TrackMania

How I get interested in any particular video game is a curious process. The goal of which, simply put, is to try quantify an unknown entertainment experience to determine whether or not my time and money would be well spent on this hypothetical experience. This is not an insignificant task.

There are several tools I employ to help mitigate the uncertainty. I read the reviews and opinions of those in the gaming field, assigning various internal "gravitas" values depending on how well their opinions match up with my own. I talk with friends who have played the game themselves to get an idea for what I'm getting into. When possible, I play demos of the game - kicking the tires and taking it for a test drive, if you will.

Trackmania, however, seems to be a horse of a different color. My interest piqued when I was happened upon TM-Tube, a portal entirely devoted to fan-made videos of TrackMania. While the game's gorgeous graphics, sense of speed and creative racing tacks are notable, the videos on this site may have sold me on the game. These videos look fun. The sheer number of them tell me there is a healthy user community having fun. I mean, how can zipping around on a stunt track like this not be fun?


You'll have to excuse the Youtube quality, I couldn't get the HD version on TM-Tube to embed. Needless to say, the graphics on the HD version are so much better.

Also, the older version of the game (TrackMania: Nations Forever) is free.

Will I have fun playing it? Can't really say. But if all the fun others seem to be having are any indication, yeah, it'll probably be worth my time.