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Nail’d Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Nail’d Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Look, Ma! No Hands!

Nail’d is an exhilarating game. Truly. The game takes a fantastical approach to ATV-racing that borders on magical. Though Nail’d isn’t the first game to take severe liberties with the ATV sport (Pure also took ATV racing to an almost-otherworldly level), Nail’d pushes the genre into absolute fantasy. Does this make Nail’d a bad game? No, not really. But it is one that won’t appeal to everyone, and if you are looking for an experience closer to the MX vs. ATV series, you better keep moving, because this is not the ATV game you are looking for.

The game doesn’t establish itself as a fantasy-driven ATV game in its opening moments, but its intentions are clear from the first jump you take in the game. Whether you are bolting up a steep ramp or racing across deep canyon crevasses, ATV driving in Nail’d is more akin to the experience of flying rather than driving. As you leave solid ground, your ATV will launch into the air, and you soar through the air with ridiculous speed and aerodynamics.

Nail'd Screenshot

Surprisingly, the flying element of Nail’d becomes pretty important, as the game’s multitude of tracks include layers that require you to soar through the air and hit bonus rings. The flying itself takes a bit to get used to, as you would expect a small arc and then downward movement after you hit the jump. However, you can actually climb in your airspace after you hit the jump, and navigate through complex structures as you steer left and right. If you have any experience with airplane simulations, it comes in handy here, as you can pull back on the stick to keep climbing, or gently push forward to land. The game even hands out bonus booster power for landing a “touchdown” like an airplane. Nail’d is truly a game for ATV fans who have aviation aspirations.

Although the flying mechanics certainly give the game an amazingly fantastic feel, Nail’d is also helped by some truly impressive track design. The tracks continue the theme of fantastical ATV driving, so if you are expecting circuits or beaten-down paths, you’ll be disappointed. Instead you’ll find massive landscapes with multi-layered paths that encourage a reasonable amount of exploration and, of course, flying. Tracks also have some pretty fun obstacles to avoid along the way, including construction vehicles, trains, and subway-like structures. Of course, the vehicles all show up right before you are going to pass the obstacle (no matter what place you are in) so interacting with them is a little bit predictable. Still, the first time you go head-to-head against a train and race alongside (or on top) of the vehicle, the experience is pure bliss.

Nail'd Screenshot

Unfortunately, the poor AI ties into the second issue, which is the ultra-repetitiveness of the game. Soaring at top speed atop what looks like the Grand Canyon is fun for twenty minutes, but after while, even discovering new pathways seems uninteresting. If the game would have been harder, or relied on more than the same few obstacle elements to add some variety to the gameplay, this wouldn’t have been such an issue. To their credit, they do try to add some variety with an “Off-Road” mode that allows you to make your own custom races with custom crash, boost, and track settings, but the weak AI keeps this mode from being really interesting, as the parameters don’t matter too much when you are pounding the competition over and over again.

Nail'd Screenshot

Unfortunately, the poor AI ties into the second issue, which is the ultra-repetitiveness of the game. Soaring at top speed atop what looks like the Grand Canyon is fun for twenty minutes, but after while, even discovering new pathways seems uninteresting. If the game would have been harder, or relied on more than the same few obstacle elements to add some variety to the gameplay, this wouldn’t have been such an issue. To their credit, they do try to add some variety with an “Off-Road” mode that allows you to make your own custom races with custom crash, boost, and track settings, but the weak AI keeps this mode from being really interesting, as the parameters don’t matter too much when you are pounding the competition over and over again.

Nail'd Screenshot

Production-wise, Nail’d has fairly good standing. The different tracks, in addition to being ridiculously large, also feature a different number of landscapes, which are all rendered with loving detail. However, one of the biggest problems with the visuals is that they rely a little too much on stock animations during collisions. One of the most exciting facets of arcade-style races is crashing, and that’s one area that Nail’d gets totally wrong. No matter how you bump into something, or what it is, the crash animations are the same. Though it is a little bit comical to see your onscreen avatar blasting out of their seat the same way after crashing into a tree and a train, the humor effect wears off quickly and the effect becomes tedious and annoying.

Sound in the game also is pretty good, and the game’s soundtrack features some decent (albeit generic) rock music by a number of somewhat-notable artists, including Queens of the Stone Age. The automotive sounds, however, are not of good quality, and the ATV rev sound is repeated way too many times and becomes agitating to listen to almost instantly.

Nail’d is a fairly good game if you only want to kill a few hours. The incredibly fantastical approach it takes to ATV racing is certainly interesting, and makes for a stupendous amount of fun for a short time. However, the game’s lack of challenging AI, as well its more repetitive aspects, make it a game that you’ll probably only want to pick up once it hits the rental queue or the bargain bin.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.4 Graphics
Tracks are nicely detailed and feature some unique obstacle encounters. However, the visual scheme overall can get a little repetitive. 3.2 Control
Controls are extremely simplistic and take no time to learn. 3.4 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Soundtrack features a few good tracks, but ATV sounds are repetitive. 3.0 Play Value
The game is very easy, and won’t take you very long to whiz through. 3.3 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • High-Octane Speed – Nail’d aims to be the fastest off-road racer of them all – each track is engineered to keep you on the edge of your seat with anticipation of what’s behind the next hairpin bend; what’s more, utilize the amazing turbo boost ability for incentives rather than points, supercharging the game’s sense of lightning-fast speed
  • Extreme Terrain – Nail’d, while set in real-life locations such as Yosemite Park, is designed to reflect the over-the-top arcade nature of the game; this is a world where impossible tracks and broken and bent laws of physics reign supreme
  • Over the Top Jumps – There’s nothing like flying off a cliff edge and then falling half a mile towards the ground; throw-in dodging the blades of several towering wind turbines and struggling to nail the perfect landing with your opponents trying to knock you from your ride; if big air’ in other games is earth-sized, Nail’d is like a twin galaxy of stomach-in-mouth terror
  • Intense Head to Head Action – Up to eleven AI opponents will keep you on your toes; they say death comes from above and that’s very often the case in Nail’d; it’s not all one way though, you can knock opponents from their vehicles and for extreme punishment you can deal a crushing blow from the sky by landing on top of your opponents

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