| Ammadeau
4th Post
 
New Customer
|  "Quantum Redshift Impressions"
, posted Thu 19 Sep 21:11
Popped it in, skipped the intro movie, and went right into the sound options to set my custom soundtrack. This is handled _really_ well and you can easily get the songs you want, even if you have a lot of soundtracks on your Xbox.
Then on to quick race to take her for a spin. 7 characters to chose from to start, 9 more that need to be unlocked. Same with the courses. First thing you'll notice is the visuals, which are just plain jaw dropping. Everything looks bueatiful and there's not a moment that isn't a treat for the eyes. Then you'll notice its taking it's sweet time loading the level. Might be the longest load times for any Xbox game I've played.
Finally, the actual race. That's when I realize I have no idea what I'm doing and need to read the manual. One quick read later, I'm back in the race and things are already fast and furious. At novice the weapons don't seem to do much and the other pilots rarely shoot (this changes at other skill levels). The controls are very sensitive, but this just makes them perfect because you really feel in control and loosing really feels like your fault. Sometimes you'll need to nudge your craft while others require a complete 180. Both are easily done with these controls.
Played a couple of quick races. Noticed all the ships have different weapons and some seem to handle a bit differently, though the latter could be my imagination. Now that I have a handle on the gameplay, time for the meat of the game: the tournament.
I felt drawn to the girl named Kumiko for some reason so I chose her to be my pilot. Then I get treated to a cut scene where Kumiko makes a little speech in authentic Japanese before the race. All the pilots speak their native language as well as the track countdown being in the language of the country the track is in. Very cool touch imo.
Novice is a breeze to me now. I get first on the first race without trying to hard. Now its time for the upgrades, where you have three choices: weapons, turbo, and sheilds. Sucks that can't upgrade the two weapons and overshield seperately, but minor point. I give myself more turbo juice, which was so short before I barely noticed it. You get a turbo meter for each lap, which you can use up as you see fit during that lap. It's essential to getting some shortcuts and it does this really cool looking blur effect.
Second race, second cut scene getting lectured by some stuffy brit guy, who I had assumed was my nemesis at the time. Then during the race I'm constantly harassed by this pilot Ami who oddly wasn't selectable when I started. She even beat me at the very last second on my first try on this course. Turns out that she's not only Kumiko's nemesis, but her sister, and also Ami is easily the coolest pilot in the game. Her attitude, kabuki actor face paint, and her white tiger ship is fierce and fun.
Oh, forgot to mention that as long as you complete the race (don't need to get first) you'll get points which you can spend on the upgrades. The higher skill level and the higher you place at the finish, the more points. However, you must place first in order to advance, but doing better on the same course will get you more points, yet it subtracts the points you already made on the course so you can't cheat.
I beat novice with Kumiko and blow though amateur, though now weapons and shields become more important. Sheilds are basically hit points. You hit zero, you're out of the race. But they have these overshields, which are limited use but will keep you from taking any damage. These, as well as your non-homing and homing weapons, are powered by pickups found on the course and they can be upgraded to 3 levels each for more power. I spent most points on more turbo though, which helped me get through this with ease.
Then came my nemesis match with sister Ami, where its just the two of you with winner take all. Here the AI gets a lot more agressive and taking hits not only damages you but slows you down to a crawl, which can cost you the match. Toughest race for me yet, but I managed to outmatch the evil sister and retain family honor. Now Ami becomes playable as well as expert class.
Going to expert class is like going from high school to college. You've gone from king of the hill to the low man on the totem pull. Here the races are very fast, the weapons do serious damage, and the AI won't think twice about blasting you off the track. Better have scored some weapon and shield upgrades before taking this on. The races here are tense, but in a good way, though I managed to pull off a win by a second or so, mainly because I knew the course well since it was Kumiko's home turf.
Then I switched to the original game soundtrack (which I now love) and took sister Ami for a spin. She's just great. A white-faced punk girl with multi-shot homing missles. Just loved her sneering at the other pilot during the cut scenes.
Decided that I wanted to unlock more pilots though so went and chose some of the others and beat the early skill levels with them. This was usually easy since I knew most of the courses I was racing as well as the general gameplay. Unlocked all the other female pilots in the game. I'm sure I'll get to the men too... eventually. :p
After 3+ hours with this game, I'm extremely happy with it. Bueatiful 60FPS graphics with perfect gameplay on perfectly designed courses, along with dashes of style that really give it a rich flavor. I don't know how IGN and Gamespot could have rated it so poorly... right, because they're idiots.
Should mention the only real gripe I had with the game was with the replays. Basically, all you can do is watch them. You can't change them or save them. There are also time attack and multiplay modes, but I didn't really try them out yet.
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