Initial D Extreme Stage (PS3)

[Super Monkey Balls]

First go I was all over the place in proper WTF fashion. A very weird experience coming from Ferarri Challenge. Then I remembered I couldn’t play the PS2 game in third person at all, switched to bumper view and after a couple of races I was getting back into the flick-the-thumbstick, physics defying, dancing on ice handling of Initial D. Gotta love it.

The game is nicely presented, wicked m.o.v.e intro. The first thing you notice is there are fewer game modes than IDSS. There’s no story mode that follows Takumi, instead a sort of hybrid of the old arcade mode with story scenes in between. The best thing about this mode is you can now choose what parts to spend your points on in the garage. You can choose any car to start with and race to buy loads of upgrades. This suits Initial D perfectly because you could start with the 86 and tune it to compete with all the harder opponents if you wanted. You can also earn features to alter your own manga style avatar.

Time attack seems very comprehensive, which is good because its just as important here. Lets face it, overtaking AI on some of these tracks is clumsy at best.

Track design is a touge dream. Some glorious hairpins that will take some serious practice to negotiate scrape free.

The game is relatively easy to navigate but it was so nice to have an English manual to hand for the garage etc.

Graphically, its not as awful as I was expecting. 4th stage is a lazy Naomi 2 – Lindbergh upgrade and its certainly not a looker but the road surfaces are nice and the basic 3D models look very anime. I’m no expert on these things but I think its 60fps, its very slick anyway, even if the cars do look like toys moving around the track. I like the 3D touches to the cut scenes too.

Sound is as expected. Not the best engine noises in the business. Character chatter. God awful yet strangely brilliant Eurobeat is present. Tracks are selectable before a race. Proper embarrassing but you still want to crank it up arcade style.

Overall, if you like the PS2 game, you’ll like this. Super twitchy 1 on 1 racing on tight tracks aint everyones cup of tea and the game is really lacking in terms of content and variety, but as a home version of Arcade Stage 4, it’s a nice package. Pure arcade fun for fans of the anime/manga.

[mickeyt76]

Well for me Initial D has never been about the graphics - if you've got time to even notice them then you're driving way too slow. ;-) Just got my Japanese version today so I'll be having a go tonight; really looking forward to it!

[Fuddle]

only had a little go so far, but its pretty much just what i expected.
the handling is noticeably different to previous versions, but i'm sure i'll get used to it... likewise using the analogue stick and triggers. i'd prefer to use d-pad and face buttons, but i havent noticed any way to change it, not sure that you even can.
jpn version here, so i've got to take a look at the online stuff later too.

[Super Monkey Balls]

You can set up the buttons any way you like

[Kubrick]

How/Where do you buy upgrades for your car? I've won about the first 10 races in Legend Of The Street mode and haven't come across the option to do so yet.

As for the game, its not bad. Basically the same as the PS2 one, which tbh, I felt was good but a bit overrated, so for me its still a case of Ridge Racer>This.

[Fuddle]

buying stuff.
iirc the bottom option where the course list is, is your garage.
then second from the left. and you have 3 sections on screen. something like buying performance parts, buying visual body parts, tuning?
something like that.

figured out how to get accelerate and brake on the face buttons, but didnt notice anything for steering on the dpad. but i'm getting used to it more now anyway.

done my first online race too, which was a little weird. just chose the easy course to see what it was like. the guy gave me a 200 head start, and then caught up so quick, then just seemed to block me the rest of the way rather strange.

tried a few other options in the network section, but it just seemed to hang, and i couldnt cancel or go back. not sure what it was doing.

[saif]

Any translations needed, I'll give it a go.

[MikeRox]

How/Where do you buy upgrades for your car? I've won about the first 10 races in Legend Of The Street mode and haven't come across the option to do so yet.

As for the game, its not bad. Basically the same as the PS2 one, which tbh, I felt was good but a bit overrated, so for me its still a case of Ridge Racer>This.

I really enjoyed the PS2 ver, but I think it was more from loving Initial D rather than it being an amazing game. I'd agree that titles like Ridge Racer are better. I'll still be getting this though Handy as my modded PS2 laser is on it's way out so I sold the PS2 ver of the game.

[Fuddle]

Any translations needed, I'll give it a go.

thanks for offering. i'll take a couple of pics, but they might not be very good quality. maybe somebody with a better camera should try.
i think most of the single player stuff is reasonably straightforward with a bit of trial and error.
theres loads in network. although looking through, it might not be that tricky to figure out. theres english at the top of lots.

first screen has 3 options.
1 read the agreement thing.
2 accept
3 decline (i think)

then you get to this one.

Ranking battle
lobby select
Network ranking
your garage
go back.

the top option brings you to this.

race (you get a time limit to choose track/conditions and it looks like it matches you up)
change car
go back

the second one (lobby select) you can join a room, chat or something. for more than one race i suppose. maybe it doesnt count as a ranked battle.
join
create
go back

this is the third one (network ranking)

i havent messed with these.
the first one freezes/hangs the machine.

[Kubrick]

buying stuff.
iirc the bottom option where the course list is, is your garage.
then second from the left. and you have 3 sections on screen. something like buying performance parts, buying visual body parts, tuning?
something like that.

Cheers. I just assumed that bottom option on course select was for backing out to the main menu, so didn't bother to check it.

[Nisa]

Just got this today (no thanks to DHL), loving it so far but then I've always been kind of biased when it comes to Initial D and having played Stage 4 in the arcade quite a few times I knew exactly what to expect in terms of visuals so I'm not too dissapointed on that front. I'm still getting used to the changes in gameplay over previous versions as the handling has changed a little bit from Arcade Stage 1-3 which the PS2 and PSP versions were based on. The Eurobeat is as awsome/cheesy as always,Raising Hell being a particualar favourite of mine. The majority of songs seem to be from the last series of the anime,it's a shame not having tracks from older versions but what can you do.

I was worried that my trusty PS2 Driving Force Wheel wouldn't work having read some of the comments in here but I'm glad to say it works just fine, I tried playing with the DS3 but it's a poor substitute for a proper wheel.

I picked up the Japanese version so I'll be playing online a lot once my Trueno is at full spec, if anyone's interested my PSN tag is Nisa65.

[jamesy]

Just got this today and enjoyin so far. Essentially i suck at it and i'm not really sure what i'm doin as regards to any techniques your supposed to use. Finished the first two courses and tuned my car a little. Agree with the music being recorded in a tin-can. Seems a little weak but maybe I'll try messing about with the balance to see if it'll improve.
Wish there was an option to install aswell as loading takes a fair amount of time movin in and out between menus. nothin terrible but would've been nice to cut them down.
Overall my initial impressions sound bad but honestly i'm really enjoyin the game. Maybe we could set up a time trial challenge for these boards once more people get the game and tune up their cars? Would be nice for those of us with the asian version too.

[Anpanman]

Mine arrived today but can play it until tomorrow.

Should get some serious playtime on it though - can't wait.

[Largo]

Really loving this,
however im starting to fall behind the AI a bit now tho, could anyone explain to me how the game wants me to play 'properly'.
Full speed ahead seems to work ok at the start but now its failing me. Then again braking and all doesnt seem to have much effect that i can see, so any Initial d vets that could fill me in on the proper technique that would be ace cheers

Also anyone playing with a wheel? ive always prefered the d-pad back in the Gran turismo days but extreme stage is analog stick only and by god i am rubbish with that

[saif]

Sorry for the delay.

3rd screen:
can't quite read it but some kind of ranking
time attack ranking for all of Japan. (suggest earlier one maybe for friends only or something - pure guess)
upload replay
go BACK