My game of 2005 - Trackmania Sunrise

Trackmania: Sunrise is the follow up to the sleeper hit Trackmania, from Digital Jesters. Boasting new game modes and more insane tracks then the original can TM: Sunrise improve on the originals winning formula?

The short answer is yes. The game successfully straddles three genres (racing, platform and puzzle) to make a game that is fiendishly hard but extremely addictive, there is a strong “one more go” factor urging you to have one last try at getting that gold medal.

The Racing mode sees you competing against three AI controlled cars, one representing bronze, one silver and one gold. Put simply, beat the bronze car and you’ll gain a bronze ranking for that track. The medals are extremely well balanced, making it relatively easy to score a bronze ranking but you will have to put in a solid amount of playing time before you can even think of getting on a par with the gold car.
Crucially, the other cars are all ghosts, so you bumping into them is impossible, making the game seem more like a rally then an out and out race. Despite the fact there are only three different types of cars to race as (and you can’t pick which car you have for the race) you wont get bored with your vehicle as there is a good deal of customizing you can to alter your cars appearance to make it stand out from the pack.

The platform mode is where, in my opinion, TM: Sunrise really stands out from the crowded racing game market. The aim is to get your car through a series of checkpoints on a course that is insanely put together. You will have to make huge jumps, squeeze through tiny gaps and even bounce off water to get around the courses. Naturally with a mode like this the design of the levels is critical and TM seems to come good on this too. The tracks are extremely well made and so you never feel lost on the roads. One of the greatest challenges TM has to offer is to get all the way around the track in one clean run and while this may get frustrating due to the sheer difficulty of some of the tracks, there is a strong sense of achievement in getting all the way round a course and gaining the gold ranking.

Of course, you’ll want to share these experiences with friends and fortunately TM offers some pretty good multiplayer options. These work as a hot seat mode, so you can have a large group of people taking it in turns racing on a track and it is fun to see your own ghost racing along with the person actually playing at the time.

Overall TM: Sunrise really is excellent. The games difficulty is pitched perfectly meaning you can dive straight in and have fun, but it will take a considerable amount of skill to complete some of the gold medal tracks, ensuring you will be playing TM for a long time.