Nail'd is racing for Pure's crown.

by Guest Wed 7 Jul 2010 - 16:24

One of the many reasons I love videogames is because they enable me to do things like careen off high jumps and barrel through the air on a physics-defying ATV. You'll be doing it all the time in Nail'd, an upcoming off-road racer that not only features ATVs, but Motocross bikes as well. The developers behind Nail'd set out to make the fastest off-road game of all time, and from the looks of a very early build I saw last week, they're on the right track.

Nail'd falls very much in line with the term "arcade racer," as the action is incredibly fast and completely unrealistic. Races take place on a variety of tracks that are all based on real-world locations. The only environment I had the opportunity to see was Yosemite, which was dominated by dirt hills, massive trees and dizzying drops. The developers have, of course, taken some liberties when designing these tracks, as the real Yosemite wouldn't be nearly as fun to race. It would also be dangerous, and potentially illegal...

All three of the tracks on display where one-lap tracks. The point of Nail'd is to keep players on their toes and give them an ample amount of paths to take while racing. During my demo, the rider broke through fences, sped under fallen trees and slid along the sides of mountains, all at an extremely fast pace that will require a fair amount of skill to manage.

The developers not only attempted to emphasize speed in Nail'd, but they also worked hard at building vertical levels for players. These tracks will not be flat, boring affairs, but varying, jump-heavy courses that will encourage players to get as much air as possible, while avoiding intimacy with a passing helicopter.

Although I wasn't actually able to play Nail'd (the build that was demoed was pre-alpha), I was told that most player actions will feed into the game's sense of speed. Perform tricks and your turbo meter will fill up. Alternatively, there are fiery rings dotting the course which can be passed through for another boost to the turbo, coaxing players into finding the fastest route with the most opportunities for building up the turbo meter.

Air control is also an important part of the Nail'd formula, as players need to keep their rides level with the ground in order to properly land the game's many insane (and inevitable) jumps. For some of the trickier sections, an on-screen indicator tells the player what direction to hit the stick in order to level out their ride and prevent a nasty and time-consuming crash.

The only thing on display during my demo was the single-player mode, but Nail'd will support multiplayer functionality as well. Up to 12 players can participate in a race at the same time, and the Nail'd leaderboards will be fairly extensive. After every race, players can study a full race replay and even view the race from another player's perspective. Nail'd will also feature a track builder, enabling players to get creative and come up with their own high-flying jumps.

At this point in time, Nail'd is still very early along and needs some work. But if the developers can tie up all the loose ends and get the races running well, Nail'd could be a fun off-road racer with enough speed to challenge even the most experienced ATV and Motocross junkies.