Quantum Redshift

Published by Microsoft Game Studios
Developed by Curly Monsters
Platform: XBOX
Price £39.99
Released: Out Now

Fancy driving around a futuristic race track at speeds above 900 MPH? Well if you do and you own a XBOX then Quantum Redshift could be the game for you. Of course you will have looked at the screenshots on the right side of the screen and thought to yourself that it appears to be very much like Wipeout and you'd be right, because it is. The reason for this being so is, that a key part of the Psygnosis team that worked on the original Wipeout for the PlayStation also worked on Quantum Redshift. The latest Wipeout game for the PS2 was, to be honest, a big disappointment. Poor framerates and general lacklustre gameplay were the reasons for the letdown. Quantum Redshift on the other hand arrives on the XBOX were technical limitations shouldn't be a problem and neither should framerate issues.

Quantum Redshift goes for the more personal approach than Wipeout did. Instead of choosing different ships you get to choose the person you want to race as. There are 7 playable characters to begin with and a further 9 to unlock. The game has four gameplay modes. There's Tournament, Time Attack, Quick Race and Multiplayer for up to 4 players. The main mode is of course Tournament mode.

In Tournament mode you choose a character and progress through the different difficulty levels from amateur to Redshift against ever more challenging opposition. Like in Dead or Alive 3, this has to done with every character in order to complete the game in it's entirety. Between the races you will see small conversations between the characters. Often these comments are insults and attempts to have a go at your character. These comments are text only and are clearly legible. The comments don't have any effect on the game but it adds to character of the game. During a tournament you'll be challenged to race against your arch rival in what is known as a Nemesis Challenge. Should you defeat your enemy you will unlock them and will be able to race as them.

Control of the Single Person Armed Racing Craft (SPARC) is surprisingly satisfying. The controls have been mapped comfortably to the controller and the SPARC is easy to control. As you progress through the tournament modes you'll upgrade your SPARC and the craft will become faster with increased turbo and shield capabilities. There are a variety of power-ups, that boosts your weapons, shields and points total for a race, that can be collected throughout a race.

As we said earlier the game as a whole is very similar to Wipeout, however when we come to the graphics, Quantum Redshift leaves Wipeout with dust in it's eyes. Water effects, lighting effects and the quality of the textures are truly outstanding. The race tracks all offer different scenery and climatic conditions but throughout, the whole game just looks excellent and to top it all off, it blazes along without sacrificing the framerate at all. The XBOX as a console is still in it's infancy and if this is what it can do so early in it's life then I'm very excited by what should be possible in the years to come.

Quantum Redshift will not appeal to all gamers but to those who liked Wipeout or indeed those who just like quality racing titles; this title is definitely one to watch out for. If I had to pick faults with the game then I would say that I would have liked to have seen more tracks and maybe more competitions and maybe even an extra mode or two to help the longevity of the title. However even without those desirable extras Quantum Redshift is still one of the better XBOX titles and is totally deaf gamer friendly.

Overall Game Rating: 8.1/10 Beats Wipeout at it's own game.

Deaf Gamers comment: The game is totally deaf gamer friendly.