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The grim post-nuclear future of off-road racing.

Powerslide, the postapocalyptic free-form racing game with impressive visuals and brilliant track design, is now available on GOG.com for only $5.99.

How much a fresh orange is worth, nowadays? $0.5? A banana? Just about as much. Not really worth endangering yourself over, right? Now imagine a world where the price of fresh fruit skyrocketed after a global nuclear holocaust. A world, where only the richest of the rich can afford proper nutrition. In such world--a barely habitable nuclear wasteland--the less fortunate majority of irradiated freaks finds its only pleasure and retreat in mad auto races called "powerslides". Only the lucky few make it to the finish line, but among them only one will receive the ultimate prize: a healthy meal.

Powerslide not only manages to capture a perfect image of the hypothetical grim post-nuclear future, but also delivers solid and original racing gameplay. Even though the game dates back to 1998, its detailed graphics remain impressive and create a captivating representation of an apocalyptic landscape. All of the tracks present you with many options of detours and shortcuts, so it makes a lot of sense to do a little exploration while racing. This will not only make your victory easier--many special bonuses can be found in the most secluded places.

Unlock all the vehicles and drivers, learn every turn of every track, practice your driving skills and maybe you'll earn your way out of postapocalyptic slum. Race for thrills, respect, money, and your right to proper nutrition in Powerslide, for only $5.99.
Absolutely stoked that this is now out on GOG... I'd been trying to get it working under Windows 7 (largely unsuccessfully) for years, but it looks like GOG have finally cracked it.

I'd probably liken this game as a mix between, say, Rollcage and Sega Rally. Hopefully we can run this at super-insane resolutions (compared to back then) but even if not, I won't care. I honestly cannot recommend it enough.

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G-Doc: In the context of a game released in 1998? No, not even remotely.
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Elenarie: Suggestion, you should revise the games' descriptions since you're also releasing new games now (describe the games in past tense maybe?). "its detailed graphics remain impressive" - seriously? :)

For someone who first hears about this game, such as myself (an example), it smells of false marketing (yea, I know that it is not, but still...).
"Even though the game dates back to 1998, its detailed graphics remain impressive"
I don't know whether that was there at the time of your post or if it was edited afterwards, but that pretty much explains it perfectly. Speaking from first hand, I can assure you that at the time, the graphics really were on another level... even compared to other PC games.

And isn't everything that's written about all games here written in context of when it was released? Even though they're frequently avoiding the "Old" in GOG, a massive percentage of their titles are still quite old titles.


PS. Guys, I actually voted for this as a game I wanted to see on GOG. Should I have not received a notification? If there's nothing like that that's been implemented... there should be! :)
Post edited October 02, 2012 by Shaneus
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Shaneus: "Even though the game dates back to 1998, its detailed graphics remain impressive"
I don't know whether that was there at the time of your post or if it was edited afterwards[...]

PS. Guys, I actually voted for this as a game I wanted to see on GOG. Should I have not received a notification? If there's nothing like that that's been implemented... there should be! :)
Nope, not a single edit.

And that's a good suggestion.
Are you GOG.guys sick!
Two race games in a row and no rpg's?
Keep it up and I might actually buy something here for a change. :D

Great game by the way and this reminds me to play it again (after I finished Carmageddon).

P.S.

May I recommend using 4:3 aspect ratio to make the screenshots, now the stretching makes them look terrible.
Post edited October 02, 2012 by Strijkbout
Great game ... but why do you use these horrible forced widescreen shots on the product page? They look like s... well, to be polite, they do not look very good.
Not only was this game quite a looker back in the day, I also recall it having a great (truly unique) soundtrack...
Nice, more racing games.
Man, GOG have been hitting it out of the park, recently! I've had significant problems running this on modern PCs over the past several years, so this is an instabuy for me, because...

Powerslide is one of my absolute all-time favourite racing games. Not only that, but it's pretty damn high up my list of favourites for any genre. It's one of the games I made a point of writing something about in the original wish list forum thread, back in the days before we had a better wish list :)

I've added a review (which I now can't seem to edit to remove my typos, sigh) as a better outlet for my enthusiasm.

Thanks, GOG!
I just saw this, it's awesome :D I remember having a lot of fun with this one years ago.
Why are the screenshots all stretched out to widescreen? This is obviously a 4:3 game.
Yes!
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Elenarie: Impressive visuals? Is that a joke?
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G-Doc: In the context of a game released in 1998? No, not even remotely.
I also remember being impressed by the slick and smooth graphics, back then. Also the sliding driving model was little over the top IIRC, in a good way.

So many people mention having problems getting the original running on modern systems, I guess I'll have to test it with my retail version, as I last played it probably in Win98SE... If it is not easy to get it to run with the latest patches, I could easily see myself buying the GOG version at some point.

But as said, arcade racing games don't always age gracefully, hence I've e.g. skipped POD (I originally got it with my 3Dfx graphics card back in the day). Last week I also tried the Midnight Club 2 which was a Steam freebie months ago... oh mi god what a POS driving game (2003) that one is! No wonder they gave it out free.
Post edited October 02, 2012 by timppu
This game really looks interesting. I never heard of it - so wishlisted :)
Wow, I could see this level of graphics on an indie game today. Nice.
I keep thinking of "Evil Eye" by Fu Manchu.

6 hours before
with an evil grin
better brace yourself
straightaway or win
Call power slide
Separates them all
Never touchin the brake

Anyway, great song off THPS2.

But I actually remember playing this demo around '02 I think! Got it from a friend at school, iirc.
Post edited October 02, 2012 by tfishell
I just tried my original EU/UK retail version, and I can't get it to run in ASUS G75 (Win7/64bit). Updated it to 1.04, and depending on which compatibility settings I use, either it gives a "Windows NT not supported"-error, or just crashes upon launch.

So if this GOG version really works ok on modern machines/Windows, kudos to GOG for great work once again for making old games compatible with new systems. :)

I'll probably try if I can get the retail version run on some of my older PCs, just to remind myself whether this game was as good as I remember it. If it is, I'll be happy to buy the GOG version and throw the obsolete retail version to trash bin. There must be a reason I've bought this game in the past because I didn't buy that many arcade racers back then. Racing sims were a different matter altogether...
Post edited October 02, 2012 by timppu