nail'd
Preview
Gets your adrenaline pumping
by Davneet Minhas
previewed on PC
Course Selection (cntd)
Techland is also focused on creating some ridiculous set pieces. In addition to exploring the track in a mad dash, you will have to avoid rockslides and giant buzz saws. One jump will take you through a wind turbine while another will land you in front of a taxiing Boeing 747. A path on one track allows you to outpace opponents by hitching a ride on top of a train for several seconds.
nail’d features a track builder, allowing you to create your own insane jumps and share them with other people.
Rock Out
Such hardcore action deserves an equally hardcore soundtrack. Deep Silver and Techland have delivered on that end with a heavy metal soundtrack featuring original music by band members of Static-X, Fear Factory, Damageplan, Deftones, Hatebreed, and others. nail’d also features licensed music from Slipknot, Queens of the Stone Age, Backyard Babies, Rise Against, American Sixgun, Aggressive Chill, and Slaves on Dope.
It’s an impressive collection of musical talent and one that surely fits the content of nail’d.
Online Racer
Of course, no racing game is complete without multiplayer. In nail’d, up to 12 players will be able to participate in a race at the same time. To distinguish yourself from your fellow drivers, other than by beating them of course, you can tweak your in-game driver and vehicle. Many of the customizations must be unlocked through achievements, and some are specific to the mode you’re playing.
nail’d also features a replay system. You can record replays of your races to study what you did wrong or to share absurd moments with friends. Should they allow it, you can even watch an entire race from another player’s perspective. Extensive leaderboards will let you compare your best lap times to players all over the world.
Finish Line
Techland’s aim in developing nail’d is to get your adrenaline pumping with incredible speeds and a complete disregard of realism. It’s hard not to get excited about that. But how the developer will set it apart from other off-road racers, namely Pure, remains to be seen.
Even though Techland does have a decent racing-game pedigree spanning Xpand Rally and GTI Racing its first-person shooters have always been much more interesting. How about a new Call of Juarez? Or Chrome 2? And what’s going on with Dead Island?
I suppose nail’d will have to do for now.
