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OK, so you're probably asking "These guys run a sandrail website, why on earth are they previewing a computer game?" Well, the one thing I've always been on the lookout for is a computer game that closely approximates my experience on the dunes. Aside from tearing my Baja apart and rebuilding it, there's not much else to do during the winter except for play computer games. Rage's newest game, Offroad, may just be the answer to my winter boredom.
Rage was nice enough to provide us with a preview of this game, so I promptly popped the CD into my machine and gave it a whirl. The first thing I noticed is I couldn't run it without the very (and I mean VERY) latest DirectX. So, I hopped over to Microsoft and started downloading DirectX v7.01a. About an hour later, the download was finished and installed and I tried Offroad again. The second thing I noticed is it wouldn't run on my machine unless it was at the lowest graphics setting and the lowest detail. The game doesn't support 3DFX hardware yet, so my Diamond Monster 3D card was just sitting around doing nothing, and my puny 2d card - an ATI Rage II - was straining along with all it's might, but not quite making it. I've been looking for an excuse to buy a new video card, so I went out and snagged an AGP Voodoo 3000. NOW the game is running very smoothly at 1024x768 and I can start getting some good impressions.
Offroad currently has four vehicles, a Baja, a Rail with a full body, a
modified SUV, and a modified Truck. Our demo only let us drive the Baja,
but I certainly didn't have any problems with that! The physics in this
game are amazing. The Baja has A-arm suspension on all four wheels,
with coil-over shocks all around. What so cool about that is the
suspension actually works in the game. When you turn
a corner, you can see the car lean in the direction of the turn! Each
wheel moves up and down independantly as you encounter different terrain
on the track. Jumps are great to watch too, I kept thinking I was going
to screw up the Baja's pan after landing from a particularly high jump.
You also have control of the handbrake, so powerslides are pretty easy
to accomplish and look quite nice on the replay. The Baja has no
windows, so you can look right inside and see part of the rollcage and
the driver. I didn't notice anything unusual about that, until my
roommate pointed out to me that the driver is on the right
side of the vehicle. But after all, this is a United Kingdom game, so what do
you expect? Another thing we noticed about the driver is you can see
him shift gears as you race. Truly amazing attention to detail.
The tracks look good too. The one track we could race in the demo had a
lot of variety - hairpin turns, mud, sidehilling, and the above mentioned
jump. Regarding side hills; it is possible to roll your vehicle if you
hit it wrong, which I found out several times at a particular point in
the track. What's neat about this feature is sometimes you can roll
completely over, back onto your wheels and actually continue racing.
Any other game would not let you recover from a crash like that on your
own. Of course, if you do end up on your roof, the game will right the
vehicle after several maddeningly long seconds. You get two laps in the
demo track, and by the second lap, the sun has gone down low enough that
the driver turns on his lights. The setting for this is called "Sunset"
and it looks very realistic.
One thing I didn't like about the game is your vehicle doesn't take any
damage. I must have rolled that Baja four or five times in the two lap
race; the roof should have looked like a squashed sardine can. But after
every time the bug popped back up on all fours and continued on like
nothing had happened. Also, the AI drivers you race against in the demo
are pretty damn good. The best I've been able to place is 3rd out of 4.
(Update - I've gotten a little better, 2nd now, but I still can't beat
the leader). However, I'm sure there will be a setting on the final game
to make those AI's a little slower. They also seem to be driving some
amazingly stable vehicles; every time one touched me I would go spinning
out, but when I gently tapped one of them in a not-so-subtle attempt at
revenge, they seemed unaffected. Finally, I hope Rage will improve the
sound in the game. There's a point in the track where you're able to
hear the announcer as you pass and I swear he sounds exactly like the
"Subway announcer sketch" from Saturday Night Live. You can't understand
a word. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it's very
distracting to smash your Baja into a corner because you're trying to
figure out what the announcer just said.
Some of the features the Offroad game will have upon release are:
Offroad will be released in a few more months (Rage predicts 2nd quarter of 2000). I for one am eagerly awating it. I've never had so much fun driving a baja in a computer game. Actually, I don't think any other game (except maybe New Beetle Adventure racing) features a VW Beetle to drive. It has the potential of being the best offroad sim out there. All Rage needs to do to complete my dream game is some Sand Dunes.
ScreenShots:
 Split Screen Multiplayer racing. |
 Jumping a rainy track. |
 Night driving in the snow. |
 An example of "Sunset" racing. |
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© 1999 Brock's VW Magazine Online - VWMAGAZINE.COM