N64 Time - Duke Nukem 64

[Team Andromeda]

I've gone back to playing my N64 and yes 007 is just class. I'm shock at how god awful a lot of N64 graphics really are been playing the likes of Body Harvest and Exitebike and my God the draw distance and low polygon models in those games are shocking

[charlesr]

Although Exitebike being one of the bestest games ever makes up for it. It's so sensitive.

[noobish hat]

I really hate how the word "unplayable" is bandied around, particularly when aimed at the N64. This time though, it's nearly justified. Only to describe the frame rate though (if it's because of the graphics, then I'll never get along with you). I'm not too happy to learn that Perfect Dark is worse. I was assuming that they would have perfected (no pun intended) this sort of stuff for the sequel, especially with the ram expansion.

On a different note, I recently watched the Goldeneye (the movie) and it is utter crap. It's true what people say - Pierce Brosnan is an absolute cartoon in these films. Watching him sneaking around the facility with his gun up is like watching Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin doing a spy spoof. Total nonsense. I would appreciate it for its 90s style, but I'm so enamoured with the reboot of Bond that I just can't get into any of the silly campy crapola. Is this how 'normal' people feel about games (and particularly Goldeneye vs modern FPSs)?

[noobish hat]

For me, it's not a FPS in the true sense. It's an arcade adventure from first person. It's not about precision aiming, it's about controlling packs of enemies by pointing at the guy most likely to shoot, almost Virtua Cop.

I can see this. It reminds me of that line in Batman Begins - if you can fight 6 guys at once, I can teach you to fight 200 guys at once. I like the strategy of using the enemies' recovery times and reaction times to "juggle" them. This is the strategy I was using when trying to kill everybody in the bunker. The fact that you can't do this with the double Klobb tossers was annoying me (they react instantly to your presence and don't react as much to being shot right in the frigging face).

[charlesr]

The graphics in Perfect Dark are so advanced that you try and forgive the frame rate complications.

[nakamura]

Apparently they made headshots instant kill in PD after 007. It would have certainly helped the klobb guys.

PD is visually amazing, it's next gen quality. There are parts that look better than the 360 update, albeit lower quality technically.

[noobish hat]

Top Gear Rally, then. I've played this game to death now, and I think it's an underrated classic. I've never heard anybody mention this game, other than when Charles suggested it might be more my style (he wasn't wrong). I've certainly never seen it in any "Top N64 Games" list, which is a huge oversight, if you ask me. I'd say it deserves a place in every N64 collection.

When I first fired it up, I was not very impressed with the visuals. As the mag pointed out in their comparison with MRC, the tracks seem quite sparse and lacking in detail. The cars look kinda crappy too, and the damage effects, while appreciated, are not exactly stunning. I've grown to love the landscapes, however. The real highlight of the game, though, is the weather effects. Unfortunately, I can't really find any good videos of this online, so I urge you to try the game out for yourself. Weather totally changes the entire tracks (compared with MRC, which, for example, always has snow on one section of a track). You get to see all tracks completely transformed by Snow, Rain, Fog, Sun, and Night. I found Night something of a let down, as a huge fan of night driving in games (nothing will beat that one track in Ridge Racer Type 4). You have headlights, and the effect of those is nice, but the lighting is unrelated, and makes it seem like you're being followed by a helicopter with a search light. Snow in particular looks fantastic, though. Snowy Coastline is by far my favourite experience, and I will be playing it every Christmas from now on. The weather effects are one of the successful attempts to extend the game's replayability and lifespan. As an early racing game, the number of tracks is limited. It beats MRC's 3, though. There are four main tracks and one secret track. The way you progress through them is genius. You go through seasons, with different combinations of tracks and weather, increasing in difficulty all the time of course. Eventually, mirror tracks are thrown into the mix too. This is a clear improvement over MRC's system. That game was so difficult that I sadly never even got to see the mirror tracks.

Which brings me to the games mechanics and difficulty. The handling is much more arcade style than MRC (although you can alter the steering type if you like). It seems more like Sega Rally than any of the sim bollocks that's out there. In fact, I'd say it's a little too arcade. The physics are almost identical to those of Rollcage, if you've ever played that. With the higher speed cars, the game is total chaos. One tiny clip, and your vehicle will do a billion cartwheels and bounce all over the show. You can even just slide against the barriers at full speed and take corners without even having to steer, with no decrease in speed. The problem is that the tracks are not designed with this in mind at all. Despite my previous point about the crash barriers, the areas on either side of the track usually form a kind of wall-of-death, which your car will delight in climbing at the slightest touch, but unlike in Rollcage, these do not funnel you where you need to go. Often, you will find yourself violently struggling to regain control of your vehicle after careering to close to the edge of such sloping terrain. There are also far too many obstacles and things jutting out at you, such as trees, buildings, rocks, and edges of tunnels. Most areas are also incredibly difficult to reverse in (and reversing itself is no pleasure cruise), so when you do a cartwheel or a backflip (and you will), it's a complete nightmare trying to face the right way again. In Rollcage there is a "self-righting" button. Top Gear Rally desperately needs one.

This leads to what is probably the game's biggest flaw: glitches. It is all too easy, given the game's bombastic physics, to get stuck in bits of scenery, costing you waaaaay too much time in a tight race, or forcing you to exit outright. One time I crashed into a tree, and the car zoomed right to the top, remaining horizontal, like some kind of turbo lift. Demented.

As usual though, these are just the negative points I feel I must mention. Overall, the game is supremely enjoyable, and I like the difficulty level/curve. Jungle is the only track I am hopeless on. On Mountain and Coastline, 1st place is always achievable, and after that you only need 5th place on Desert (no problem) to qualify. The most troubling thing about the game is that they actually programmed an entire 5th track, but you need to get first place on every track of every season, which is essentially an impossible task. I can't believe that in a game with so few tracks, they designed it so that 25% is inaccessible to most players. I'd actually be willing to buy another copy of the game if someone could unlock the 5th track for me, just so I could have a go on it. This is ludicrous.

One final thing bears mentioning, and that's the wealth of options and cheats available in the game. The handling, suspension, transmission etc can all be adjusted. You can even customise the paint job in a primitive art program. I recreated the "cock, piss, Partridge" graffiti from Alan Partridge, and the result was hilarious. There's championship, arcade, time trial, practice, and multiplayer modes, and you can play tracks in normal or mirror mode, with any of the previously mentioned weather conditions. There are also a handful of secret vehicles to unlock, each of which is stranger than the last. And the cheats? My favourite is Playstation Mode, which turns off the N64's bilinear filtering, making the game look like a PS1 title! There's also the psychedelic Rainbow Mode which can cause headaches. The unlockable cars can also be accessed via cheats. Sadly, I don't think the secret track can be seen this way...

If what I've said has put a bit of a negative spin on TGR, please just ignore this, it's just my way. It's highly recommendable, and, as I say, I think it should be in every N64 player's collection, especially at such bargain prices. I'm very much looking forward to Kemco's other stuff now

[charlesr]

Damn you. I've been trying to avoid adding this to my collection and now I'm trawling www.ebay.com for a mint boxed version. edit: fail. wtf at prices. Might have to go cart only.

It's a brilliant game. Visuals are like smearing vaseline on your eyes, but the driving is soooo much fun. It does take hours to get the hang of it, but once dialled, you can get some crazy drifts going on. Made me laugh a lot too with the "omg touched a barrier and now in orbit" physics. Love the lottery of blind crests!

When TGR2 is released, you'll see it is totally different though!

[stevie vip 99]

Just sold my NTSC n64 to wools, posted it off today with a tear in my eye. Great console with some great games. Now to sell all my games and finally say goodbye

[S3M]

Damn you. I've been trying to avoid adding this to my collection and now I'm trawling www.ebay.com for a mint boxed version. edit: fail. wtf at prices. Might have to go cart only.

Seeing the videos I decided to take a punt myself managed to order boxed complete US copy with manual for ?4 off amazon.co.uk.

Have to see what the condition is like if and when it turns up, said box was a bit crushed.

[Hartley Hare]

Pilotwings, Waverace, Mario, Zelda and even Top Gear Rally, so many classics and the last of the carts. Wonderful memories.

[noobish hat]

I was talking about the cart format with my friend yesterday. The N64 has virtually no shovelware, because of the insanely high price of the carts. It's pretty much the only console you can say this about because it's the only cart-based system that exclusively competed with CD-based systems (which obviously attracted all the shovelware companies thanks to the low cost). No doubt, there's something extra special about N64 games, just because they're the last to be on carts.

[nakamura]

It has loads of crap games though. Oh and lack of shovel ware is more down to low sales I would say.

[TheNewMonkey]

I used to love Top Gear Rally, I remember buying it from Electronics Boutique just after launch for ?60!!!

at the time I thought the way the cars handled was class, just being able to drift round corners in the snow at top speed was brilliant, me and a friend would play it non stop and completely rinsed the game back in the day, im pretty sure we unlocked everything it had to offer, but now that you mention that other track your putting doubts in my mind!
is there any footage of this track online?

[charlesr]

Seeing the videos I decided to take a punt myself managed to order boxed complete US copy with manual for ?4 off amazon.co.uk.

Have to see what the condition is like if and when it turns up, said box was a bit crushed.

Nice spot.