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It's sad that Powerslide has made so little a splash here on GOG. It was and still is such a great game. I've been playing it again regularly since it appeared here, and am loving it (even if I'm not sure whether I'll ever defeat the Expert championship).

Thanks in part to running in high resolutions via the nGlide wrapper, time simply hasn't dulled this gem. My old nemesis track (Devil's Elbow) still mocking me; the ecstasy of a perfect slide, almost shaving the wall; the agony of clipping an obstacle after a misjudged move, seeing the opposition race ahead of you as you flip upside down; the sheer chaos of the pack*, fighting to stay in control as you get rattled from all sides, or using the other cars to slow your momentum as you intentionally dive too fast into a corner, swiping them out of the way in an aggressive overtaking manoeuvre. So much fun!

* It was always a bit much for my machine back in the day, but now I can safely crank the number of opponents up to the maximum 11, and it really can be mayhem out there!
Post edited May 18, 2013 by Shadowcat
Aye, a truly amazing game, which aged extremely well.
The thrill of driving through mineshafted, wondering if I'm fast enough for the Jump after hustling with opponents, taking the shortcut in Nutopia, sliding on ice in Freezer. Watching opponents throw each other out of the track.
A true gem left unnoticed by many.
I don't know about Fantastic yet. I bought it earlier tonight, spent about 40 min on it so far. It's not a bad game, but some of the positive things I have read in various places seem to me now that are "from memory" and not at all objective.
Anyway, I will play it more before I reach any final conclusions.
Well I can't speak for anyone else's comments, but I've certainly found the game has been living up to my memories of it.

I would encourage you to at least play until you've beaten the initial championship on the easy difficulty level, which unlocks some additional tracks. If, after driving those tracks, you're still not enjoying the game, I guess maybe it's not for you.

Beating the intermediate championship is significantly more challenging (my winning race was a real nail-biter), and on expert you'll need excellent timing just to keep up with the back of the pack, let alone the front.

If you're not already doing so, I strongly recommend playing from the first-person view. There's no cockpit, but playing driving games from an external view always feel wrong to me, and Powerslide is certainly no exception.
Post edited December 23, 2012 by Shadowcat
I agree with you. This is such a fun and cool looking game with a killer soundtrack. I still have my actual Powerside CD sitting on the shelf from back in the day when it was new, plus I bought it here in the hopes the developers are still seeing royalties. They had another game called Dirt Track Racing but it was nowhere near as good as Powerslide.

I actually enjoy random exploring almost as much as I enjoy the racing. Pick some high-up location on the map which looks impossible to reach, then try get to it with physics tricks. It's amazing how much you can wallride at disorienting angles.
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suprjami: I agree with you. This is such a fun and cool looking game with a killer soundtrack. I still have my actual Powerside CD sitting on the shelf from back in the day when it was new, plus I bought it here in the hopes the developers are still seeing royalties. They had another game called Dirt Track Racing but it was nowhere near as good as Powerslide.

I actually enjoy random exploring almost as much as I enjoy the racing. Pick some high-up location on the map which looks impossible to reach, then try get to it with physics tricks. It's amazing how much you can wallride at disorienting angles.
Just downloaded this game, brilliant! Great having these games available to play again on Windows 7!
Yes it's still a great game, bought it again a year ago since I couldn't get my CD-ROM version to run without graphical glitches, good job by GOG.

I also love the bio's of the racers, some are really funny.
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Shadowcat: It's sad that Powerslide has made so little a splash here on GOG. It was and still is such a great game. I've been playing it again regularly since it appeared here, and am loving it (even if I'm not sure whether I'll ever defeat the Expert championship).

Thanks in part to running in high resolutions via the nGlide wrapper, time simply hasn't dulled this gem. My old nemesis track (Devil's Elbow) still mocking me; the ecstasy of a perfect slide, almost shaving the wall; the agony of clipping an obstacle after a misjudged move, seeing the opposition race ahead of you as you flip upside down; the sheer chaos of the pack*, fighting to stay in control as you get rattled from all sides, or using the other cars to slow your momentum as you intentionally dive too fast into a corner, swiping them out of the way in an aggressive overtaking manoeuvre. So much fun!

* It was always a bit much for my machine back in the day, but now I can safely crank the number of opponents up to the maximum 11, and it really can be mayhem out there!
You didnt beat the expert or insane championships? Seems like alot of people have trouble with it:P
I beat insane championship when I was 12 years old, about 17 years ago. I installed it today, and Im now coming 1st place in every expert race after 2 hours of playing (I installed it after 17 years today)
Seems like muscle memory really is a thing!!!
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Strijkbout: I also love the bio's of the racers, some are really funny.
Those character bios and the unbelievable soundtrack are my favorite things about this game. It's a shame Ratbag couldn't find a publisher for the sequel Powerslide: Slipstream before Midway shut them down.

I love this game, had the original CD back in the day, still come back and play it now thanks to GOG.
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Shadowcat: It's sad that Powerslide has made so little a splash here on GOG. It was and still is such a great game. I've been playing it again regularly since it appeared here, and am loving it (even if I'm not sure whether I'll ever defeat the Expert championship).

Thanks in part to running in high resolutions via the nGlide wrapper, time simply hasn't dulled this gem. My old nemesis track (Devil's Elbow) still mocking me; the ecstasy of a perfect slide, almost shaving the wall; the agony of clipping an obstacle after a misjudged move, seeing the opposition race ahead of you as you flip upside down; the sheer chaos of the pack*, fighting to stay in control as you get rattled from all sides, or using the other cars to slow your momentum as you intentionally dive too fast into a corner, swiping them out of the way in an aggressive overtaking manoeuvre. So much fun!

* It was always a bit much for my machine back in the day, but now I can safely crank the number of opponents up to the maximum 11, and it really can be mayhem out there!
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Alexander_Borge: You didnt beat the expert or insane championships? Seems like alot of people have trouble with it:P
I beat insane championship when I was 12 years old, about 17 years ago. I installed it today, and Im now coming 1st place in every expert race after 2 hours of playing (I installed it after 17 years today)
Seems like muscle memory really is a thing!!!
It seems that you're quite an expert - what must I do to beat the "Stunt" track? I can't progress past it (Luge is next).
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musteriuz: It seems that you're quite an expert - what must I do to beat the "Stunt" track? I can't progress past it (Luge is next).
The Stunt track is just for playing around, it is a reward. However, in multiplayer Fox and Hounds with weapons (the missile and grenade cheats) it is a competitive riot. During development our team would play it this way til late every night. We really should have made that a bigger part of the game.

I jumped on GOG just now to see if Powerslide is available, because I really feel like playing it again. It was a heart-warming surprise to see so many positive comments from all around the world. We all put our heart and soul into this game. The interesting thing is, none of the 15 or so people working on the game had ever made a game before (Richard and I were the oldest on the team at 25yo, most were aged 17-20 and straight out of school or still at uni).That was back in the day when you had to build everything yourself - graphics engine, physics engine, AI, networking, interface, tools. At least we had 3D Studio and Photoshop to model the cars and tracks.

I have seen other posts on here talking about the difficulty of the game. Yes, it is difficult. Richard and I love racing games, including sims, so although Powerslide looks like an arcade racer the tracks are very thoughtfully designed to have satisfying corners and racing lines, and the AI to give a real challenge. Just like in a real race, if you make a mistake you need to drive really well to recover.

Thanks again to each of you for the kind words and sharing your memories. I am enjoying reading these a lot!

Cheers, Greg
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musteriuz: It seems that you're quite an expert - what must I do to beat the "Stunt" track? I can't progress past it (Luge is next).
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gsiegele: The Stunt track is just for playing around, it is a reward. However, in multiplayer Fox and Hounds with weapons (the missile and grenade cheats) it is a competitive riot. During development our team would play it this way til late every night. We really should have made that a bigger part of the game.

I jumped on GOG just now to see if Powerslide is available, because I really feel like playing it again. It was a heart-warming surprise to see so many positive comments from all around the world. We all put our heart and soul into this game. The interesting thing is, none of the 15 or so people working on the game had ever made a game before (Richard and I were the oldest on the team at 25yo, most were aged 17-20 and straight out of school or still at uni).That was back in the day when you had to build everything yourself - graphics engine, physics engine, AI, networking, interface, tools. At least we had 3D Studio and Photoshop to model the cars and tracks.

I have seen other posts on here talking about the difficulty of the game. Yes, it is difficult. Richard and I love racing games, including sims, so although Powerslide looks like an arcade racer the tracks are very thoughtfully designed to have satisfying corners and racing lines, and the AI to give a real challenge. Just like in a real race, if you make a mistake you need to drive really well to recover.

Thanks again to each of you for the kind words and sharing your memories. I am enjoying reading these a lot!

Cheers, Greg
Wow that's impressive, to make such a fun game that looks good and works well too first time around.
Good job everyone who worked on it.

Thank you and the rest of the team for making this game.
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musteriuz: It seems that you're quite an expert - what must I do to beat the "Stunt" track? I can't progress past it (Luge is next).
avatar
gsiegele: The Stunt track is just for playing around, it is a reward. However, in multiplayer Fox and Hounds with weapons (the missile and grenade cheats) it is a competitive riot. During development our team would play it this way til late every night. We really should have made that a bigger part of the game.

I jumped on GOG just now to see if Powerslide is available, because I really feel like playing it again. It was a heart-warming surprise to see so many positive comments from all around the world. We all put our heart and soul into this game. The interesting thing is, none of the 15 or so people working on the game had ever made a game before (Richard and I were the oldest on the team at 25yo, most were aged 17-20 and straight out of school or still at uni).That was back in the day when you had to build everything yourself - graphics engine, physics engine, AI, networking, interface, tools. At least we had 3D Studio and Photoshop to model the cars and tracks.

I have seen other posts on here talking about the difficulty of the game. Yes, it is difficult. Richard and I love racing games, including sims, so although Powerslide looks like an arcade racer the tracks are very thoughtfully designed to have satisfying corners and racing lines, and the AI to give a real challenge. Just like in a real race, if you make a mistake you need to drive really well to recover.

Thanks again to each of you for the kind words and sharing your memories. I am enjoying reading these a lot!

Cheers, Greg
Did not expect the man himself to show up here, hats off to you and the original Ratbag team sir. Powerslide is in my top 10 favorite games ever. In some mystical other timeline, if I was a developer myself and had a team behind me and the creative freedom to do whatever I wanted, I'd like to do a sequel / reboot of Powerslide.

There's something about that dark, atmospheric soundtrack, the challenging tracks to race through, those insane character bios... I love this game, and I've been playing it since I was a kid.