October 30, 2006

What is Xpand Rally Xtreme and new screens.

The original Xpand Rally

Xpand Rally is a rally racing simulator created and published by Techland in 2004. In original XR, for the first time ever players could experience real-life rally racing conditions on their desktops in so playable way. There were several features which made XR unique.

First of all was XR’s detailed car physics simulation. Based on real physics of all elements of the car’s bodywork, chassis and components it influenced the car’s handling abilities accordingly. The physics in XR were well balanced and not a nuisance, like in, for example, Richard Burns Rally – on the contrary, the real-life physics simulation engine made the game even more rewarding. Hardcore turns and arches were a challenge, and XR was not as simplified as other similar games, including the Colin McRae Rally series titles.

Click here to see all new Xpand Rally Xtreme screenshots.

Another important feature of the game was how precisely the in-game world was a reflection of real-life locations. Some of XR’s features were a first for the entire genre, including:

• Innovative and excellent light effects and the latest graphical effects that were made available in 2004 by the then-available high-end video cards. XR’s graphics can still put to shame modern racing titles despite the fact that the game is 2 years old;

• Painstakingly designed sceneries with precisely modeled elements of the surrounding world, interactive crowds and actual animals running across the road right in front of your bonnet;

• Full behavioral simulation of in-game objects – every road sign, post or any other roadside element could be displaced by the car and cause damage to it.

The damage model was another important feature of the game. Not having any licensed cars in the game was the developer’s conscious choice. It was impossible to get a license for real brands for a game that allowed all kinds of damage to the vehicle, like paint scrapes, bodywork dents, detachable elements, wheel, brake, engine, transmission, electronics and steering damage and even total destruction. When the vehicle was pushed to the limits, it eventually started to burn and exploded. XR’s creators even included a system of simulating the driver’s wounds which he suffered during collisions. They influenced how he saw the track in front of him, his driving abilities and reflexes during acceleration and breaking.

These three crucial elements were put together in the career mode, witch included an economy module and allowed the players to tune their cars. XR also included an incredibly playable multiplayer mode, with the ever-popular Free Style mode, where players could go off-road on any one of the huge maps, with no routes whatsoever. The game was made even better by the replay feature, witch boasted multiple post-processing effects, multiple camera angles and a save to disk in AVI format option. XR was also supplied with a map editor.

All these features would suffice if it wasn’t for the excellent car steering model, which was so precise, that it was easily transferable to any kind of controller. Many sims are too tough for most gamers. Not XR! The game has two racing modes – arcade and simulation. Each mode allows players to use different aides that help them to control their cars. Depending on whether the player choose to use a keyboard or steering wheel, different parameters are applied. Thus, virtually any player can modify the game to suit his needs. They can opt for an easy driving model, allowing them to make long, effective slides across tough curves, or the professional one, where they have to choose the optimal way to go through each turn.

The new Xpand Raly Xtreme

Xpand Rally Xtreme is the sequel to the highly anticipated Xpand Rally from Techland. The continuation of the excellent racing sim has all the features that gamers and media have appreciated before, including excellent visuals, a detailed damage model and realistic physics simulation. What does the Xtreme stand for then?

Xtreme means driving experiences boosted to the limits!

“We want players to experience first-hand for the first time in that scale the emotions of a rally driver. The speed, raw engine power, narrow, uneven roads, blind curves that you can get through only if you listen to your pilot, dangerous jumps, which cause the car to soar through the air and the need to make numerous technical decisions every second. They’ll get to see all this in new, stunning graphics, thanks to the latest incarnation of the ChromeEngine” – said Adrian Ciszewski, XRX project manager at Techland.

XRX’s producers want to induce the furious heart-beat tempo that real drivers get whenever they enter a particularly fast curve, balance on the edge of fear when they need to abruptly break at the end of a long straight, and an adrenaline flow whenever they need to “cut” through a turn knowing that even the most banal collision may end their race

Achieving these emotions will be possible thanks to:

• Creating the virtual versions of some of the best known special sections of the most extreme rallies in the world, including:

• China Rally, pulled from WRC due to extremely dangerous conditions

• Corsica Rally, whose organizers had to remove the special staegs in high mountains due to narrow roads and sheer cliffs.

· Replicating the unevenness of the surface of a real rally track – grooves, potholes, gaps; the precisely modeled surfaces will require players to work hard to control their cars and carefully choose how they want to negotiate every curve.

· Increasing the sense of speed and the feel of the car’s raw power.

All players looking for real-life car racing emotions are sure to be satisfied, while inexperienced gamers whose contact with the racing genre was limited to street racers will be able to broaden their perspective with this new, extremely dynamic title.

Increasing the dynamics of the gameplay does not mean that the game will be harder then its predecessor. The developers were not trying to make the game more sim-like, so XRX will stay true to its predecessor’s high replay value. XRX is still addressed to the same group of gamers. Especially the arcade mode will stay true to the original, with the only exception that this time around player’s will have to operate the gas pedal a bit more carefully. The simulation mode in turn will be a completely new experience, with the word Extreme really changing everything.

Xpand Rally Xtreme boasts a wide array of 15 cars in 23 versions, including 8 completely new models, 5 sceneries (China, Malaysia, Italy, Japan, USA) and 67 individual races.

The game has 3 modes of play: Career mode, Single Race and Multiplayer. The career mode require players to advance into ever more tough races in order to grab the best driver title. You won’t be able to achieve that without constantly upgrading your car and buying new vehicles. New features of the career mode include parallel races on the super special segments and a Free Style race against demanding AI controlled opponents. Players will get to drive around in rally cars, huge 4x4 off-roaders and – surprise – exotic sports cars for classic, flat-track races.

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