Posted on: November 14, 2011
emazur
Verified ownerGames: 171 Reviews: 2
Overall good and original but with some flaws
It's hard to believe but there is very little information available on Megarace 3 - search youtube and you'll only find 1 very short video, and there are no codes or anything listed on gamefaqs.com I played the original Megarace back the 1990s and was interested when I saw Megarace 3 on GOG and found that it had realtime 3d graphics (as opposed to the prerendered FMV of the original) and looked very similar to the Wipeout series of games. Graphics are excellent and the course design is very original. Even on the lowest settings the graphics look nice, though I was able to boost them to 1680x1050 in the "quick configuration" utility in the Megarace 3 programs folder (which is easy to miss). Even on my old dual core laptop w/ Intel GMA 950 graphics, I was able to max out the resolution and get full framerate (something I couldn't do with many other older games on the GMA 950 such as Unreal). I played with an analog gamepad and found the control to be good. I also tested it a bit w/ the laptop keyboard and found control was good with that too but I recommend a controller. I should note that I had to unplug my other controller (a USB flightstick) when playing this game b/c the controls would go crazy. I strongly recommend the vehicles with the highest steering/acceleration but if you choose the other vehicles you basically hold the break while turning and and this acts like an axis. Sound in this game is just so-so. Music is adequate but nothing special (an option for custom soundtrack would be great) and the sound effects are pretty weak. I recommend turning off the announcer in the options - he is very repetitive and annoying. And while I'm on the subject, you might as well disable videos in the settings while you're at it - I remember the Lance Boyle deranged game show host worked well in the original game but here he's just creepy and what he says adds absolutely nothing worthwhile. Let's get to the gameplay. First off, let it be known that this game starts off VERY hard in my opinion. You have to complete the practice mode before you can unlock the arcade and the "catastrophe" mode (later you can unlock the career mode). And completing the practice mode is actually pretty damn tough - especially the speed trials. Arcade mode is fun but has an almost game killing flaw that you have to complete every course in succession without saving. Like I said, the game starts out very hard so you'll be tempted to give up, but remember my tip to use the easy to hand vehicles, and be on the lookout for the red arrows and align your vehicles to the same surface so your vehicle doesn't fly off the tracks. Catastrophe mode is basically a time limited obstacle course which sometimes has goals of destroying certain objects and in one case a boss. I found the second course in this series to be VERY difficult and I nearly gave up. There were I think 5 courses in the catastrophe series and the ones ones after the second course aren't nearly as difficult. After finishing catastrophe, you unlock career mode - a GP mode with seven races. The first available series is fairly easy but I just couldn't beat the second series and that's when I stopped playing. I managed to get second place but it's very easy to die and get no points making it too difficult to win. The best thing about Megarace 3 is the sense of speed - I've never played a racing game that started out so fast so early on, and this makes for great action. I never tried multiplayer, but would be interested in trying it out on a home network that would would great even with my low-end graphics laptop. I've given up on playing anymore b/c I'm not making progress in the career mode but it was a good ride while it lasted and there plenty of other games to move onto. Bottom line: great graphics, very original design, awesome speed, so-so sound, very difficult at first and has some flaws like not being able to save in arcade mode. Worth buying for the low price that GOG sells it for.
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