Minimum System Requirements: 450MHz G3, Mac OS 9.1, 128MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM, hardware 3D acceleration
Network Feature: LAN, internet through GameSpy
3D Support: OpenGL (required)
Mac OS X Compatible: Carbon
Rating: E
Availability: Out Now
Price: $39.00
Know what I'm tired of hearing? I'm tired of hearing there are no racing games for the Mac. A couple years ago when all we had to play were Star Wars: Episode One - Racer and Kawasaki ATV PowerSports, such a comment was acceptable. Now, however, we've also got 4x4 Evolution, Cro-Mag Rally, Driver (close enough), some other Kawasaki game (with jet skis, I believe), WaterRace, and no doubt some other stuff I've completely missed. That's racing games a plenty, so let's all just quit our whining, okay?
That's not to say that more aren't welcome. Although Mac gaming in general continues to grow, there's no need to be turning away anything. And so, here we have Aspyr's 4x4 Evolution 2, or 4x4 Evo 2, or 4x4EVO2...however you care to type it.
The box for 4x4 Evolution 2 claims, "Darwin would be proud," but I'm not certain this would be the case. First of all, 4x4 Evo 2 isn't so much the next step in evolution as it is the next minor bump in evolution. Second, I doubt Darwin would be pleased by the thought of a bunch of big, clunky, gas-guzzling automobiles tearing through otherwise peaceful countrysides. If anything, the destruction they're causing the environment is actually slowing down evolution. Nope, I can't say I knew Darwin, but I can't imagine he'd be at all proud about any of this.
Of course, maybe he was a racing buff. Maybe, were he around today, he'd even do Mitsubishi commercials, driving their SUVs into the rain forests they're so fond of destroying. In that case 4x4 Evo 2 is just the game for him.
As with the original 4x4 Evolution, 4x4 Evo 2 isn't just about racing, it's also about getting ready for racing. There are over 120 different vehicles from which to chose, each of which can be customized more than ham sandwich. You've got your tires and your transmission and your suspension and your axle ratio and your torque split and your over/understeering and countless other items to consider as you choose your truck/SUV/Jeep and prepare it for the coming race. If you know what all of this means, great. If you're like me, however, the only time you hear these terms is when they're followed by, "...and that's going to cost you $XXX.XX with labor."
4x4 Evo 2, you see, is to racing games what Rogue Spear is to first person shooters. If you want to succeed, you have to study and learn and plan. Then you have to race.
Normally, this would bore me back to high school American Lit class, but the developers of 4x4 Evo 2 did something amazing here...they made the racing fun. Once you're done mucking around with a character name and a vehicle and its color and its tire size and torque and other such nonsense, you're set loose on one of 32 tracks. Some of these are fairly small and simple to navigate, while others seem to twist and turn for miles. You don't have to earn a certain amount of cash or win a certain number of races to unlock the tracks, they're just there. Good. That's as it should be. Now, racing novices such as I don't have to worry about losing interest in the game before getting over that learning curve (or mastering the hand brake, anyway). By the time you're explored all 32 tracks, you should be good enough to compete.
The tracks are available in different modes. You can set up quick races on them, you can run "hot laps" in an attempt to beat your best time (with a ghost image of yourself on the track, even, should you choose), or you can just explore. Exploration is key to winning career mode, as you're free to find all the shortcuts that are pretty much a necessity to winning.
Career mode is bigger than ever in 4x4 Evo 2. The premise here is to buy a vehicle and use it to win some cash. Use that cash to upgrade your vehicle to win even more cash. Win enough cash and you'll get the chance to race for a spot on a team. Get on the team, and you get even more cash for even more upgrades and vehicles not available to the lowly independent racer. Since when did racing become such an elitist sport, by the way? You'd think you were racing SUVs at a private country club.
As if that weren't enough, 4x4 Evo 2 even includes a mission mode. Here, rather than racing, you're given objectives to complete. What's the reward? Well, cash, of course. Cash and the unlocking of more missions (ah, there are the ever-popular locked levels). Suddenly, 4x4 Evo 2 plays more like Driver or Crazy Taxi 2 on the Dreamcast. You don't have to play the mission levels, but for guys like me, they were a nice diversion from driving 'round and 'round the countryside all day.
The graphics of 4x4 Evo 2 are some of the best we've seen from Terminal Reality, and are easily the best of any racing game available for the Mac. It's not so much the way sunlight filters through trees or headlights reflect off chrome, but the diversity of the land surrounding the race tracks. Unlike most racing games, you don't get the feeling you've passed the same shrub ten times or have been circling the same building since the race began. Each turn brings new sights and new obstacles, leading to a nice sense of discovery.
What perplexes me is that a game with graphics this good would have audio this bad. Perhaps I'm spoiled by the fabricated noises of Hollywood-style chase scenes, but the engines of all these trucks sounded hollow to me. My wife's Kia Rio sounds more impressive than the vehicles in this game. To make matters worse, the soundtrack is more of the same predictably lame "We're white and we're angry and we've got guitars" crap that permeates computer games these days. It won't be long before computer games start advertising the soundtrack like MTV movies starring Britney Spears. Why can't the group who got Mojo Nixon and the Reverend Horton Heat for Redneck Rampage be hired to select the soundtracks for these games? Even some old Waylon Jennings would work better here, although that would admittedly alienate the target audience. I can't complain too much, anyway, as you're at least you're given the option to shut the music off.
Know what you can't shut off? The interface. As with many games that come our way these days, 4x4 Evo 2 was designed for the console gamer. Therefore, it looks and feels like a console game. Text on the screen is big and clunky (kind of like vehicles themselves), forcing you to navigate through endless subdirectories. Sometimes the mouse works, sometimes you have to use the keyboard, and almost always you'll have to hit the Escape key repeatedly to get back to the main screen.
For all the new, big features in 4x4 Evo 2, there are some smaller ones missing. Unlike in 4x4 Evolution, you can no longer race at night...only midday and dusk (and there's not much difference between the two). The multiplayer component allows for Mac users to race PC gamers, but not console owners (4x4 Evolution supported internet racing with Dreamcast owners). You still can't cause damage to your vehicle, and sometimes you can't cause damage to the environment; fences splinter and barrels are knocked away, but house walls and even street lamps are indestructible. I especially enjoyed rushing headlong into a speeding train, only to have it push me politely guide me out of its way.
Physics continue to be somewhat freaky at time as well, but that only adds to the fun. In 4x4 Evolution, I complained that the vehicles seemed to bounce around too much. I've grown to like that aspect, especially now that I've started to use the "cockpit" view. Watching a truck bounce around before you was no big deal, but being in the truck that's bouncing around was wild. The races were a little more difficult this way, but much more fun.
And wouldn't you know it? That's the thing with 4x4 Evo 2; it's fun. The competition is tough without being impossible, and the tracks are some of the most inventive I've scene, even moreso than those in Star Wars: Episode One - Racer and Cro-Mag Rally (Pikes Peak, especially, kept me racing well into the night). 4x4 Evo 2 has plenty to keep the gear heads busy, but allows gamers like me to just hop into the Jeep and start driving. I still prefer racing go carts in Cro-magnon times or pods in a galaxy far, far away, but those seeking a more true-to-life racing experience should be happy with 4x4 Evo 2 for some time to come.
Who knows? It may even stop you from asking for more Macintosh racing games.
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Review: 4x4 Evolution 2
That's not to say that more aren't welcome. Although Mac gaming in general continues to grow, there's no need to be turning away anything. And so, here we have Aspyr's 4x4 Evolution 2, or 4x4 Evo 2, or 4x4EVO2...however you care to type it.
Normally, this would bore me back to high school American Lit class, but the developers of 4x4 Evo 2 did something amazing here...they made the racing fun. Once you're done mucking around with a character name and a vehicle and its color and its tire size and torque and other such nonsense, you're set loose on one of 32 tracks. Some of these are fairly small and simple to navigate, while others seem to twist and turn for miles. You don't have to earn a certain amount of cash or win a certain number of races to unlock the tracks, they're just there. Good. That's as it should be. Now, racing novices such as I don't have to worry about losing interest in the game before getting over that learning curve (or mastering the hand brake, anyway). By the time you're explored all 32 tracks, you should be good enough to compete.
The graphics of 4x4 Evo 2 are some of the best we've seen from Terminal Reality, and are easily the best of any racing game available for the Mac. It's not so much the way sunlight filters through trees or headlights reflect off chrome, but the diversity of the land surrounding the race tracks. Unlike most racing games, you don't get the feeling you've passed the same shrub ten times or have been circling the same building since the race began. Each turn brings new sights and new obstacles, leading to a nice sense of discovery.
For all the new, big features in 4x4 Evo 2, there are some smaller ones missing. Unlike in 4x4 Evolution, you can no longer race at night...only midday and dusk (and there's not much difference between the two). The multiplayer component allows for Mac users to race PC gamers, but not console owners (4x4 Evolution supported internet racing with Dreamcast owners). You still can't cause damage to your vehicle, and sometimes you can't cause damage to the environment; fences splinter and barrels are knocked away, but house walls and even street lamps are indestructible. I especially enjoyed rushing headlong into a speeding train, only to have it push me politely guide me out of its way.
