Recent reviews by Xane M.

Ah, DX-Ball 2... Back when I was a child, I found this game's original demo on a CD with many "arcade games" on it, but even then, I liked the gameplay and boards, even with only 4 per set in said demo version! Years later, I kept coming back to this game, making my own boards, etc. Eventually, the 20th Anniversary Edition was announced, and I bought it! I have to say, I love the additions Longbow Games brought to the game...

In-game, there are nice improvements, too! For example, you can save your game during a BoardSet then come back to resume later instead of having to lose everything! There's also the lightning powerup from Rival Ball and the ability to mess with gravity for precise control of the ball, all nice additions...

But...from all of the years I played the original version, I naturally like to play using the old gameplay, and good news is that they included that too!! They thought of every type of player here, those wanting what they remember, and those that want some new twists!

For anyone wondering about the music, it's great, with many catchy songs by Sidewinder! Every song is here, including the ones that were in the ModPack in the original game. For these being modules from the 90's, they still sound good today.

If I had to give any bad points, it'd be some of the sounds, which didn't age as well as the music. The new sound effects are better than the ones unchanged from the original DX-Ball 2.

Outside of the game itself, there are other things that made me buy this game. Longbow Games added their own board and image-set editors, which blow DXBoard and DXImage out of the water! There's even support for high-res bricks, which the official boards take advantage of. There's also Steam Workshop support, which is another great addition. (They even released their internal Texturizer program, for those wanting to make their own DX-Ball 2-like backgrounds and brick graphics. Thanks for making that, Seumas, and for releasing it publicly, Rob!)

In conclusion, DX-Ball 2: 20th Anniversary Edition is, in my opinion, the definitive version of the game, and I recommend it to anyone who likes brick-breaking, "Breakout" games.

There are many racing games out there, some aiming to be realistic simulators, while others are casual games where characters can use items to unfairly reach first place. However, what about a game that's in the middle? What if you don't want other players messing up your laps?

Enter the TrackMania series by NADEO, which focuses less on who reaches the finish line first and more on who's the most skilled racer! First, there was TrackMania, then TM Sunrise, then TM Nations, which each added unique environments, but then NADEO released TM United, which united all seven environments into one package, allowing the player to race in all of them!

In single-player, your goal is to get as many medals as you can, while also competing against others in official races. It's satisfying to see your place on the leaderboards go down by the hundreds, beating many on the race tracks without having to see them fly by you! There's also multiplayer, which is handled differently than most racing games; Rather than all racing for the finish line at the same time, any player can restart instantly should it not go as planned. Your time is only counted once you reach the finish line within the (default) 5-minute time limit. I like how uniquely this is handled.

Obviously, if you've looked up TrackMania at any point, you'll know it has a full track editor in it, which can do everything the built-in tracks can do, plus with mods it can go further! If you don't like the default vehicles, you can also download vehicles then use them instead. While I'm not saying much about it, the replay editor is also good once you get used to it.

I know, this isn't how the average Steam user writes reviews, so let's just cut it short:
GAMEPLAY: As with any TrackMania game, the vehicles you drive in this game are easily-controlled, especially when on the ground! My only complaint's the coast car, which tries to be a realistic simulator in a game full of arcade-like gameplay. It's easy to play this game, but is hard to master!
GRAPHICS: Obviously, this game is older than TrackMania 2 or TrackMania Turbo, so its graphics will look dated, but the graphics still look nice! It would've been nice if environments other than Stadium got the new sky, though. There is some pop-in, most obvious on Bay's roads with the lights, but this is understandable for an older game.
SOUND: I'll say, the vehicle and crash sounds are nice, but they may get old if you have to retry a track many times. I'm in the middle about the music, though; It sounds good but it isn't as memorable as TrackMania Turbo (DS)'s soundtrack with catchy music like its stadium and island music. To me, this is strange since it's the same composer, Doo.
REPLAYABILITY: This shouldn't even be a thing, as there is a lot of replayablility with the many tracks you can make and download, plus with graphic mods and vehicle models...yes.
I recommend TrackMania United Forever Star Edition. It may not have as nice of graphics as its sequel, but it gives you more for your money, seven environments!
I'll put this here so the positivity is all above, separate from this section. While this is a good game, there are two problems I encountered.

For one, if you've ever bought this game in the past somewhere but Steam like me, the game will ask for your player key when you do anything involving the game's servers. Unfortunately, if you've lost your original CD key, you'll have to create a new account as they won't let you change it to Steam's CD key. You'll need a second e-mail just to play the game you bought! The second problem is a security issue they should fix but never will. Passwords are limited to 9 characters! If you type a longer one, it'll be truncated to the first 9 characters upon saving it to the server.

If these aren't problems to you, then I recommend buying it from Steam.