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"Hey, NEC’s making games again!" |
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Platform: GameCube Genre: Racing Publisher: NEC Interchannel Developer: NdCube ETA: Q1 2003
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Tube Slider
Hey, NEC’s making games again! If you’re memory goes back far enough you’ll remember NEC’s console the Turbo-Graphix 16. NEC virtually disappeared from gaming at the end of the 16-bit Console Wars but they’re back now and here’s a look at their first GameCube title, Tube Slider: Sometime
in the middle of the 21st century, shortly following the
development of hydrogen-based power, a global treaty prohibiting the use
of fossil fuels was passed which banned all motor sports. Although the
world established a culture of peace and environmental preservation,
people wanted a sport that would whet their appetites for speed and
competition… Get
your adrenaline fix as you race at incredible speeds in hover vehicles
that slide through futuristic gravity-defying race courses enclosed in
tubes… reaching speeds over 1,000 miles per hour! The future of
championship formula racing is faster, sleeker, and more dangerous. You
may be able to finish a race, but can you take home a championship? Features
Select
from a large variety of futuristic racing vehicles, each with its own
speed and handling characteristics. Choose
championship mode to race for the title. Race
on highly complex tubular courses filled with twists and turns. Training
courses and in-game tutorial help players master the maneuvers required
to survive the speed-intensive challenges. Test
yourself against aggressive AI, or up to 4 human players in head-to-head
competition. So essentially, Tube Slider is like rocketing through a complex plumbing system, but honestly, it makes me think more of Nintendo’s F-Zero series (or even the classic arcade Stun Runner). And since F-Zero, and racing games to any large extent, has yet to appear on the GameCube, Tube Slider may have a corner on the racing market when it ships.
However, racing games need to simulate speed above practically every other concern. And since I’ve yet to see it in motion, I can’t render any opinion on its smoothness. It does look pretty spiffy, without a whole lot of explosive lighting effects, relying on more subtly. (In other words, no combat, just racing). Look for Tube Slider soon. - Omni (February 9, 2003) |
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