I have been saying for a while to
anyone that will listen and I’ll say it again: The Gizmondo is a really cool
handheld gaming machine. Sleek in design, easy to play and some really slick
games. But I gotta tell you, it’s been a while since I have had as much fun
playing a racing/puzzle game with highly addictive qualities.
Trailblazer is a fairly simple
game to pick up but really difficult to master. The premise has your
high-powered wheel racing forward on a futuristic space track. The idea is to
get to the end of the track while dodging the obstacles and traps that pop up
in front of you as you travel at breakneck speeds. Sounds easy right? Wrong!
The speeds that you travel are blistering, the tracks go from being nice and
wide to a hair width thin in .02 nanoseconds. The course’s have holes in them,
there are jumps that seem to pop out of nowhere and objects in the road that
bounce you backwards. Did I mention that this is a timed event and the faster
you go, the more time you can bank for the next course? Of course I did, I am
a thorough reviewer.
Don’t. Even. Blink.
Now the game does a pretty good
job of lining up how the whole thing is unfolded. Initially you must play and
beat the first 10 courses on the "Easy" mode. Once you do, the next 15 courses
on "Medium" are opened up and you play those in numeric order, and so on and
so forth. Now while you play a timer is counting down; you must complete the
course before it ends. If you do, any time left over is added to the time
allotted for the next course. For example, if the game gives you 40 seconds to
complete a course and you finish it in 23 seconds then 17 seconds will be
added to the total time for the next course. And I know this sounds somewhat
like the developers are making things too easy, but they are not. Whenever you
fall off the track and are destroyed the timer keeps on counting down, and by
my guess that eats up about four to five seconds. And just so you know, there
are parts on some of these courses that cause you to fall off, over and over
again.
Now the game looks absolutely
fantastic. The speeds are really excessive and the sense that you are going
very fast is wholly apparent. The game has kind of a "Tron" feel to it where
everything is mired in electric colors. When you fall off the track your wheel
is fried by electricity. It looks really cool. The sound, too, is done very
well and the game allows you to adjust the sound effects and the music, which
is an upbeat sort of techno mix that really pumps you up to play.
Trailblazer; blurring the lines of reality.
Now, just because it’s a Gizmondo
game doesn’t mean it doesn’t handle like a dream, because it does. This is
easily the nicest controlled game out of all of my Gizmondo games and to be
honest with you, the smooth flowing tempo that is featured in this title
rivals even some of the best PSP and DS/GBA games. There is a time attack
mode, an endurance challenge and even some additional courses that must be
unlocked.
Review Scoring Details for Trailblazer |
Gameplay: 8.6
Smooth, tight controls, innovative
puzzle/racing action that screams "Play me!" So play it, for goodness sake.
Graphics: 8.6
Bright electric effects, high
framerate and easily distinguishable items. This game is very nice to look at.
Sound: 8.2
Strong sound effects reverbing in
the headset. Explosions, weird jumping noises, it’s just a well put-together
game. The up-tempo music gets you really pumped to play.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Oh, it starts out easy enough, but
any game that has twice as many "hard" tracks then it does "easy" ones spells
trouble.
Concept: 8.5
It’s a simple enough premise, but
it’s so darn addictive.
Overall: 8.5
Easily the best Gizmondo game I
have played; it’s fun, addictive and looks so cool.
