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boring

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: November 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

at first i was interested in this game because i love futureistic racers (f-zero, extreme-g, etc.) and QR has the custom soundtrack feature. but once i played it i found myself bored in a few minutes so i decided to turn on my custom soundtrack instead of the game's music (low-quality, substandard techno) and the game kept freezing. it played fine without the soundtrack feature but with it on the game froze like crazy. has anyone else had this problem- with this game or any other?

Avoid it like a bad sci-fi movie.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: October 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was fairly excited for this game since it was developed by the same people who worked on Wipeout and Wipeout XL - two of my favorite futuristic racers along with Pod Racer. But after playing it for probably more than 50 hours and getting over the eye candy I must say those guys have lost their pizzazz.

What an utterly boring experience this was so far. Quantum Redshift is trying to be a cross between Wipeout and Pod Racer while poorly copying elements of both. Let's start with:

Design, Graphics, Sound and Style.

I don't know who artistically directs at Curly Monsters but it really feels like it's a programmer. This game is a smorgasbord of visual effects and detailed textures which are put together without any merit or visual sense.

The ships look like something out of Jetsons with bump-mapping that adds absolutely nothing but a tired effect seen so many times in bad 3d art. There really is nothing even remotely appealing about these bulbs with engines attached to them. Both Wipeout and Pod Racer put this to shame even though they are much older games.

All but one of the maps in this game are a terrible cacophony of colors neither of which leaves a distinct impression. I really can't remember what distinguished one from another. I was really surprised to find out once I got deeper in to the game that all the tracks are absolutely flat. Don't expect to find any head-spinning-hair-raising dives, jumps or loops you might have seen in Wipeout, Pod Racer or XG3- it's all straight-aways ending in sharp turns rarely going up or down.
Other elements which compose maps are nothing to be excited about either. You get your lifeless tracks, with no cheering crowds, and boring and unoriginal architecture which at most times makes no functional sense.
There is only one track that is really unique, moody and fun - the Yuri Galitz's track, but it too suffers from the same problems.

The visual effects here can be found aplenty. In fact it seems that the entire game is designed around the effects. You get your droplets, inversed color count downs, flashes, shaders, reflections, bump mapping, and so forth. Really makes for a great Xbox tech demo. This doesn't make the game unfortunately, just distracts long enough for you to buy it and then realize that besides a pretty coating you don't get much at all.
The now infamous droplet effect is so abused you get tired of it before you start to really appreciate it. There are more ponds, rivers and lakes for you to dip in here than weapon powerups. It also seems very odd that the ships don't make any splash effects on the water. You'd think something hitting water at 600mph would make one hell of a wave, bit it doesn't.
Powerups are also nothing but shapeless blobs with shader effects applied to them. A lot of things in QR feel like this - an afterthought.

As to the sound - there is really not much to say about it other than Curly Monsters shouldn't have wasted their time making it surround. The effects are so plain and boring it hurts. All you hear is your bumps on the walls, and the monotone sound of the engine.

Environment is also shallow - aside from the Galitz's track it really feels like some flashy futuristic nothing. There is no theme - nothing really looks `post-apocalyptic' as the game was advertised as. Really no vision to appreciate here.

Gameplay

This is an area where this game out-does its style in bad. I remember reading a lot of previews before QR was released all of which hyped the depth, fun and fast racing it has to offer.

Well, the depth of this game is its mediocre vehicle upgrades which don't even deserve to be compared to Pod Racers upgrade system plus the short stories through dialogs/monologues of curvy babes in latex you witness before each race. One can only wish that Curly Monsters would spend as much time on design and gameplay as they did on the curly features of the character models.

You also get the `cultural element' as all the characters speak in their native languages and the countdown before each race is also in the language native to the track. This is cool, but hardly worth it alone.

Like I said above all the tracks are a combination of long straight-aways ending in sharp turns. Every racer should have a couple but not like this - in QR you can never really appreciate the speed because you have to constantly brake before another 90d turn.

Handling is a little slidy too, but given the hovering nature of the game it's alright. I still don't think a ship traveling at 500-900mph could slide like this though.

Conclusion

I reserved my copy and got it the day it came out - and I am really disappointed. I don't think this is a fun game, and if you think it might be - rent it first and play it for at least 10 hours then ask yourself if you really got to have it.

Not good.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 10
Date: April 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There are only a few games that suck, and this game is one of them. This game is not interesting and it gets very boring after a while. If you just read this review listen to my advice.

Looks Great...Got no soul

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

After the bad taste of Wipeout Fusion on the PS2, I was looking forward to this game, but it is only so-so. The visual effects are really amazing (the rain effects and water effects are most impressive) but the gameplay is weak. I find the ships are just too light for my taste (unlike wipeout, where you "felt" gravity in the steering), these ships seem just floating like a hockey puck and bounching along the side of the track. While the levels have alot of eye candy, many tracks (or large sections of tracks) are too twisty to actually get a good sense of speed while playing, and while the weapons effects are sharp, you're generally going to fast to actually see them (but it looks pretty in the replay mode). The storyback drop is uttery laughable and distracts from the game. So this is one I'm glad I rented first. Definate showcase of the X-Box's power but not a good example of what I would consider a good game.

Curb Appeal, but nothing else

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: October 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is like Budweiser - very well produced product but bland and tasteless. The racing isn't challenging and the gameplay is boring. We tried about 10 races before giving up. It's pretty, and the concept is good, it's just missing something.

Too confusing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 10
Date: April 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game seemed interesting when I bought it. It was really confusing when I started playing it. That was probably why the game was only $20 used. Folks, it is not a good game.

Very Disappointing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: March 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I rented this, and am really glad I didn't pay $ for it!!!! Although the game is kind of fun, in a Star Wars Pod Racer ...-... sort of way, I think it is ridiculous that you have to come in FIRST in every race to advance. That makes the gameplay especially frustrating because on some levels, if you ever fall out of first, you can never regain the lead. Also, the whole "nemesis" feature is stupid, although I guess it makes the game more challenging.
I guess the only really redeeming thing is that the graphics are good and the sense of speed is accurately conveyed. Otherwise, I can't think of a single reason to spend money on this game.

Good but not great.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: October 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Quantum Redshift is a passable racing game that really needs more tracks to work. In QR, you begin with access to seven different racers, each with a unique vehicle (although each is only subtly different from the others) and the home track of each racer. You also begin with access to only the first of five tiers of speed. Speed is what QR does well. The graphics engine is incredible, and the lanscape will blur in amazing and truly convincing ways as you blast around at speeds that approach 1000 mph on the highest difficulty levels. While you are racing, you can pick up power ups that let you attack other racers and shield yourself from their attacks. Just to keep things violent, one of the opponents you race against when racing the computer will always be your nemesis...a racer who would rather see you lose than win himself. Supposedly you interact with your nemesis during cutscenes between races, but the relationships are pretty ignorable. The weapons are all pretty cool and while sometimes you wish your nemesis weren't there mucking things up, it isn't so hard to just accept him as part of the challenge of the game. QR has great music and sound effects and if you happen to not like techno music yourself, you can play custom tracks off the hard drive (although the game will play the tracks you picked in a random order, which is kind of annoying and should have been made optional). Winning tournaments unlocks new characters and speed levels and you can win cash to upgrade your vehicle (more turbo, better shields and weapons).

So far so good and all of the above is enough to keep you interested in the game, but two major flaws bring it down from greatness. First, the racing itself is not very deep. You have a turbo meter you need to monitor and use wisely and you do of course need to worry about the people shooting at you (the attacks can be quite devastating and are capable of destroying ships once the weapons have been powered up, and will always cost you a lot of your momentum), but there are no gears to shift and there is not a lot of technique in the turns. The second, and by far larger, flaw,is the limited number of tracks, and the length of the tracks. Put simply, there just isn't a lot of game here. There are sixteen tracks, but none of them are very long, and while there are some pretty cool ones, they aren't that much different from each other. The tracks come in pairs, a racer and his nemsis forming a pair, and the two tracks are really quite similar. The tracks that are there are all fantastically detailed, but I for one would be happy to trade away a lot of the background detail for a wider variety of tracks.

In the end, QR is not a bad game by any means, but it could have really benefitted from a standard transmission and about twice as many unique tracks. I think a racing game junkie who just devours games and moves on could definitely have fun with this one for a couple of weeks, but if you aren't a giant fan of the genre and are really just looking for that one really good racing game to have in your library, I'd definitely reccomend renting this one first.

Rent First!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, sometimes underwhelming. I guess the first question that comes to mind when I play this game is "haven't I seen this before???". Futuristic ships zipping along on futuristic tracks, getting power-ups, shooting laser blasts and missiles, etc. Jumps and loopty loops make it slightly more interesting, but this seems stale to me. The little cutscenes that are supposed to advance the 'adversarial' story lines are pathetic, one-line nonsense that could have been done without. At least the driver ai is somewhat realistic. If you do well, you can really get out ahead, if you're bad, you truly fall behind, unlike Test Drive (don't get me started). The ship upgrades add some extra playability, but the main problem with this game is, if you've played the space/race type game before on any platform, this is NOTHING new. Rent it before you buy it.

Nothing to get excited about.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: December 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Quantum Redshift is a futuristic racing game where you race against other opponents to unlock goodies such as new levels, vehicles, top speeds, characters, etc. The graphics and gameplay are decent, but the game doesn't add much in the way of innovation. The vehicle physics aren't convincing -- the racer pivots along its center and doesn't bank much during sharp turns. Finally, the techno-beat leaves little to be desired. This is definitely a "rent first" game.

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