Wangan Midnight-PS3 (JPN)

[analog dog]

Got this earlier so here is a brief impression.
It seems nice,but never having played a Wangan game before I'm hardly qualified to judge this properly.

First off the graphics.
Functional at best but has a slight cel-shaded charm that I like.When going really fast it has that 'auto-modellista' kind of speed effect.This is not DIRT or Gotham.Frame rate seems solid but not too sure whether it is 30 fps or 60?
Some really nice cut scenes in the run up to races,these are really well constructed and add to the general anime atmosphere that prevails.
It seems very heavy on story and character building which is somewhat lost on me,and is in stark contrast to the highway battle series.

There is a 'card' element that I've just started to use,upon beating a race series you are awarded a card which I presume boosts certain stats and abilities.You have 4 slots which can be occupied during any race.
The handling is definetely sharper and more concise than the sometimes wooly highway battle and there is an engine bar that fills quicker the harder you press the accelerator,redline this and it's game over.

Overall I think this is one for the converted but if you feel like taking a punt on something with a distinct japanese flavour then this is worth a look.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

This arrived this morning so thought I'd post some impressions.

Firstly, all of the main menu is in English, as are almost all of the sub-menus in every mode, so the game is extremely import friendly.

I jumped straight into Time Attack mode to familarise myself with the handling. The car selection seems pretty big, you choose a character and then get a choice of cars that they own. Some only have one, but some have more, so its a bit of a guessing game to start off with if you're not familiar with the Manga/Anime.

I'm not really sure what to make of the in game action. The car is a little floaty, as is to be expected for a game essentially based on the Tokyo Highway Challenge engine, but the handling seems consistant and you are always able to right a mistake. Because the game takes place at night, it can be quite hard to see vechicles in front of you, as many are dark coloured without particularly strong rear lights. Once you realise that the car turns a lot better if you just let off the gas it becomes easier to dodge at the last minute, but when you first start off you may find yourself crashing into the back of a lot of cars and trucks.

Figuring I'd got used to the controls I then started a new story mode game. You get the initial choice of following the story of one of two characters, either Akio Asakura or Tatsuya Shima. From the looks of the manual the two girls also have stories, but these are not available straight away. I chose Akio's story. The plot is told through stills from the anime series with characters heads talking in the foreground. When the story reaches the appropriate point, you go into a battle (so far all versus, up until the end of the first chapter of Akio's story). The battles are as you would expect, except for the introduction of an engine bar, which causes the engine to explode if you stay on full gas for too long. This means you have to be tactical and feather the throttle to keep your bar down into the final straight, so you can nail past your opponent to take the victory.

At the end of each chapter you are given an overall medal and some cards. The cards either unlock new stages/modes/cars or can be used to level up your character in certain abilities. Unfortunately, the abilities seem to be one of the few non-English parts of the game, so it is hard to know exactly what ability each card is giving you.

Had a quick dip into online play, looks like you can either do a group (4 car) battle or 2 player versus. I couldn't get a slot on a group battle so had to settle for a one-on-one. My opponent had leveled up to level 5, whereas I was stuck on Level 1 at that time, so the battle was over the moment the starting countdown ended. With the course designs lacking many corners, it seems that the online mode might be a little pointless, especially as there is no civilian traffic present and the engine blow bar doesn't make an appearance either. It is just a simple case of the faster car will win in Versus mode, although Group Battle should be slightly more interesting with more cars on the road. Once I've levelled up in Story Mode I'll go back to online to see if I can find people of a similar level to race against.

Thats it so far, not overly impressed so far, but I'm hoping the game may reveal itself more as I mode through the Story Mode.

Please excuse any English errors. This was a bit of a stream of consiousness type effort whilst it was still fresh in my head.