World Racing

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World Racing
developer Synetic
First title Mercedes-Benz World Racing (2003)
Last title World Racing 2 (2005)
Platform (s) GameCube , PlayStation 2 , Windows , Xbox
Genre (s) Racing simulation

World Racing is a series of racing simulations developed by the German manufacturer Synetic from Gütersloh . The first part was called Mercedes-Benz World Racing (MBWR for short) after the fleet it contained , while the successor was simply called World Racing 2 (WR2 for short).

Game description

Mercedes-Benz World Racing was released in 2003, initially for the Xbox and later for Windows , PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube and built heavily on the experience gained from the manufacturer's previous games ( NICE 2 , Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing ). According to the title, it only contained vehicles from Mercedes-Benz , whereby in addition to the then current range of series vehicles, some racing vehicles (e.g. W 125 ) and historic cars (e.g. 280 SL ) were included. World Racing 2 appeared in 2005 for the same systems except the GameCube, but also included vehicles from other manufacturers ( Volkswagen , Škoda , Alfa Romeo, etc.) and was technically based on a completely renewed game engine .

The design of the race tracks is characteristic of the game. In earlier racing games, the routes were laid in the shape of a hose or tube through a space that was not used in the game, World Racing used a completely calculated map on which there was a predetermined network of drivable routes. These specified paths were blocked off differently for different routes. Overall, this technology, which was already used in games like Carmageddon , made it possible to let the player drive in a large area with a high visibility and many details away from the edges of the track.

The focus is on the career mode. Here races take place in constantly changing scenarios and with different vehicles. In addition, in career mode, the player also has to complete special tasks (so-called missions ) such as driving through checkpoints spread across the area or setting a new lap record on a test track. The player is rewarded by unlocking new vehicles, engines and routes. In addition, as part of a performance assessment, the player receives partial scores for points other than the pure race result; this is how his driving style, his fairness and other things are rated. In addition, the player can start a single race or repeat career missions at any time .

A multiplayer mode was originally only available in MBWR in the form of a split screen ; races via local networks or the Internet were only possible with a patch . In WR2 , these options are already available as standard.

On November 2, 2009, after more than four years, the developer company Synetic surprisingly released a patch for World Racing 2 that eliminates problems with the copy protection driver under Windows 7 . After the installation , the game can be started without inserting the original DVD, which was positively received by the fans, since the update can also be imported under other operating systems . It also includes all bug fixes from previous patches.

reception

reviews
publication Rating
Computer picture games 1.64
GameStar 82%
PC action 77%
PC Games 80%

At MBWR there was little negative criticism from the publication in the trade press . In addition to the lack of network mode, mostly the less aggressive and always perfectly driving computer opponents were criticized. For technical reasons, most of the trees shown do not represent any obstacles for the vehicle. Furthermore, it was criticized that it was not possible to change the vehicle setup. Otherwise, the game found some fans among the authors and received the following ratings:

Also, World Racing 2 was consistently well received and received high rating scores. The large selection of vehicles was particularly convincing and the freely navigable, detailed landscapes that were already known from the predecessor found their friends. Criticisms included the career mode, which was too difficult for beginners, and the associated late full activation of the free travel mode . Overall, World Racing 2 could achieve the following ratings:

  • PC Games 11/2005: 83%
  • Gamestar 11/2005: 80%
  • PC Action 12/2005: 81%
  • Network world: 88%
  • Power Play 10/2005: 77%

Included routes

Mercedes-Benz World Racing

  • Alps (snowy and summery)
  • Australia ( outback and coast)
  • Japan (volcanic landscape, mountains and lakes)
  • Mexico (coast, rainforest and temples of the Aztecs )
  • The City ( big city with different districts)
  • Nevada (mountains and towns as well as Area 51 )
  • Hockenheimring (replica of the racetrack of the same name)
  • Test center with various courses and off-road routes

World Racing 2

Community

A large fan base has formed for both games on the Internet , which mainly produces add-ons in the form of new vehicles, vinyls, tracks or rims, with vehicles from other racing games (e.g. Need for Speed or Test Drive Unlimited ) being converted . Especially for this purpose, fans have developed special programs to make the modders' work easier. The most popular are the Mesh Tool-Kit (MTKit), with which extensive material settings can be made on the vehicle, and the WR2 Manager, which enables new tracks to be added to World Racing 2 . Both tools were written by the modder Krom . Since the release of a special "Scenery Editor" from Alma , it is also possible to create scenarios from scratch and implement them in the game.

In total, over 1000 add-on vehicles and over 100 tracks have been released since the appearance of WR2 in 2005. Even today, after more than 13 years, add-ons are still being released at irregular intervals. The creation of new routes turned out to be difficult at first, due to a lack of suitable programs and a lack of knowledge about the program structure. Many of the routes are converted from other games, but a large part of the scenarios are also converted by fans with the help of 3D programs such as B. Blender created.

Popular modifications for World Racing 2 are for example the scenarios "Autobahn" from the game Alarm for Cobra 11: Nitro or "Alpen" from the first part of the World Racing series, both of which were converted by Krom. The most popular vehicles are mainly sports and super sports cars as well as tuning versions, but also series cars from manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz , BMW , Porsche , Audi or Volkswagen .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patch v1.4.3 - Windows 7 problems fixed . News on games.reveur.de. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
  2. ↑ ComputerBild Spiele 3/03
  3. ↑ GameStar 10/2003
  4. ↑ PC Games 10/2003
  5. ↑ PC Action 11/2003
  6. ↑ Vehicle downloads from fans . Database on games.reveur.de. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
  7. ↑ Scenario Downloads . Database on games.reveur.de. Retrieved January 6, 2011.