As is a 2-player “Figure 8 jump race” where the 2 humans each are driving a bus.
Just ordered the game yesterday for xbox, also due to the QT3 “voices”…
They’ve been good to me so far : the last game I bought in part due to them has not let me down : WoW ;)
What the crap?
It’s been so fun playing multi with 2 players that I invited another friend over for 3 player action. However… whereas with 2 players we get 8 other AI cars, with 3 players we get ONE other AI car. This is pretty disappointing for most multi variants! Anyone else confirm this?
Another annoyance is that I have to kill the music every time I boot up the game–that is, in order to not hear the music, which I very much desire.
Otherwise, excellent game. To recap: 2 players = 8 AI, 3 players = 1 AI, wtf.
I’m guessing the split screen takes up resources that would be used for the AI cars (additional player physics, graphics, or collision detection, for instance). Or it might just be that in a quarter-screen window, it’s too hard to draw so many cars?
At any rate, you’re right Dave that the AI cars are pretty much cut out of the equation once you add a third or fourth player. However, don’t despair! Eve of Destruction is still an excellent multiplayer game for more than two. Here’s what we do at Shoot Club:
The Official Shoot Club Rules for Eve Olympics
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Choose the first two players. Draw straws. Do paper/rock/scissors. Give each other dead legs till someone hollers uncle. Whatever works.
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They each pick a car. If they’re of disparate skill levels, use different cars to even this out. You’ll have to write out the car stats since you can’t see them when you’re choosing your car in multplayer. Also note that the different car classes make for very different kinds of races. Compact cars are less dramatic and rely more on driving skill than just leaning on the accelerator. Note that two players can’t choose the same car if you’re using the unlocked special class cars (e.g. ambulance, cop car, taxi).
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Choose an arena. Note that some arenas won’t have all the game types. I think that weird strip mine level, maybe Home?, is one such arena. You should avoid these. You want a variety of game types. Set the number of events to five. Also, be sure to play with the AI cars at the highest level. Trust me on this. Don’t be scared. Besides, you’ll be playing each other and not the AI.
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For each of the five events, you’ll choose them randomly. Have someone hold down the selector to get the events spinning like a slot machine. Choose a third person to call ‘Stop’. This is the event the two contestants will play.
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Do this four more times. Then note the score. The loser is replaced by the next player. Cycle accordingly.
This works largely because the events are pretty short (the last man standing race is an exception and I’d recommend re-rolling if it comes up) and Eve Olympics works great as a spectator sport.
Oh, and that music bug is pretty fucking annoying. You have to notch the music up and then turn it back down to shut it off. You have to do this every time you start the game. Par for the course for Atari’s QA, I suppose.
-TomExcellent suggestions, especially the randomized game choice! We still had a lot of fun playing 3 player, especially Wrangling, Battle, and Detention. My favorite game is Detention so far. My dad’s is Battle. He can’t get over the amusement of exploding chickens.
I love it that you can spraypaint your car and the car skin will show the effects.
Hey, so how much of the fun has to be unlocked? If I pick it up at the store and go straight to my friend’s house, will we be jumping right in with a lot of multiplayer options, or will we have to unlock things for a while to give us a healthy choice?
I’ve hardly played any of the single player campaign, and there is tons of stuff to play multi. Don’t worry a bit about this issue.
Battle is indeed much better with more than two players, since there are no AI cars. Same with the capture the flag mode. Detention is probably our favorite mode – whenever I’m the one calling ‘stop’ while they’re spinning the game modes, I try to call it on Detention. That schoolbase rampaging around the track is one of the most awesomest things in any game evar. However, I prefer it with two players so you get more cars on the track.
Wholly, the game is pretty much all there as soon as you pop it into your system. You can eventually unlock the cars in the special category, as well as some of the tracks, just by playing and building up points. But you never have to unlock any of the game modes or any of the primary content. And although there’s a great career mode, it’s about personally acquiring and maintaining a set of good cars rather than unlocking content. cough Burnout3 cough cough.
However, there are also “feats” for you to accomplish. Stuff like ‘destroy another car in 30 seconds’, ‘finish a race without taking any damage’, and so forth.
Each of these feats unlocks a special mode. Most of these are just silly, but there are some good ones. Thre’s a chicken artillery mode where you can fire the explosive chickens in any game mode, but it arcs up rather than firing straight out like in battle mode. The best one we’ve unlocked is a turbo boost feature that lets you get a speed boost any time you press the white button.
-TomOkay, game arrived last week, and I’m on my second run through career mode, and I think in the second tiers of Dare.
Initially very disappointed, but the game grew on me : there is something about a race game totally focused on driving beat up beaters to destruction ;)
That said, I really don’t see it as a Burnout 3 killer like Tom does : different games, and both very gratifying :)
I do have to admit that part of my disappointement was due to the slowness of the cars, and a lack of sensation of speed when I first played it (started with a multiplayer round at work, since I get my games delivered there)
which Burnout3 does extremely well, which I think even Tom would admit (8p)
Good game : thanks for the heads up all !!
The game’s on sale over at Gamefly for under $15 if you should want a copy for cheap.
Ha! That’s exactly where I got it. $12.99 w/ free shipping, ordered on a Monday, showed up the next Monday. Odd that a California company charged a Texas resident sales tax, though.
Haven’t spent more than a couple of hours w/ it, but I can already tell that it’s fun. But I can’t agree that it should be compared or contrasted with Burnout 3, it’s like the games talk to different parts of the brain…
Test Drive is the best multiplayer Xbox game I’ve ever played. Last night three of us played it for three hours, enjoying such events as “Survival” with school buses, and “Battle” with two Moths and a school bus.
I love them both …
Derek,
I really enjoyed your picture. If that’s you in the picture, I would definitely go to the prom with you.
Was Painkiller supposed to be your second choice, or Burnout 3?
80s Hair Tom Chick™ will CRUSH you for mistaking him for me.
I hope he doesn’t crush me and then totally bust his ass on me. :cry:
I think Dave Perkins was just hitting on me.
-TomOk, I’m in.
Has anyone in a PAL country found this game for the Xbox yet (possibly renamed to Driven to Destruction), my local gamestore (who are very good at knowing what’s around) haven’t heard boo about an Xbox release (it’s available on PS2).
I can always import a copy from North America (god bless you www.dvdboxoffice.com), but if there’s a PAL release I’d prefer to get that…