30 Apr 08
In the gaps between epic multiplayer battles, you can always play Nations Forever offline. The solo mode involves 65 tracks of increasing difficulty, each one with a bronze, silver and gold medal time to beat. Later tracks are tough and can take literally hours to beat, many of which require you to learn something new - how to corner round tight U-turns, how to drive across grass and mud surfaces, now not to drive into a cactus...
Spending so long on one track can turn a bit of fun into a serious, time-gobbling slog, and you will realise to your horror that you are starting to hit the restart key with such force you are driving your finger through the keyboard to the desk beneath.
Nations Forever is well named, since it's been forever since a time-trial has been this much fun. Chatting with your fellow players as you race is great fun, as is watching them tumble spectacularly off a curve and land upside down in a field. And watching your rankings improve is hugely satisfying, with every new medal earned getting you higher in the worldwide rankings, as well as the more local leagues - yesterday, for instance, I broke the top 500 in London. Flowers to the stage door please.
Once you get tired of the stadium-bound races of Nations Forever, there's the paid-for version called TrackMania United Forever, which adds new cars, landscapes, gaming modes, online options and more. This can be downloaded as an add-on if you already own TrackMania United, and it will also be in the shops in standalone form by the end of May 2008.
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