FlatOut 4: Total Insanity

FlatOut 4: Total Insanity

Right at the start, I will say I like this game, however there are many things which upset me and things that could’ve been done better or differently:

1. Cars have horrible handling and physics.

Even the slightest bumps can make the car flip, spin or shoot into the air. So this makes the driving experience far from smooth and enjoyable, because I have to think how I go over the smallest bumps. It takes away that satisfying feeling of ramming through everything that breaks. And this is with all cars. It doesn’t matter if you drive a sports car or a huge truck, both can flip easily. And I don’t like this…

Real player with 27.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Multiplayer Destruction Games.


I have been waiting out for this game, because it had received (when looking at the Steam reviews) a bunch of backlash ranging from inept game mechanics, poor optimisation and bugs.

Now yesterday we wanted to play Flat Out 2, our number 1 party game on the lan party we are at and found the current networking setup do not support the features needed for lan play and because Game Spy is dead for a long time, there is no way here for us to play it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Flat Out 4 (or Fl4t Out as they try to brand it) costs only a ~11 euro. So I dived in, and was pleasantly surprised.

Real player with 17.9 hrs in game

FlatOut 4: Total Insanity on Steam

NASCAR ‘15 Victory Edition

NASCAR ‘15 Victory Edition

Yes I recommend this game despite having serious flaws at times.

First the Pros.

+One of the best physics engines for Nascar out there for a variety of gamers it’s quite difficult with no assists, but easy enough for plug and play gamers who just want the assists and a fun experience, while more hardcore players like me can tune the driving model to be demanding.

  • Graphics are the best I’ve seen for a Nascar game in the last 5 years or so, the 704games aka Nascar heat have god awful graphics, because it runs on the Unity Engine, this game is unreal engine I believe it looks solid!

Real player with 227.2 hrs in game


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Omg a recommended review for Nascar ‘15?! Yes, it’s true. Why am I recommending a game that, I will say right off the bat has bugs? Because once you get past these few quirks, for 10$, I can’t say my 80+ hours was a bad experience. For starters, its NASCAR! Yes it has bugs and shit AI but it’s still the most recent NASCAR game, and considering the 2014 version isn’t even on steam anymore, or any other markets selling it online are in the 30-40$ range, 10$ is quite a steal. You can race in a single season with any driver, a career mode with your own driver, and multiplayer (which quickplay might seem dead, but use the forums and finding people or leagues are no problem). Granted nothing new, and even some other series are taken out, but if your just looking to race, its good to go. Also im very suprised reading all these comments are people with 1-4hrs, saying the game is unplayable? Soooo my guess is those people legit started the game, played Daytona, couldn’t drive with the downforce, degrees and left push of the track, and were like “fuck this game its broken” Cause thats bullshit saying its unplayable (if talking about gameplay) And if its unplayable due to crashes then fortunetly my laptap has been lucky as the game has never crashed on me. But with gameplay, I play around 50%+ difficulty and the only track I have a problem with is Pocono, and thats just because I don’t use setups to often. And the Paint Booth is still fun as well, as I’ve spent hours in it recreating old schemes from my favorite drivers or just brand new career schemes. But moving foward, As this is a review I have to give the negitive side too. To start with errors and such, the bugs I know off the top of my head that seem to happen are; everytime I minimize the game it switches to the lowest resolution. This is the the far worst bug in my opinion but when I’m set into the game I’m not going back and forth all the time so its avoidable. Next is the game stalling online. The game itself doesn’t freeze but it doesn’t get past a caution replay or a restart, it stays stuck at the Sprint Cup screen. Though out of the last 50 multiplayer games I’ve only had this happen 3-4 times. Now along with stalling restarts, sometimes when a restart happens cars are in each other or all in a line in each other glitching back and forth, this one may happen more then the stalling but not overwhelming. Next to some just bad gameplay is the consistancy with the AI. I don’t find them as terrible as people claim more or less the fact that the difficulty doesn’t seem consistant. One track set on 50% difficulty I can easily win everytime, others on that setting would have me sitting in the 30’s garuntee, thats just really weird. I can understand if this is due to them wanting you to use setups but if one should be the same all across. Next, one of the biiiiiigggest ercks about the gameplay, is not having AI on multiplayer!!! I played Nascar 2010 like there was no tomorrow back on the xbox 360 and even then it didnt have it, but wth, that doesnt make sense to not add that in yet. It would be great to even just have you and your bud and fill the rest with AI or have an online league option in it already and whatever spots are open fill it with AI. There’s a lot of potential in the next game for fixes and new features, but out of all this problems or things I wish, I can still sit back and enjoy racing a season, or getting a group of friends in a race, flooring it to the finish line. And for 10$ I don’t see how you can regret it.

Real player with 200.9 hrs in game

NASCAR '15 Victory Edition on Steam

NASCAR Heat 2

NASCAR Heat 2

iv played alot of nascar games in my day,but i can not recommend this game.atleast not for the price its at.

i put in quite a bit of time since it came out…i can atleast say iv enjoyed it.it really isnt a bad experiance.but it falls short of its expectation.

pros:

1.well…its a racing game.

2.i like the idea of how career works.starting out as a free agent pretty much and working your way up.

3.you got pack racing now at daytona and talladega.

4.the three main series are now in the game.

5.stage racing,somewhat.

Real player with 357.8 hrs in game

NASCAR Heat 2..

How much closer to a blessing could we get?

Not sure, but In comparison to recent years of NASCAR licensed games, this is a major step forward.

My opinion is this: I love the game, and I play it all the time. Sure, it has it’s little issues, and wonky cautions but it’s a playable NASCAR game that makes you feel like you’re really doing it. I have a blast playing by myself in the new (and super mega awesome) career mode and online with my friends. I’d recommend this game to anyone interested in getting a recent NASCAR game that is worth buying.

Real player with 331.4 hrs in game

NASCAR Heat 2 on Steam

NASCAR Heat 3

NASCAR Heat 3

As we are likely nearing the release of the games successor it seems like a good time to write a review, hopefully it will have some impact.

I’ll start by saying that I ultimately would recommend this game and am overall satisfied with it, however, there is always room for improvement, and in this case there is a lot of room, I’m talking Talladega backstretch room.

First, and foremost, the physics of the game have quite a bit of adjusting to make. First, we have to ask ourselves, what is physics? Then move right past that reference and realize it’s a lot easier to say ‘fix the physics’ than it is to actually code and/or re-code everything to do so, and I realize this is only the second NASCAR game they have made, which is why I am satisfied, to have everything hashed out by game two would have been astronomically unlikely. Now, to try to be constructive here, the biggest issues I have encountered with the physics, is draft impact, apron contact, and collisions. I will say the collisions are much better than Heat 2 were, the pin-balling is far less present, but there’s still room to improve for a cleaner ability to race side-by-side. The draft impact is very aggravating, when you can run a quarter second or more faster than the field but not be able to pull away, even at some short tracks, is nerve-racking and inaccurate. Having said that I realize the new game would likely have the 2019 “package” and so all that aggravating nonsense will be the norm. Finally, the apron contact, yes, hitting the apron can spin a car out in real life, but when you hit about an inch of it and spin like a dreidel during Hanukkah something’s not right there, now this isn’t the biggest issue, as it isn’t an issue at all tracks, so I would not prioritize it, but it’s there.

Real player with 263.9 hrs in game

(Former iRacing customer of 3.5 years, using a Logitech G920 wheel/pedal set. Played at 2560x1080 on a i7 4790K, 32GB DDR3 RAM, R9 390 8GB GDDR5 GPU with a Samsung 850 Evo Pro 500GB internal SSD)

Improved by a good margin over NH2:

  • AI is far more fluid and natural, can have on track issues, ranging from a little loose, to tire failures and overheating

  • car feel is solid, especially when using custom setups

  • the tire wear model is significantly improved, and you won’t want to stay out on old tires against newer

Real player with 58.4 hrs in game

NASCAR Heat 3 on Steam

TrackMania² Canyon

TrackMania² Canyon

Trackmania 2 doesn’t offer a pushed calling mode, sensible tracks and stupefying gathering of available autos like other hustling titles. It has single-player substance, however Nadeo’s continuation isn’t wanted to be played alone. This is an establishment about sharing, about social event, and about dashing all through of this world circles in the wake of taking a snappy skip off an avenue lifted over a gap floor. It runs with a social occasion of force tracks, yet the certifiable delight of the redirection is picking through the get-together’s appearances and ricocheting into servers to go up against others for smart times. Certainly, even so not long after dispatch, there’s as of now a critical designate of substance there.

Real player with 819.9 hrs in game

Well, my first ever review….

They’ve gone and fooked this game right up, after 200+ (i think) hours of playing i can no longer log in, apparantly my account’s email is wrong, when nothing has been changed, so i cant get a new password for my account, i load up trackmania to be greeted to a broken client screen which is blank. Which claims im not connected to the internet

Lets ask ubisoft support for help!

5 days later …. no reply…

lets go to ubisoft live help!

Sorry this isnt the right department, we only deal with connection issues, but this is a connection issue?… sorry but we cant deal with connection issues on live chat? (the f**k?)

Real player with 233.5 hrs in game

TrackMania² Canyon on Steam

TrackMania² Stadium

TrackMania² Stadium

The ultimate ghost chasing simulator.

(Disclaimer: My total Steam gametime does NOT represent my actual total gametime.)

TrackMania² Stadium is a 2012 arcade racing game, published by Ubisoft and developed by Nadeo, and is the sequel to one of the greatest racing games ever made, TrackMania Nations Forever.

For the uninitated, TrackMania is a high-speed arcade racing game, where lightning fast time trials take place in diverse and unique enviromments, chock-full with ludicrous stunts and gravity-defying circuits. The gameplay is extremely easy, yet hard to master, with even one minor mistake threatening to put you into a wall and end your otherwise flawless run, as you seek to shave off those precious milliseconds from your personal best.

Real player with 772.8 hrs in game

This game is pretty ridiculous. It’s like the company asked a bunch of 4th graders to come up with ideas for a racing game, and this is the result. Wall rides, loops, huge jumps, crazy speed. It’s awesome.

That being said, the skill cap is infinitely high. Yes, it’s massively fun to go on a server and smash through a bunch of new tracks, crashing all over the place and hitting walls like they owe you money. And it’s worth mentioning that since the multiplayer is almost exclusively user-created levels, there are tens of thousands of maps to play. But once you settle in to a server and have learned the maps, then it becomes a wonderfully technical game about shaving off bits of time where you can.

Real player with 645.5 hrs in game

TrackMania² Stadium on Steam

Bus Simulator 16

Bus Simulator 16

UPDATED (ALMOST 1year after release update)

Sadly, not much changed in a year. Optimization is still requested by many which implies they havent dealt seriously with the problem. Only 2 DLC have been released and I see them as pure money grabber. They are not offering anything new than buses but those buses look exactly the same as the ones already ingame. The only difference is that they are branded MAN or Mercedes-Benz which (due to having to pay the right to the brands) are ridiculously expensive for the amount of content (and the usefulness of the said content has still to be proven).

Real player with 41.2 hrs in game

I seriously can not understand where the hate this game is getting comes from. It does exactly what it says on the “box”, and does it very well. While not a perfect game by any means, this is a great effort from a smaller company, that fills a niche I’ve personally desired for over 10 years.

When I was a young lass, back in my high school days, I used to take the public bus to commute to school and back, and also to travel from place to place on my weekends. I spent hundreds of IRL hours on various models of IRL busses, and I always wanted to try driving one. This game finally allowed me to live my fantasy. I honestly never thought a company would ever bother to make a bus driving game, but Bus Simulator 16 actually goes above and beyond that, and includes management and a bit of strategy as well.

Real player with 38.6 hrs in game

Bus Simulator 16 on Steam

Bus Simulator 18

Bus Simulator 18

With 100+ hours, it’s safe to say that I am very fond of this game. I haven’t played any bus simulator quite as much since Tokyo Bus Guide for Dreamcast. Now that the game is officially released I continue to come back to this game a few times every week like I have with Euro Truck Simulator 2. Keep in mind that I’m a beta tester, but I’ve looked down on many bus sims and I’m finally pleased with this one. It’s not perfect, but lets get into the details.

FIRST, THE SINGLE PLAYER

This game is a delight to play and relaxing. It’s not too relaxing though! Speedbumps, potholes, speed cameras, random road constuction, varying traffic behavor, and pedestrians will keep you on your toes. If you want to be the best bus driver you ever wanted to be, you really have to pay attention to what is around you, including road signs. AI Traffic does a great job of following road rules, but some AI do brake rules sometimes and you have to avoid accidents. Just like real life, don’t completely trust other vehicles with your life!

Real player with 202.4 hrs in game

I do read reviews, I don’t write them.

This game has changed all that. I bought Bus Sim 16as for the first time I could play multi player on a well-designed sim. that wasn’t true, so when this was announced I had no intention of buying it.

However: A preview copy was sent to many Youtubers I watch, and I was really impressed with what I saw, I was excited to play, and couldn’t wait for launch day.

I pre ordered, and downloaded on release and jumped right in.

Few warning bells came with those youtubers, and I should have listened:

Real player with 58.2 hrs in game

Bus Simulator 18 on Steam

Crowkart

Crowkart

Experience the amazing karting world of Crowsworn in glorious 3D while racing against your friends online. Choose a racer from among the characters of the Crowsworn universe (and beyond) and get ready for many fast-paced and wacky races! Use your driving prowess, never forget to drift and you will become the Crowkart Champion!

Game Features

  • MULTIPLAYER up to 8 players in a single race.

  • 5+ CHARACTERS from the Crowsworn universe, each with their own particular driving style

  • 10+ TRACKS have been carefully crafted to showcase the various lands of Fearanndal and to challenge the player’s driving abilities

  • 9+ RACING ITEMS to take advantage of in order to win your race!

  • A BADASS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK composed by J.J. Ipsen

Crowkart on Steam

Farming Simulator 15

Farming Simulator 15

Okay, so obviously I’ve played this game a ridiculous amount of time. I can be a little obsessive about getting a game going JUST RIGHT so that I can build my empire. That having been said, I still have not explored all of the facets of the game as of yet. Now I have not played the previous versions of this game, so I didn’t really know what to expect with it, and I have to say that my girlfriend made fun of me for days after purchasing and playing this game.

Here is what makes it so awesome:

Real player with 1841.2 hrs in game

Not a bad game at all, very realistic in most aspects, but very very buggy at times.

The wood chipper is a prime example. It is so buggy and underpowered, it makes one think that these guys have never seen one in action. Once they grab a log, there is no going back, it is shredded. Short of turning off the equipment, there is no way to get the log out of it. In this offering, your main task is to get the log to go INTO it. Even when it does, there is a very high chance it will be just spit out again. Actually all trees can get very buggy at times. Ghost logs, screwed up cuts, ( they are still attached to the main log even though cut off), trees that decide to disobey the laws of physics. ( standing verticle instead of falling over)

Real player with 1809.7 hrs in game

Farming Simulator 15 on Steam