XGRA: Extreme G Racing Association

by Acclaim Video Games

Product Features

• The Extreme Gravity Racing Association(XGRA) runs an incredible motorized bloodsport that is the future's most popular gaming event. Teams of daredevil riders fight against each other on the most dangerous racetracks in history. Enter this league as a rookie & see if you can become a world champion!
• Complete contract and sub-missions while in mid-race to earn favors from team owners & sponsors
• Blast away obstacle on the tracks, to clear your way & create obstacles for your opponents
• Improve your bike with upgradeable weapons -- or enhance your rider withcybernetic implants
• Advanced physics modeling lets you feel every wheel lock, wheelie, skid, slide and even airborne control

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00008XKZG
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 16, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,364 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The next step in the continued evolution of the critically-acclaimed Extreme-G Racing brand, with sales of over one million units in the US alone, XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association brings to life the motor sport of the future. All of the speed and excitement of the series is intact, with a host of new race types, mission objectives and unlockable content that will firmly place XGRA at the pole position.

Features

• SiNN (Sports Interactive News Network) and the XGRA (Extreme Gravity Racing Association) create a future motor sport unlike anything ever experienced.
• 8 different teams, all with unique histories, sponsors, and rivalries
• Variable missions and storylines that make each race part of a larger career.
• A game structure designed to emulate a true motor sport season with various classes and race types.
• A variety of different and completely tweakable main vehicle types.
• A wide range of characters, each with skills & statistics that affect how they race.
• A rewards system that allows for a slew of unlockable content--from game modes to new tracks, from faster bikes to character-enhancing cybernetic implants.
• Environments that bring worlds to life. From variable weather systems to realistically constructed buildings, all 16 tracks are set in worlds so startling, you may actually forget to race.
• An interactive HUD that not only provides all relevant information during the race, but can be manipulated during gameplay.
• Destructible objects--from gas pipes to bridges to spectators, the track can be changed dynamically by anyone throughout the race.
• A new weapons system that allows the player to easily select and use weapons without fear of losing focus on the race.

Product Description

XGRA pushes the limits of humanity of technology as they race across the most treacherous landscapes around!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ever wanted to race around an asteroid?, September 24, 2003

By 

flaviolius (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: XGRA: Extreme G Racing Association (Video Game)

XGRA is the latest in Acclaim's Extreme-G series, in which futuristic rocket-powered cycles blaze through a series of twisting, rollercoasterish courses. This newest installment sees some changes and additions from the last effort, Extreme-G 3, and the result is arguably the series' pinnacle.

The control is quite different. The bikes no longer feature the side-leaning dual airbrake technique; now, one trigger controls braking for the entire bike while the other trigger controls acceleration. While the analog stick is still used for steering, pushing forward and back no longer changes the cycle's angle - now you are able to adjust your weapons' aim up and down, even towards targets not on the track. The cycles also don't have an accessible speed boost; instead temporary boosts are acquired by driving over arrowed strips (much like the Wipeout or F-Zero games).

The weapons system has also seen some changes, and is a lot more streamlined and efficient (excepting one particular weapon which is far too powerful). Each bike comes with a basic primary weapon, which can now be upgraded during a single race by destroying opponents, as well as a selection of secondary weapons. Green power crystals are scattered throughout each course, and stronger secondary weapons become available to you as you collect them (ranging from the energy-sucking Vampyre to limited invincibility). They can be fired anytime, but once discharged, you must find more crystals. It's much easier to select and fire the weapons you want without getting distracted from the race, due to the simpler controls and the improved HUD.

As is the norm with racing titles, you have a single race mode, time trial mode, and season mode. XG3 players may recall that as you progessed through that game's season, you accumulated money which you could then use to upgrade your bike however you wished. XGRA has no in-game shop; rather, you sign a contract with one of several racing teams, and your bike is upgraded automatically as you progress through the season (you are under contract after all). You also are able to make slight adjustments to your bike's handling before each race. In addition, the season mode is a lot longer, is a lot deeper, and uses a GP-style points system to track your progression. Not only will you encounter different types of races - ranging from single-lap speed races called Burn Off to courses without weapons, Endurance, Weather Hazard, and Warmonger races (where cannons lining the courses fire upon everyone), but the team you've signed with will present separate, optional Contract Challenges for you to peform in addition to finishing in first place. These Contracts vary, from "set a lap record" to "destroy three opponents." Fulfill these contracts, and you gain new upgrades for your machine. Also, as you progress through the Season, you unlock Art Galleries and different features for Arcade and Time Trial modes, such as the ability to change the weather. There's simply a lot more game here than before, and unlocking everything and fulfilling all contracts will keep racers busy.

But the best thing about XGRA are the tracks themselves. Never has a futuristic racer been witness to such inventive, mind-bending, beautiful courses to race in. You'll race around a defunct nuclear reactor in the middle of the barren Amazon basin (this is in the future after all), through groves of trees and past waterfalls, under the ocean in transparent tubes through which sea life can be seen, through an airlock around a zero-G asteroid with Saturn looming overhead, and across the red Martian desert while the landscape is pounded by a meteor shower, among others. Mobile robot cameras, animated neon signs, and drifting ships are everywhere, and machinery turns gracefully on all sides. The courses twist, turn, and corkscrew unexpectedly, and are home to many alternate paths and shortcuts. You can fire at billboards, causing them to crash across the track and take out enemies, and the smoking remains of destroyed cycles will stay on the course until the race is completed. Add to that a licensed soundtrack featuring techno acts like BT and Cirrus (which is OK but not great - XGRA should have supported custom soundtracks), in-game chatter by opposing riders, and some insane pre-race commentary ("Hey Bob, this is the course where an entire field of riders plunged to their death in 2045 when a support strut collapsed, ha ha, remember that?" "I sure do Steve"), and XGRA is quite a remarkable spectacle. If you've seen XG3's Atradaitoshi or Oceania tracks, imagine that with ten times the detail and activity, and you'll have an idea of what XGRA contains. All of that beauty with an extremely steady framerate and blistering sense of speed.

XGRA is a must-buy for fans of futuristic racers, especially at the current price point, and anyone who enjoys a challenging, gorgeous, wild ride will be more than satisfied. Much like XG3 before it, XGRA stands as an excellent entry in the genre that will probably not get the attention it deserves.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FAAAAAAAAST! but short., July 31, 2004

By 

J. Leigh "jleigh7" (chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: XGRA: Extreme G Racing Association (Video Game)

The greatest appeal of the XG series has always been excessive speed beyond any other racing title. XGRA indeed holds up to that tradition. With the addition of the accelerator tracks on the ground, like in Wipeout, there are now more opportunities than ever to go break the sound barrier- which was at the time one of the most innovative visual and audio depiction of speed in any game.

XGRA is perhaps TOO fast for its own good. Because there are so many turns in many of the more difficult tracks it is practically impossible to avoid colliding into the sides of the track- especially when the entire screen is blurred at ultrasonic speeds. Furthermore during those tight turns the camera has a difficult time following fast enough and so you end up staring at the ground rather than at the track ahead of you.

The weapons are pretty much useless, I have never been able to destroy another bike and as the game difficulty increases it is impossible to shoot down the street signs (to fullfill your secondary objectives) AND come in first place.

Coming in first place takes some skill but more often it depends on luck since a last second powerup could give you a boost to shoot ahead of your competitor. Also I have noticed that the computer opponent often slows down at some unexplained point of the game, giving you a lead. Presumably this was a means to make the AI easier against the player.

The largest fault with the game is that it is too short. I managed to finish this in a few hours. There are unfortunately too few tracks, but the tracks that are there are gorgeously designed.

At discount prices this is a fun and exhilarating distraction for a few hours. The fun really begins when you hit supersonic speeds; until then it can get a bit tedious competing in race after race. Still there is something incredibly addictive about just racing at insane speeds...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Candy and Speed . . . THIS GAME ROCKS ! ! !, October 3, 2003

By 

Gary L. Fox "tYpiCaL wYt gUy" (Ok United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: XGRA: Extreme G Racing Association (Video Game)

I love this game. The frame-rate is solid and the graphics are all the XBOX is cracked up to be. I've played all the Extreme G games since they first arrived on the N64 and the new XGRA is easily the best one I've seen. In the new XGRA "XBOX version" the tracks are definately wider, not all the way through the race, but I've noticed more room to maneuver and it's easier to stay off the walls. There really isn't any slow-down. Every once in a while it hickups, but it hasn't affected my gameplay and it's rare...unlike the past Extreme G racers with their constant slow-down on every track, at every turn(that was annoying).
My main complaint is certain areas are too dark and it always seems to be at a critical turn or crossroads junction. It's not every critical turn, but I can't help but wonder why they didn't light up these areas. And last...I think the career mode is a little short, but the replay value is still fairly good.
IN FINAL...this game is fantastic with very few flaws. Hard-core adrenaline junkies will love it. Its smooth frame-rate and killer graphics make this high-speed gravity-bike racer the best of the Extreme G series and one of the best futuristic racers on the XBOX to date. This game is an easy 4 STARS, falling short only in the career mode and some occasional lighting issues. Even with that said, it's well worth the money. I've played many racers and XGRA is easily of the best.