TrackMania series has become a cult favorite among several gamers. The series provides players with a one-of-a-kind arcade racing experience, as well as an incredibly detailed track construction system. The series has evolved from a simplistic arcade-style appearance in the first title to a more realistic appearance in Sunrise and now Together. The most important shift for series veterans is how the group aspect has been given the rock star treatment of being the game's attention grabber.
TrackMania's group mode aims to provide a Myspace-style hub for the game. Players from all over the world can make new tracks, customize their vehicles, and even post footage of themselves playing the game with other players. Each player can create their own personalized Web site to showcase their tracks, vehicles, and videos. However, for one reason, the single-player part of the game continues to play a significant role in the Manialink community: currency.
Nothing in this universe is truly open, and the game's community functions are also bound to money in TrackMania United. Coopers, the in-game currency, must be invested in order to buy user-created tracks, vehicles, and skins. Coopers can be obtained in two ways: by completing portions of the single-player Official mode or by selling stages, vehicles, and skins that you've made. Some of you may be saying, "Well, that just weakened the group mode," which I appreciate, but I think it's a brilliant idea because it keeps you focused on the single-player game. The cost of user-created tracks and cars is low, so making enough money in the single-player game should be easy.
The single-player mode of the game is just as enjoyable as the previous titles. United, in my opinion, is the ultimate TrackMania compilation because it features over 200 songs focusing on all of the worlds from previous TrackMania titles. But, for those who have never played a TrackMania game, I might be getting ahead of myself. TrackMania is the wackiest and craziest driving game released for PC if you fall into this category. Have you ever tried to race around a palace, race over the ocean, or do wild, death-defying stunts that would be impossible in real life? If this is the case, TrackMania United is the game for you.
The single-player mode of the game is divided into three sections: Race, Platform, and Puzzle. In the race mode, you race against the clock to complete a track in the shortest period of time. The platform model is a race to the finish to see if you can complete the track, which is made up of a series of tricks and traps designed to prevent you from completing. The puzzle mode, as the name implies, requires you to complete a puzzle by assembling parts of a track and then running on the track against the clock. If you beat the clock, you complete the puzzle. Yeah, there will be a puzzle mode in a racing game, and it's awesome.
Since you're not competing against other gamers, the multiplayer racing section seems restricted. Anything in Multiplayer is still a race to see who can achieve the fastest lap time on a given circuit. Even if this is the only form of multiplayer race available, the rest of the community features should please the majority of gamers. The tracks in the single-player game also show the best lap times from other players all around the world. The game allows you to download another player's ghost car and race against them depending on their lap time. Then note that tracks downloaded by other players are still possible to play in the single-player mode. Even if the multiplayer race is small, the whole game is still based on how the rest of the world plays the game.
The rest of TrackMania United is made up of customized features. The track editor is, of course, the most critical (and best) part. I will invite someone who has ever played a modded map or level from another game to dive headfirst into TrackMania United's track editor. There are over 1K different track parts that can be combined to make any form of track you can think of. Whatever mad or unique idea you have, the track editor will most likely encourage you to create it. If over 100K tracks have already been built by other players around the world, you can certainly contribute by constructing at least one or two. The paint mode helps you to change the paint job of the game's different car models. I looked at some paint jobs that did an outstanding job of imitating their real-world counterparts.
If you've never played TrackMania before, United is a fantastic place to start if you're new to the franchise. The previous games' frantic, crazy, and exciting gameplay is still there. The group features might not be as popular as Myspace, but they should have a solid and dedicated user base generating material for the rest of us. As opposed to other top-tier titles, TrackMania has always been the underdog, but it has always provided a gameplay experience second to none. United maintains this tradition which can not be forgotten if you skipped the previous titles.
