for another playthrough.
I like Juiced 1, but I end up liking Juiced 2 less and less as time progresses since it just feels like a shittier ProStreet (a flawed game carried by art direction in of itself).
im surprised that WipEout wasnt mentioned either beside, in place of blur, or inbetween both blur and ridge racer.
The Flatout legacy also lives on through a game called Trail Out which is this oddly batshit game that adds elements of Split Second (mostly the spectacle of explosions and gunships) to the game. Its a bit of a mess but its very endearing to me.
this is why I love Dirt Rally, even though it's a sim, the process is just select an event, select a car, and then go race
It's not just the quality of this guy's videos,but also the quantity of his all his content... giving best critiques in my opinion
I love your Content.
I was thinking recently I wish there were games these days like the early need for speed games where you just pick a cool car and a track (usually based on a location somewhere in the world) and race. No open world, no special challenges, no weapons etc.
As someone who has played Flatout 2 and FlatOut UC, i can honestly say that this was, and still is, one of the best-aging racing games ive ever played. it's timeless in its own right.
The thing that holds flatout 1 and 2 back from being truly great is their difficulty. They are simply too difficult for the general racing fan. The frustration/fun ratio is ill-adjusted too far to the frustration side. I've found this true with most bugbear games...as great as they are.
One of the modern simple racers that comes to mind is Circuit Superstars. Very cool and easy to play hard to master type of game
Blur was & still is the only racing game i ever liked & actually enjoyed
28:08 The same mechanic can also be found in 'Distance' from 2014 - speaking of, I think it also belongs on this list of games.
The video starts talking about the title subject "death of simple racing games" at about 29:30. The rest is just mini reviews of a bunch of games.
Only logical comment, lol
Good video, happy to say I have most of the games mentioned here.
Definitely my favourite genre of racer.
Blur was a rare gem. Also, I lived for the ragdoll physics in FlatOut 2. What a great era it was.
Not exactly a racing game but Onrush had this effect for me. It was simple and easy to learn, hard to master.
With an interesting spin on rally racing. Though it would have benefitted from a lap racing mode or two.
I loved Onrush when I played it from launch. I can also understand why it fell through.
8:20 See that's the thing. Criterion *WANTED* to go full cel-shaded with the game (similar to Auto Modellista) during development, but ultimately changed course when play testers for the game reacted unfavourably to the choice, resulting in the hybrid we ended up.
And now look at the more recent updates, where they are downplaying much of the unique visuals for the more 'realistic' look, because people didn't like the effects and the stuff they kept which I felt atleast gave Unbound more of a unique identity.
Knowing how the players reacted, I think I would have preferred something more along the lines of a modernized Carbon aesthetically than what we got if full cell shading was off the table.
@@Fastminer07 But can't say the reaction was any surprise, however. NFS is a long running franchise that was always grounded in realism (at least in terms of art direction). To see an Auto Modellista "knockoff" all of a sudden must be pretty alienating for longtime fans.
To give proper context to my comment, look at the Zelda: Wind Waker fiasco when it came out. A lot of Zelda fans didn't stomach the stylistic cel-shaded graphics and gave the game a lot of flak for it... It's why Nintendo was forced to go back to a more realistic dark-fantasy aesthetic with their next entry in the series, Zelda: Twilight Princess.
@@artemis1993it wasn't always tho
Did Tokyo Extreme Racer even die in 2017? I do not know anything about this. How did it die?
That was the last game in the franchise, and it was a Japan only mobile game
@@Fastminer07
Alright. I know it's been three weeks since I commented this, but now I've got another question. I noticed that FlatOut 2 was included in this video. How did FlatOut 2 even die?
Fun fact: The guy narrating in the Motorstorm intro is also the voice of Optimus Prime
That reminds me of when I learned Stuntman Ignition was narrated by Vegeta
@@Fastminer07 WHAT!? I played that game so much and I don't know how I didn't notice
@Muhluri yeah, it's probably closer to Piccolo or Kyouichi Sudou from Inital D, but yeah that's Chris Sabat
Your description of Blur, and feel of this video reminds me so much of Downhill Domination. It wasn't a bike simulator, it was a game. And was fun as hell, learn a few sections or just multiscreen battle your buddies in the bowl, it was always a blast
22:02 then you need to play Mx vs ATV Untamed.
It also had Nickelback but the song is surprisingly good (Side of a Bullet)
make sure to play the NTSC version otherwise you'll be stuck with 25fps.
Also, use backflips to grind money fast
Oh I agree 100%. I miss the need for speeds and test drive unlimited games. I think it's a mistake to always go open world as a racing game. Just build good tracks first. You can still place them in an open world. But the most fun thin in forza horizon for example is just driving around in the open world. The racing is pretty bad. It should be the other way around.
What I also absolutely need is an open world racing game with the physics of assetto corsa.
You absolutely missed not playing ridge racer 1 or 2 psp
that game kept me busy on trips
it also kinda spoiled me on the series before the 360 game. Is the best hits album of the franchise.
I find your videos therapeutic. Keep doing what you’re doing!
If you like to put my videos on in the background, I think you're really gonna like the next one cause it's a long one
I can't disagree more with the Blur vs Split/Second take. The player-controlled hazards is still the most innovative gameplay mechanic in the genre. The Hyper focused UI was such a smart design choice too. Ngl the rest of your complaints are skill issues. Yes, I put a lot of time into the game but even when I only had an hour or two to start, I was taking out opponents and catching up after wrecking or making mistakes. Or maybe u should've tried harder to find a car that suits ur preferences?.. There's the stable but terrible turning trucks and SUVs, jack of all/master of none muscle cars, and then the quick/nimble/oversteer supercars. I remember buying the DLC Ryback Cyclone to compete with the meta Cobretti Slipstream bc I didn't like how the Slipstream drove.
Meanwhile the physics in Blur never feel great, even in "grippy" or higher tier cars. I remember wrestling with the heavy weight of like, every car, trying to take turns the way I wanted. And u wanna talk about a lack of comeback mechanics? If you get too far behind, no item or shortcut will save u lmao
Also it's sad that those games cannibalized each others sales. That, plus Activision ruthless sales demands and Disney backing out of publishing games (except for Disney Infinity).
I agree. Most of his points of criticism on Split Second's gameplay are actually his own skill issue. He should have reviewed the PS3 version too. The PC version is known to have technical issues. He didn't even say one word about Split Second's multiple other gamemodes aswell, while praising Blur's.
@@f1fan3000 right??? Detonator is the best time trial mode in any Racing game and the truck survival, while sometimes frustrating, had equally satisfying moments too. The backwards compatible 360 version on Series X is my go-to if I wanna relive the glory days haha
What I loveabout Blur is you can really feel the Project Gotham DNA: The style, the camera, the handling, and the fact that you needed to brake and manage oversteer on your drifts.
Trends in gaming almost never die forever. Just need to cool off for years. 3D platformers had a similar fate until "Hat in time" and "Mario Odyssey" came out. ALSO I know that you didn't compare them and just mentioned it but do not buy wreckfest if you are expecting it to be like flatout... In short. It's a sim derby game. MUCH slower in pace and destruction doesn't have that kick that flatout had. It's not bad, but I'm tired of people saying that "Wreckfest is the flatout successor".
Yeah, it's certainly more of a Destruction Derby successor than a Flatout one.
Absolutely not a sim, but definitely leaning towards that side, it's more like a simcade.
What about car combat
Loved this video! I'm so happy u mentioned Blur! That game doesn't game as much recognition as it deserves! Me and my boys would go to a video game club (like an arcade but with PS3s, PS4s, Xbox 360s and Xbox Ones) to play Blur and couple other game. But Blur was the onlyracing game we played. Eventho couple of us had Xbox 360s with enough controllers to host 4 to 6 ppl, we'd still rather head to the videogame club cuz it was a whole new level of fun.
We're from Iran btw
I just realized you havent done a video on unreal racing games. (Im calling them unreal as they are much more out there than fictional racing like Split Second and Forza) These games have racing as a core mechanic, but have different additional mechanics to them. There's Nitronic Rush and Distance, racing games with the unlimited but overheatable boost from Rally Point and Motorstorm, except the doors are wings and you can fly and the tracks are literally in 3D. Theres also the zero-g or anti-grav racers like Wipeout, BallisticNG, and Redout, that require the use of all joysticks and triggers to drive correctly. Would be cool to see your thoughts on these types of racing games.
I am not familiar with almost any of those games outside of their name and basic details, so it'll be a while before I tackle them, but I'm not opposed to it.
i feel like ambition is making us lose care and love for racing games, we really should start not searching for the full experience that doesn’t excel in anything particular in every single game but enjoying and creating fairly “limited” and very creative titles.
Love the focus on music on this one, keep going
you should try flatout ultimate carnage, especially multiplayer where you got breakable suspension/handling
PGR will always hurt, but that F50 GT… wow what a monster
The object collision in Flatout being weird can be explained: the wheels don't interact with the loose debris on the track, only the car body does. Once you figure that out, collisions get a lot more predictable.
Fun fact: blur was supposed to have AN actual story mode. There are some cut cutscenes which included the characters actually speaking to each other (and a lot of cut content is still being found like cut boss cars, maps, and from what I heard there was supposed to be Aston Martin in as well)