Extreme-G 3 (GameCube)

CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Joe Fielder
• Reviewed on: 12/10/2001
• Updated on:05/17/2006
• Released on: 11/27/2001

The original Extreme-G arrived on the Nintendo 64 in 1997, quick and sure on the heels of Psygnosis' similarly styled WipeOut and WipeOut XL for the PlayStation. While the futuristic N64 racer may have been a pretty obvious WipeOut clone, it held its ground, offering fun gameplay and the techno-enhanced high-tech racing theme that was introduced, but not thoroughly exhausted, by its PlayStation counterpart. Exactly one year later, Acclaim offered a second helping on the N64 with XG2, and the magic was gone. The game was fast and furious but possessed a number of significant flaws. Now, nearly three years later, the franchise has reared its head on the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in the form of Extreme-G 3, and the revival has turned out remarkably well.

In Extreme-G 3, the song remains largely the same as before, albeit much better produced: You live deep in the far-flung future, where you have to race high-speed cycles up and down walls and shoot energy blasts at people for kicks. Unlike in the WipeOut series, there aren't numerous power-ups to pick up over the course of the race. Instead, there are two types of energy-recharging fields that you drive over for power: one for weapons and the other for shield energy. Weapon energy powers whatever weapon you currently have selected, and when that energy runs out, none of the items in your arsenal will work. Shield energy is of particular use since it also powers your turbo boost. That means that if you get shot or bump up against a wall, the energy will be partially depleted, and you won't be able to peel out on a straightaway as successfully as you'd like. It also means that if you want to go really fast, you're going to run the risk of your shields completely failing and having your cycle blow up. It's this sort of constant hairsplitting give-and-take that makes Extreme-G 3 so entertaining.

Through the course of the game, you can buy supplementary items for your cycle such as improved engines, better weapons, and larger storage capacity for weapon and shield energy. One item, the leech, is especially effective. If you use it successfully, you can lock on to an enemy from behind and steal some of his or her shield energy to add to your own. This not only lets you turbo-boost more frequently, but it also sabotages your opponent's ability to do the same. The leech can make for some very compelling final stretches.

Extreme G-3's environments are somewhat sparse in comparison with those in the earlier games in the series. However, the game speeds along at an extremely fast and consistent frame rate--unlike its predecessors. A host of impressive graphical effects vie for your attention and attempt to distract you from the race at hand. A couple of the more basic cosmetic effects are the heat wash that exudes from the back of your cycle right before the race starts and the light trails that stream behind all the speeding vehicles once the race begins. Another effect you see early in the game is reminiscent of a visual element from Konami's Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Once you leave the confines of the race hangar, raindrops begin hitting your TV screen and cling there momentarily the way raindrops would to a car windshield. If you hit your turbo boost, the raindrops strike your screen even faster and slightly obscure your view of the race.

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Extreme-G 3 (GameCube): $29.95

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