| | | Without paying for a subscription, in this free-to-play if you want solo play at least you can only drive 30 or so tracks in the current "season."
Didn't dig the tracks I tried; felt too open and loosey goosey, not clear and directed like earlier TM games I've tried. |
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| | | | The aesthetic is brighter than my eyes feel comfortable with. |
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| | | | I was seeing various strength "BOOST" notifications; apparently in this game there are track sections that can apply boosts to cars driving over them. |
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| | | | Definitely a fuzzier, curvier, more pastel look here than the harder edges of well Trackmania Forever. |
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| | | With the free version you can go into one featured server and enjoy some crazy maps and mayhem with other player cars winging all around you. I was on some neat dark sci-fi map, actually finished it, that was something I guess.
Doesn't have the intense, sharp rubber-on-the-road handling of Nations Forever. Not even close--it's all fudgy. Ridiculous how immediately sharper and more gripping NF is; kind of makes me angry that the handling in later games is so inferior... Maybe it isn't their fault they just aren't as good at it as the earlier team, I dunno. Then again, the have that one to go by, so how could they not be noticing that their fundamental driving experience is so poor by comparison? |
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| | | Grr! Well, I guess that's enough of that. Except that randomish dark online race, that was a different experience. Hm. I did try Mania Royal or whatever it's called which was another mass online race but it was all poppy and the track was a horror show. So--wait, what was that Death Starry-server? Would it be worth subbing for? I don't want to do that. Oh blast. Now I have to reinstall to see the server name at least. Oh gosh dang it and reinstall Ubisoft Connect...
Hah it's moved on to the next server. But that server was "Neo-Cupra Tracks"... Oh, I see. It was a series of 12 official sci-fi-themed tracks co-sponsored with a Spanish car manufacturer (Cupra).
https://trackmania.exchange/mappack/view/2008/neo-cupra
I think the one I was in was this one
Now imagine that raced blind and surrounded by other blind racers. Hm. |
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| | | Ah the next server switched to a similar-ish map, with the same mayhem rush of free access player scum like me ^_ ^
The map was "LOLROS - Space Launch" by Proff10:
https://trackmania.exchange/maps/88614/lolros-space-launch
And what happened:
So that's fun. ^ _^ The game is a relatively tiny 3.5 GB footprint; doesn't drive anywhere near as sharp as (offline, anyway) Nations Forever but maybeeeee worth keeping around for the unique lemming rush frantic online experience?
Now I'm thinking quite possibly the driving sharpness was intentionally blunted for better online performance. |
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| | | | The room was "Proff10 - Lol & Short Maps" |
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| | | | Still got the ol' weird top menu, only now you gotta mouse all the way up to the top of the screen to make it appear--then it's got the "X" button to quit; that's the only way to quit with just mouse. ; D |
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| | | | Oh, I think I had this backwards before: my 2020 mid-range gaming laptop exceeds the recommended spec by about 10%. The in-game FPS display (there are lots of these you can toggle) says I'm getting 60 fps on busy MP maps with everything maxed, only I turned blurs and blooms off 'cause I don't like 'em. |
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| | | With free access you can also do "Training" maps--a set of 30 or so, from what I can see, although maybe more unlock for all I know. Couldn't even quite Gold the first one! It's just like three short 90-degree twists, really gotta nail the racing line. That's actually pretty neat.
A later (the last, maybe?) is descending cut-backs on different surfaces with horrible, bizarrely horrible traction. Dirt, grass, ice. Awful. Made me run back to Nations Forever just to feel that razor-sharp road grip. Man. |
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| | | Oh man! I tried some good ol' TrackMania Nations Forever after a 3.5-hour session of Trackmania (2020 Steam/PC) there's something about the camera or something--even in first-person/cockpit--in TM2020 that makes me dizzy/woozy/nauseous; it DOESN'T happen in TMNF, where you've got sharper handling and a tangible tires-on-asphalt feel to the driving.
So I had to uninstall Trackmania 2020, it was really making me feel ill. = oo
I wonder if...maybe it was partly to do with having to switch from the game's FXAA to TAA to avoid frame drops. Also had to turn reflections down.
Maybe I'll reinstall and just set it on low-ish detail and FXAA and see if that's any less nauseating.
But also another problem with the game for me is that a lot of the tracks are obviously not designed for driving using the lower-slung cockpit/bumper camera, because you just can't see a lot of the turns well at all in that view; so I had to switch to the elevated 3rd person chase camera thing, which definitely has a sorta sea-sicking slow yaw to it when turning.
Okay, reinstalled and ran in "Fast" (ie Low) detail, and it was a bit sharper (MSAA), but the queasy drifty sensation when turning or getting air or well almost any time I was driving was still there.
So yeah I can't play TM2020. = o
Not gonna post that 3.5 hour video of it, either; don't want anyone gettin' queasy (beyond just my poor driving and commentary!). : PPP |
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