Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda

[AlexMax]

http://img67.exs.cx/img67/6364/linkisunshine5127vd.png

Since you people apparently don't post in threads that don't have the word Zelda in it, I have created the thread title appropriately. But this post is not about Zelda. What is it about then? A demo for a game that has not been released yet. Allocate a good portion of time, because this will probably keep you occupied for a while. The name of the game is Trackmania Sunrise. You can download it from the link listed below.

Download it here. (http://www.3dgamers.com/dlselect/games/trackmaniasr/tmsunrisedemo_setup.exe.html)

Now, as you probably could tell from the screenshot above, it's a racing game. But it's no ordinary racing game. The controls for this racing game are very "relaxed". Going around corners is very easy. In fact, you can get by with only using the arrow keys.

So what's so special about it? Take a look at the picture below.

http://img67.exs.cx/img67/2782/sunshine27cy.png

Does it look a little 'artificial'? It should. Because the game comes with a very in depth track editor. The full version will allow you to place things like loops, but the demo still allows you to place a good number of parts like half pipes, signs, tunnels, boosts, stuff like that. That's part of it. The other part is that this game features internet play, complete with ladders and automatic track downloading, so all you have to do is create a track, put it in your tracklist on your server (which can hold 8 people on a cable connection, a little less for 56k, since there is no collision), and suddenly everyone will be able to play on it. The only problem is that in order to create tracks, you need to earn coppers from the single player game You never 'lose' coppers perminently, but it places a limit on how big your track can be. The demo supports up to 950 coppers (getting gold medals on all six tracks), which can create a decently large size track, but you might have to go easy on the eye candy.

Still, it's really fun. Come play with me.

Download it here. (http://www.3dgamers.com/dlselect/games/trackmaniasr/tmsunrisedemo_setup.exe.html)

[Beldaran]

This looks like a must have for me. Unfortunately, all the servers seem to be maxed out at the moment. I'll give a shot later.

[Grasshopper]

This is the sequel to TrackMania (http://www.enlight.com/trackmania/) for the ones who don't know, and this game has been out for a while already. I haven't played the demo to Sunrise, so I'm not sure how it compares, but if you like that, then you should pick this game up. I got it for $9, so it should be really cheap now. I think its definitely worth the money considering how much I played it. Its arcade style racing, so you won't find any real-life simulation here, but its still very fun. In the first game, you only race against one other car, but in this one, there is more.

For more detail, if this is similar to the first one, there was three areas to choose and race in. For each area, you had a couple thousand coppers to use to build a track with. As you progress in the game, you earned more coppers. You start out racing 8 easy races in each area. You get more coppers by getting bronze, silver, or gold medals in the races. If you clear the races with all bronze, silver, or gold, depending on the medals earned, you get a bonus and more coppers added to your stock. After completing a set of 8 races in all three areas, a new set of 8 races in the areas will open and you can complete them to get more coppers.

Racing isn't the only thing, you have puzzles too. In puzzle mode, they give you so many track pieces to use and you have to construct a track that you can race under a certain time. This is a LOT harder than it sounds. Sometimes there is all the difference in a hill then a dip. Same rules apply here. Coppers are earned for complete each of the 8 puzzles. For each section, complete the races with all medals gives you a bonus for more coppers. After you finish the 8 races, a new set of puzzles open up.

950 coppers isn't a lot. I've had up and over 20,000 coppers I think and just about half the game. Even then I was looking at creative ways to make my tracks longer, because I still kept running out of coppers. I'm pretty sure that you could get tons more coppers. Trick is, coppers earned in those areas can only be used on that style of track. So if you have 10,000 coppers in the snow area, you can't build a desert track with 10,000 coppers, unless you earned 10,000 coppers in the desert area too.

[Gerudo]

hm, the game runs fine till i go to enter a race, then it just sits there... i have like, 3 times the listed system requirements, and fiddled around with setup... weird...

edit: woot! got it working by using safe mode :D

[Cloral]

Looks fun. I'll give it a try when I get home.

[AlexMax]

This looks like a must have for me. Unfortunately, all the servers seem to be maxed out at the moment. I'll give a shot later.

The Torrent is never maxed out. In fact, the more people on the torrent, the faster your download goes. Get ahold of Bitcomet (http://www.bitcomet.com/) and use it download it.

And I've also created quite a few tracks of my own already. (http://sunrise.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=tracksearch&mode=1&id=5385)

[Coder GT]

Bleh, people are now forcing me to download a Torrent program because nobody wants to use zips. Oh well, this looks like too much fun to turn down. Nice, I don't need a Torrent proggie to download this.

[Cloral]

Well I've gotten gold on the 2 supplied races and one of the platform tracks. So far so good. I think for me the only real point to playing the 1 player game will be to earn coppers for the track design mode. But that's still enough of an incentive for me to get those gold medals.

BTW, is there a listing anywhere of how much each track piece costs? I guess I could figure it out myself by placing pieces, but it would be nice to just have a list I could look at. That way I could figure out how to get the most bang for my buck with only 770 coppers to spend.

[mikeron]

Instead of downloading the game, I now want to bust out the legos, train set, etc.

[Cloral]

In the full versions of these games, do you get a larger area in which to design your tracks? I made a pretty fun island course with a tunnel and some jumps up to some hills, but it felt like I had to keep looping the track back on itself to avoid the edges. If you do get a larger area, then I'll probably get this when it comes out.

Also, as you play into these games do medals become more valuble? It seems like it would take forever to get 10,000 coppers if you can only get 75 per course.

[Grasshopper]

In the original, the area to build in can seem small. So thats probably the size of it. As for the medals, I think that its a set amount, but silver medals are more than bronze, gold is more than silver. And don't forget you get a bonus for finishing a set of 8, plus you get a bonus for getting all medals on each track. All gold of course would be the biggest bonus. And I almost forgot to mention, it gives you a bonus for getting all bronze, all silver, and all gold. You can earn all those bonuses. So even if you get gold on the 8 tracks the first time you play them, it will also give you the bonus for having all bronze, a bonus for having all silver, and a bonus for having all gold, even though you only earned gold. :) So it does add up.