Video Game Monthly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 10

Genres: -RacingMultiplayer

Hardbutnot impossible (5/10)

Requirements: Not toobad (3/10)

Trackmania 2020 is a multiplayer racing game made by Ubisoft Nadeo (a French-based studio, funnily enough). Though you may not haveheard of it, the game is the most recent release in a series of games dating back to 2003. This game harbors a small but dedicated playerbase who are constantly finding new ways to push the game to its limits. Nadeo’s rare no-fixes policy combined with the game’s unique deterministic physics engine creates latent bugs waiting to be discovered and used by the players. Crazy strategies such as nosebugs (landing the car on its nose while drifting and holding a direction to rapidly turn) and speed slides (slightly drifting the car resulting in a miscalculation that adds speed) have already been put into use. In Trackmania, battles are fought over hundredths of a second.

To the casual player though, none of this is very applicable. The game provides 25 tracks every season (literal season, not the battle pass kind) to play through. Global leaderboards are kept on every track, but just improving your time to reach author medals is a great time. There are tons of user-made tracks as well, which are easily buildable using the in-game editor. You might be wondering where the multiplayer aspect I mentioned is. It comes in two main game modes: royale and multiplayer. Royale puts teams of three players through astaged trial of similar maps, knocking out one team each round until only one team is left standing. Ranked uses the same team system, but you play on one of the seasonal maps in a best of 13 format.

The best part about all of this? The game is free! If you have the time, I definitely recommend giving Trackmania 2020 a try.