Customer Reviews

Quantum Redshift

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

First off, my favorite racing game of all time is the original wave race on the n64. I enjoy race games that allow you to quickly enter the action but become more difficult as you level increases.

Quantum Redshift is such a game! The beginning levels are very easy to beat. In fact, it lets you decide if you want to start on level 1 or 2 before you even win a race. As you win, you unlock more tracks, racers, and power-ups for you racer.

I have had this game now for about three months and I still haven't beat the highest level (admittedly, I haven't been playing the game as much as the average xbox owner).

This game is an awesome racing title to add to your collection.

Quantum Redshift starts off hard--almost frustratingly so. It took me nine or ten races to even get out of last place (although I started at the second difficulty level, not the lowest). Once you get a feeling for the speed of the game, which is almost dizzying at first, you improve rapidly, but I've never found myself dominating a race as I can in so many other racing games (where you eventually get so good, you lap the other cars five times before the race ends). QR also keeps a carrot dangling in front of you--as you win, you get money to upgrade your car, and you unlock other pilots/cars (you can't mix and match different pilots with different cars, though), new difficulty levels, and new tracks. Also, a selection of easter eggs opens up as you win, including my favorite, which turns off the weapons and forces you to win a race on your driving skill alone. You can pick and choose among these easter eggs at any time other than during a specific race (so even between races in the tournament mode).

Contrary to some of the other reviews here, this is a very pretty game, which uses the power of the Xbox quite well. The tracks are varied--some are fairly level, high speed tracks, others are bumpy and set your car bouncing up and down until you learn to control and take advantage of the bumps and jumps. The cars also have a very different feel to them: some are nimble and agile, but not speed burners, others are fast but difficult to handle, others are ponderous but powerful, and others are a mix. I believe I have unlocked all the cars, and have a choice between 16 of them.

There are some problems, but these are manageable. Loading times for the tracks are too long, and compounded by the fact that a cut-scene featuring your character and the home pilot of the track you're on always comes up first (and takes a while to load itself). The music is also bland, uninspired techno, but QR does support the Xbox's custom soundtrack feature, so you can use your own music if you want.

Quite simply, this is a wonderful game that hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Once you push through to your first victory, you'll be hooked.

Knowing that Xbox games had ground-breaking graphics and are really fun, especially the Microsoft ones, I had expected that kind of graphics when I inserted my disc- and I was right:

Quantum Redshift boasts excellent speed, graphics, and gameplay. The graphics, as I have said before, are excellent. The framerate is super- over 60 fps!! Also, the scenery and details are to die for. The water drop effect on the screen is also very realistic- you may find yourself reaching for a towel to dry the screen off after your vehicle plunges into a lake.

Of course, as most PS2 and Gamecube players' rebuttals against Xbox say, graphics aren't everything and gameplay is more important- and Quantum Redshift also rocks in that department. Yes, to say that this doesn't have themes from games like WipEout or F-Zero would be a lie, but the game is fun and replay value is high. Firing weapons and gaining a little revenge against racers is very fun- from firing missles to shooting lasers, this game never gets boring. On the hardest difficulty lever, the speed can go up to 800 mph!! Multiplayer is also fun: head-to-head racing is available for up to 4 players via split-screen.

The difficulty is very friendly also. It is never to hard or too easy, because there are 5 different speed and difficulty levels. As the difficulty increases, so does the maximum speed level, which renders the vehicle harder to control- but lots more fun.

The storyline is also fantastic. Like many fighting games, you have a nemesis that always is meaner to you- by firing missiles purposely at you. Also, each character has a home track- in which they have an advantage on.

In conclusion, this game is excellent. The racing is fast and frenetic and you'll never stop playing. Whether or not you like racing or just like playing fun video games, Quantum Redshift is worth the money and time. It's a shame that the price has to be lowered because not that many people know about this game.

While games like WIPEOUT FUSION try to get it right, QUANTUM REDSHIFT nips it in the bud and nails WIPEOUT FUSION to the wall(in every aspect). The GRAPHICS, GAME PLAY, FRAME-RATE(not a lick of slow down @ 60 FRAMES PER SECOND), WEAPONS, CONTROL, TRACK DESIGN, are all better than WIPEOUT FUSION by a country mile. The graphics are simply amazing, the explosions have awesome shock waves(which don't create any slow down) and the buildings, water and surroundings are all beautiful. There is this amazing water effect when you're in 1st person mode that is darn near 'STATE OF THE ART'. There is a couple of games that come close to this 1st person-water effect, one is EXTREME-G3 on the PS2(it's a harder-later race at night and it is raining. Really cool water effect in 1st person mode)and the other is TEST DRIVE on the original playstation(I believe it is the 'Russia' track and it too is raining, again, really neat water effect in 1st person mode. BY THE WAY, that game has awesome crashes!) Other than that I haven't seen any really neat water effects in 1st person mode racer games like QUANTUM REDSHIFT has. You'll see what I'm talking about, it's AMAZING! There is also a really neat effect I noticed while watching my replays. Some of the stationary cameras shake violently as the racers are blazing by. I love that touch and this game is full of little things like that. I can't really say enough about how pleased I am with this game...HOWEVER, there is a couple of NEGATIVE's though, but really don't take away from the game play itself. One is that the tracks seem a little short for my liking. I wish I could adjust the number of laps in QUICK RACE mode to make up for that, but there is sadly no option.(but, in it's defense, the harder the race you choose the more laps there are, but I still have no control over that PRE-SET number). ALSO, I don't think that the track "IN REVERSE" should be counted as a "SEPERATE TRACK". It says there are 16 tracks, will really there are 8, in both directions(8X2=16, NOT! It's really 8 tracks FORWARD and REVERSE. But, in it's defense, I haven't completed the game and there may be surprise extra tracks, but that's not likely the case). ALSO the short skits when the rivals are squaring off with each other are, for the most part, pointless and a waiste of valuable storage space(perhaps more tracks could have been added?). Other than that I LOVE THIS GAME. Heck, I can't emagine any race fan NOT liking this game! But some people like to sleep during their racing experience and...that's okay, however, if you are into SNOOZER race games like PROJECT GOTHAM(which I actually like, it just gets boring, very fast), or SEGA GT(no comment) this game may be too exciting for you. But if you like FAST PACED, HIGH SPEED, SHOOT'em UP, FUTURISTIC, COOL WEAPONS, COOL EXPLOSIONS, FLASHY TRACKS, ANTI-GRAVITY-POD RACER TYPE racing games then this game is for you. To put it simply...THIS GAME IS A MUST!!!

Quantum Redshift is absolutely the BEST game i have ever played. I just recently purchased an xbox and was looking for a balls out, full action racing game,well this is defintley it! You pilot hovercraft that race in excess of 300mph. Every racer has a rival that they attempt to blow up. Each racer also has their own home track and special weapons with which to inflict damage on the other racers.I would recommend this for every speed junkie teenager out there!

most reviewers focus on the fact that this game is like wipeout... that's really too bad. when unreal tournament came out, people didn't say "it has great graphics, but it's really just another FPS like wolfenstein."

technologically, this game crushes all versions of wipeout. the frame rate is fast and never drops. the graphics are amazing. the music sounds good, but may wear on people that are not techno fans... good news, though, as it does support custom soundtracks.

i agree that the cutscenes are useless and pointless. at least a story was attempted! most racers (re: ridge racer, rallisport challenge, Gran turismo, etc) don't try one at all.

i've spent about 8 hrs with the game so far and love it. i would recommend it to anyone who likes racing games. there is nothing else as good in the current generation of consoles (including wipeout fusion and extreme g3).

First off, I love racing games. I'll play almost any game w/ racing in it. This game is graphically beautiful, no slowdown, with some very cool small touches, (like the water droplets on your t.v. screen.) The only complaint I have is that like a lot of Xbox games, the curve from Easy to Hard doesn't exist. You race the Novice tracks, (easy,) you race the amateur tracks, (easy but faster, that's ok though, at this point you have the tracks memorized,) Then you get to the Expert track, (all concieted, thinking you got this game licked w/ all the tracks memorized.) And, BAM, it's hard all of a sudden. Suddenly instead of always coming in first your bouncing off of walls and getting passed like crazy. Alot of Xbox games seem like this. There is an immediate jump from easy and fun, to hard and frustrating. It's still a fun game, but now your doing the same track over and over to advance to the next track, (which you've already seen in the Novice and Amatuer circuits.) So you might even give up at that point thinking there is nothing really new to see. Also, the cutscenes supposed 'storyline' is laughable. If you really love racing games, rent it first.

This game has it all for me - racing, weapons and shields systems, secret characters, and a story for all of the characters. It even has shortcuts, and a surprisingly difficult hard mode. I used to love playing this game as we had rented it long ago, but my goodness this game is fun!

There haven't been too many good hover/combat racing games recently, but I picked this one up for $5 in a bargain bin and wasn't disappointed in the least. It was like finding gold. In the beginning, in the lower circuit races, the game is rather slow, but as you get up to the faster, white knuckle races, it's awesome. It runs perfectly on the X360, and offers 720p support which looks great on HDTVs.

As for story, it's kind of lacking, but this game is about racing. Think of like how games like Tekken or Dead or Alive or even Street Fighter have stories (that suck), but that doesn't hurt the game; if you can imagine that (or remember), but just don't care, then you have the right idea.

Anyhow, $5 new from 3rd party sellers, even $10 with shipping, but well worth it.