TrackMania Turbo released on PC and consoles and is bringing back the classic madness. It’s a franchise with a rich history and an impressive community of fans. TrackMania doesn’t offer a realistic racing experience but is all about having fun with friends on self-created tracks. It’s a game that’s easy to miss in stores due to a lower marketing budget but that would be a shame for sure, if you like your racing games fast and chaotic, this might be your new favorite.

Driving solo in the campaign

TrackMania is meant to be played with friends, both online or offline, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for the solo racers. The game offers a rather impressive campaign mode filled with circuits to complete. The moment you boot up the campaign, you already see a lot of playable and yet to unlock circuits. There are tons of circuits to complete but these aren’t that big. It won’t take you too long to complete a circuit, without obstacles, each circuit can easily be completed in less than one minute.

But this isn’t your traditional racer however. Each circuit is filled with obstacles, loops and cliffs. It’s hard to complete them but that doesn’t take away the fun. You’ll need skills in order to reach the finish line and that’s the charm of the game. The first levels are easy to complete but the more circuits you complete, the harder it all gets. It will happen more than once that you’ll get stuck on a certain circuit but with enough practice and time, you’ll eventually be able to overcome everything that’s in your way of victory. When you lose, it’s always fair; you’re only able to win if you have the right skills.

The goal of the campaign is to collect medals. Based on how well you did, you’ll gain a bronze, silver or gold medal for your effort. With these you can unlock new circuits or modifications for your car. Aside of the aesthetics of the car you can’t really change a lot but you really have a lot of options to create the car of your dreams; if you collect the right amount of medals. This system unlocks a lot of great extras but also creates an extra level of difficulty. In order to unlock certain circuits, you’ll need to have a certain amount of golden medals; this means you’ll have to be a great driver in order to advance.

Super TrackMania Maker

The true charm of the game isn’t the campaign however; building your own tracks is the true power of the franchise. Fans have been building their own circuits since years and it’s great to see this track creator is back and better than ever. Thanks to the extra power of the modern machines, you can truly create the track you’ve always been dreaming of. You can go for rather straightforward tracks, enabling a more realistic experience or you can create over the top tracks filled with obstacles and sharp turns.

A lot of arcade fun!

The great thing about this all is that you can share and upload your tracks with the community, meaning you’ll play a lot of TrackMania Turbo for a long time to come. The power of the game lies in the hand of the community but you don’t need to worry about that. The past already showed us that the TrackMania community is very creative when it comes to track creating. This means you’ll already be able to play on a lot of fan created tracks the moment you start this game.

Besides downloading those tracks, you can of course go all out in the creator itself. It’s a very intuitive editor that offers the same experience as Super Mario Maker did for Super Mario games. If you’re creative, you’ll have a lot of fun with the editor for sure. If you’re not that creative, you can still enjoy some impressive self-created tracks of the community.

Multiplayer

A game like this offers a lot more fun when you play it with others of course. TrackMania Turbo has some great online and offline multiplayer options. First, let’s take a look at the online multiplayer. There’s nothing special to say about it but it’s worth mentioning that it works amazingly fast. Finding matches is easy and you’ll be connected with others in seconds. During the races, we never experienced lag and that’s rather impressive based on the absurd circuits and the graphical power of the game. The game looks amazing and it doesn’t lose its charm during online races. Playing online offers different play styles. You can go head to head with others or try to break the time record of a certain circuits with a lot of players at once. The online mode offers enough variation to keep things fresh and thanks to the great community circuits, you won’t get bored with the online mode soon.

The best part of the multiplayer is the addition of a split-screen multiplayer. Yes, this is one of the last modern games that offers our beloved split-screen multiplayer. TrackMania Turbo does what Halo 5: Guardians doesn’t and that’s a big plus for sure. There’s nothing that can beat that feeling of playing together with your friends at home on the couch. To make things even better, the game encourages players to give everything they got during split-screen races. This happens with quotes popping up on the screen of the player that’s currently losing. The split-screen mode creates a competitive feeling for split-screen racers and we’re glad the mode was added to the game. If you’re looking for a fun game to play during gaming nights, this one has to be high on your list.

A gorgeous arcade racer

This brings us to the last point, the beauty of the game. It’s been a while since we got a new TrackMania game but this Turbo looks gorgeous on the current generation. The cars are colorful and the circuits are filled with details to keep things fun. The same goes for the music that really fits the game. You’ll hear a lot of adrenaline pumping beats combined with some fun sound effects.

That being said, Ubisoft created the perfect conditions for their arcade racer. It’s nothing like realistic racers like Forza Racing but that’s not what Ubisoft was aiming for at all. Since this is an arcade racer where physics don’t always make sense, the graphics and sound fit the experience perfectly.

Conclusion:

TrackMania Turbo offers a lot of possibilities and a lot of great content. If you enjoy playing racing games on your own, you’ll have a lot of fun in the challenging campaign mode. That doesn’t take away the fact that the game is even more enjoyable with friends. There’s a great online mode and the inclusion of a great split-screen mode isn’t something we see every day. If you’re a creative gamer, you’ll be able to create the track of your dreams thanks to the impressive track creator. Not that creative? No problem, you can enjoy a lot of great community maps the moment you get the game. Don’t expect a realistic experience but an over the top arcade racer that you’ll be able to enjoy for a very long time to come.

8/10