Gaming Target - Xbox: XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association

Written by Ryan Genno on August 18, 2003

First Impressions: "Just imagine all the bugs flying in your face at 700 miles per hour!"

I'm still a proud owner of a Nintendo 64 game system (quit laughing!) and I remember this one particular racing game for that system that didn't get a lot of hype or attention but it was still an awesome gaming experience regardless. The game was Extreme G from Acclaim. Although Extreme G suffered from the infamous СFog' in the distance that a lot of Nintendo 64 titles have, the game still gives the player a truly insane scent of speed across some wild roller coaster-like tracks. I was worried this fun series would die after a disappointing N64 sequel but thankfully a third game for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube restored the Extreme G name back to its intense glory. Sadly the series has yet to come to the 700 megahertz powered Xbox but all that is going to change when the fourth Extreme G named XGRA arrives on Microsoft's baby this fall.

The reason why I enjoyed parts I and III of this underrated racing series so much is because it offered more then the average racer. Nintendo's F Zero games were very intense and all but it didn't have weapons while Psychosis's Wipe Out had the weapons, it didn't have the intensity because you usually come to a complete stop when you hit a wall. In Extreme G you get it all: speed, weapons, nitros, and freaky track design.

What makes this new Extreme G is different then the older titles, is the introduction of a strange contract mode. Now players can take variousЕ. well, Сjobs' to earn some extra cash on the side other than winning races. You may be asked to things like take out another racer or you may be asked to destroy some advertising signs during a circuit. Somewhat similar in game play to all those semi-evil Grand Theft Auto games that appear to be so popular now of days.

If XGRA is going to look anything like it predecessors then you can expect one awesome looking racing game with killer hills, deadly loops, and high risk jumps. XGRA is the kind of game that's so fast and so wild that it can almost cause motion sickness if you're not prepared plus Acclaim is giving us 7 unique environments across seven different tracks so you're bound to see something cool. This version of XGRA should be the graphical superior thanks to the power of the Xbox but let's just hope that Acclaim doesn't slack off and this isn't a carbon copy of the other versions. Remember what happened with Atari's awful Enter the Martix games and how the Xbox version was loaded with bugs?