Track variety is quite nice, ranging from cities with bright lights to snowy mountain regions. They are fairly well designed and provide a nice variation from each other. Each of them are beautifully rendered, taking full advantage of the Xbox’s power. I’m not quite sure if there is a game on the racing scene that looks as good as this game, not in a realistic way but in that sort of surreal outer worldly fashion. You’ll drive through beautiful ice caverns that really show off what the Xbox is capable of. Each of the crafts are nicely rendered as well, featuring plenty of moving parts. All of them are crafted differently in order to fit with the driver’s persona but in the end, tend to blend in with each other and eventually become old.
I had some fun with this game but there are a few problems, the races seem to be either far too long or far too short. Sometimes I’ll finish a race within 2 minutes; other times it’ll take 5 or 6. It seems to be entirely random and at times, it’s really bothersome. The AI also seems to be rather bland; they’re not exactly brilliant and just follow a set racing line. Combat also seems to be pretty weak, weapons are under whelming and destroying enemies is just sometimes impossible. It seems like the weapons were just added in as an afterthought after the designers realized that the game needed a few more shiny lights.
The sounds are pretty nice and really thump if you have the system to accommodate it. The 5.1 works quite nicely and you’ll definitely hear your competition as they come up behind you. The engine noises are also fairly well done but the weapon noises could use a bit more work. Thankfully you have the option to use your own soundtrack so you can avoid the stereotypical techno-like soundtrack.
I’m not sure where I stand with this game, on the one hand it’s pretty fun to sit down and play for a short amount of time. On the other hand, it gets old really quickly and I can only stomach so much at a time. There’s just not enough here to really keep me interested and to be honest, at times the game feels like a cheap
WipEout Fusion rip-off.
After playing
QR for a while you’ll realize just how shallow this game is. The races seem too similar to each other and there isn’t much incentive for completing the game. This game belongs much more in the Arcade than it does on the Xbox and even then, I doubt this game would be successful.
Quantum Redshift is a fun little rental for the weekend but nothing more.
C-
Microsoft’s answer to WipEout is a fun little diversion that ultimately succumbs to it’s shallow nature. Fun for a weekend rental but not much more.
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