4x4 EVO 2

"TRI... why? why? Promise me you won't make 4x4 Evolution 3"

As a long time contributor to the communities of Monster Truck Madness 2 and 4x4 Evolution, both games made by TRI, I didn’t had high hopes for 4x4 Evolution 2 anymore and namely because of the first game in the 4x4 series. Let’s see:

The most noticeable thing, in my opinion, when you start the game and want to select your truck is that the Fords are missing. They did not managed to get license for 4x4 Evo 2 (and for Evo 1 they were lucky to get it). During the game you can see that the gravity has changed much since Evo1. You no longer have that “fly like an eagle” feeling however it seems that the earth pulls this trucks down immediately after they “take-off”. And I mean it’s like a hand reaches out and slams the truck to the ground. A nice new feature is the fact that the background “cartoon” has been taken away and you now see as far as your eye can (well digital eye). The graphic is improved and while many people complained about lazy frames per second I actually got 10-15 fps more then in Evo 1 (with the same computer). The model limit has been severely pushed up so there isn’t 500 models limit anymore. Now there are trees everywhere, on the whole map and this is good, it adds to the realism.

The racing is pretty good with no major problems until you try to turn at a very low speed. You get an incredibly feeling of arcade because your whole truck moves into the direction you want to turn. I cannot explain myself very good since English is not my first language. Also if you want to use the Editor to create tracks be sure to BACK-UP your metal.ini because using the editor will crash the file and that means starting again from the start, no truck no races completed.

New to this game are also “Missions”. For example you need to find a lost treasure somewhere in the middle of the island or a plane crashed and you need to find the missing money. They are pretty easy to complete and that means easy cash to buy new trucks and to buy new parts.
In rest there are the normal events where you compete against the computer. Oh and between you and me, the AI sucks in Evo2 so you need to go online for human competition. Talking about that TRI has partnered up with Jeep and you can download a Jeep add-on game to Evo2 and enter the competition for real prizes. Just be careful not to use the shorts and not to be too fast then the others or TRI will disqualify you for the reason of using a hacked truck.

Now you can also be part of a team, actually you need to be part of a team in order to access certain parts from a certain manufacturer and to access their racing truck too. Of course there is a way around it but for that you need to visit the community and ask for directions.

The graphics are very nifty and with a GeForce 3/4 card you will see some very sweet reflections on your car.

The stock tracks that come with the game are in a number of 31. 15 from the Evo1 and 16 new ones. The new ones, most of them are pretty good and tracks like Tibet Cliffside and Egypt are a real pleasure to drive on. The old tracks have been remarked in order to work best with the new gravity. The dynamic objects are still in here so you will again see planes flying above you, a mad pizza deliverer racing against you in an autumn themed track etc.

Sound and Music are just plain normal. They are not annoying and not great neither.

Graphics – 9

Sound – 8

Truck handling – 7
Points deducted because of that insane arcade feeling. Sorry but it’s just annoying.

Replay ability – 5
You should play this one online or else you will get bored pretty fast.

Overall – 8

Worth to buy it or not? I am actually afraid to give anyone a recommendation. I did and I got bored with it after 2 weeks of playing. I know I know I did a review more against it but that’s because it plain sucks. And it’s got an overall 8 because there aren’t any other quality off-road games right now.

Oh and I forgot to mention, there are tons of add-on trucks and tracks available on the net. They are sure to get you more hooked to the game (if you ever were) and they are also mandatory for online play, well the tracks are or else you will get the boot from the game host.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/02, Updated 07/18/02