Quantum Redshift

"An OK Game, all in all."

Out of all the racing genres slowly blossoming on Xbox, those drawn towards futuristic high-speed rollercoaster rides aren’t exactly overwhelmed with choice. Realising this, Microsoft has chosen to act upon itself to fill a hole, and in doing so has unleashed quite an intriguing package with Quantum Redshift. At first one may mistake it as nothing more than a sub-par F-Zero/Wipeout wannabe, which to be fair isn’t all too far off the truth. There is no denying that Quantum Redshift has drawn significant inspiration from past classics, and even bears a resemblance to more recent titles such as Star Wars: Episode I Racer or Extreme G III. Aesthetically speaking, the generic undertones present in the initial environments, craft and characters highlight tired themes already seen in various guises before. As a consequence, the game feels rather soulless; a mixture of ideas that fail to generate the stylistic sophistication Wipeout used to be famed for whilst in its prime.
Perhaps then, Quantum Redshift manages to only truly reveal itself after the player has bed down and got to grips with what is on offer. There is no denying that straight from the off this title is very slick and playable, almost to the detriment of giving over an impression of simplistic ease. Your craft bends and weaves around the courses with an unerring sense of fluidity and control, reacting impressively upon contact with the game’s various terrain. This is especially useful as it’s possible to use slopes and hills on faster speed levels that help you propel along the course more, not to mention adding to the believability of the anti-gravity nature of the racing. Don’t go expecting abrupt stops upon sliding against a barrier here, for Quantum Redshift’s focus is directly on keeping the action flowing regardless of what mayhem happens to be unfolding in and around your craft.

Intelligently, power-ups are strategically placed in order to aid you try and experiment in finding short cuts around the courses, and this particularly helps during time trial sessions or tackling faster speed levels. Of course, some courses are better than others in terms of design and imagination, creating an inconsistent quality with regards to their challenge. Thankfully, to compensate for this is a great weapons system that can hold different types of power-ups together at the same time. This is where Quantum Redshift manages to rise above Wipeout, because the tactical depth in combat is increased thanks to the wide range of simultaneous options available at the player’s disposal. Not only that, but a small selection of weaponry helps tighten and focus combat by helping the player keep their mind utterly focused on the meat of the gameplay: racing.

However, that isn’t to say there aren’t options to customise the angle by which you may wish to tackle Quantum Redshift. For example, the upgrade system that takes place in between races is superbly implemented, meaning even races which you don’t win provide some source of worth. This is simply because points rewarded can still be used to upgrade your craft, even if you don’t happen to finish in first place.

Such a system takes part in stages, and the player can choose different parts of the ship to enhance, meaning they can evolve their ship progressively as to how they want to play the game. This non-linear element in Quantum Redshift’s structure enables you to level up various parts independently from each other. However, the importance and tension from this particular element is partly taken away; mostly due to the fact you can clear any changes made in the upgrade menu and start again if you feel a wrong purchase has been made. Similarly, it’s also possible to restart each race with little or no consequence, and this results in the game not feeling quite as challenging as it possibly could have. On the player’s part, progression is more a matter of time and patience rather than any real concerted skill. In order to counter this problem, a number of bonus power-ups are placed near short cuts to encourage players to find the more efficient ways around the course through discovery of alternative routes.

Another factor which blends in with the autonomy of Quantum Redshift’s no-fuss design ethic, is the colour coded button layout which mirrors that of the Xbox joypad, helping to link the interface and controller in a conjoined unison of sorts. Such symbolic thinking spreads in part to the overall appearance of the HUD too, as it appears in full form as soon as the game begins; hinting at the amount of levelling up that can take place. In more practical terms, it also provides a detailed map and status screen; even going as far as to display each competitor’s current level of energy. Unfortunately, this sharp design doesn’t extend to the warnings provided to the player as to when they are going to be attacked. For although a beeping noise signals imminent hits, the longevity and range are never fully revealed and it’s often all too easy to use a shield power-up, before finding yourself getting hit just after doing so. Again, Quantum Redshift partly redeems this fault because when you pick up a shield icon during the race it also increases your overall shield energy at the same time, circumventing the need to pit-stop, a la Wipeout/F-Zero. Indeed, if you want you can try and forget finishing first and focus on collecting the points scattered about on the track. This adds an extra dimension of strategy, for you can forgo the competition to an extent and collect instead.

However, the fact you can upgrade your craft as you want though, contradicts the vehicle’s symbiosis with its character’s personality. Each racer is tied back into the game through the process that each course is also a place where one of them originates. And it doesn’t stop there, for characters are also tied to each other in that the completion of one opens up another, much like the one player configuration of a beat-em-up experience. Each character travels a set path dedicated to their story, so when you choose a craft you are not only doing that but also selecting a certain pathway through the game. A result of this structure model is that racing is rewarded with opening up new characters and pods. These crafts feel suitably different from each other, and perhaps are a metaphor for the different characteristics of their pilots, whose exploits and discourses with each other are briefly presented in between races.

It adds immeasurably to the international feel of Quantum Redshift that each character speaks their own unique language too, and adds believability to the game’s world. However, characters can’t communicate and build relationships with one another in the short cut-scenes because of their brevity and language restrictions. This is evident when one character will say something to another in a cut scene, and their companion won’t reply back. In other words, characters of certain languages are tied to others who speak the same dialect. This kind of hurts any sparring or ties that the group of characters might have otherwise had.

Again, just when this might have hurt Quantum Redshift’s consistency, characterisation is backed up via linked one-to-one duels with a ‘nemesis’, and it’s also possible to play through both viewpoints if so desired. Although the stories for each character are barely coherent, they do give the game a more personalised touch, which is encouraged through the higher speed levels, where you get to see more of each character’s back-story. In comparison, Wipeout’s focus has always been on the manufacturers' faceless idealism, whereas Quantum Redshift takes more of an F-Zero approach and focuses solely on characterisation. This wouldn’t be a bad choice if it weren’t for the dull as dishwater artistic design, as although there is some great texture detail with regards to mechanical structures, more natural forms of geography such as rock aren’t textured or modelled quite as convincingly. Equally uninspiring is the lack of flair which the pyrotechnics display whilst used to represent the visceral firepower of the weaponry. Frequently this becomes more apparent during the replays where the pods perhaps look a little too lightweight, and don’t quite capture the frenetic in-game action due to poorly choreographed camera work.

Equally forgettable is the low profile music, for although it’s ambient nature fits the somewhat chilled out tone of the game, it isn’t quite as distinctive or as hard-edged when compared to some of its competitors. Thankfully, this won’t matter a jot to most as the opportunity to custom rip your own soundtrack to the Xbox’s hard-disk means you can tailor and fit your own soundscape in the game instead. It’s just a pity that none of the pre-set music is contextually based. Considering the highly aggressive conclusions to each speed level (bar novice) with your nemesis, hearing a somewhat muted beat in the background hardly compliments the action and gets the pulse racing.

However, the nemesis section is a clever addition, because it helps give personality to the CPU, and encourages a competitive edge to proceedings throughout racing; mostly because attacking your nemesis can earn double points. It’s a pity this element during the early speed levels is some what castrated, as racing can feel somewhat isolated and empty with you racing on your own for the most part. In terms of learning curve, the jump up from ‘Expert’ to ‘Master’ is perhaps too pronounced in terms of speed and takes some getting used to. Luckily, championships are relatively short though, meaning Quantum Redshift is a great game to play in blasts, even despite it’s woefully formulaic structure. This is probably underlined most frustratingly when it comes down to you finishing first in every race in order to progress. There is no ordinary championship as such, just one-way linear progression instead.

It’s this structure which will probably cause the most pain in fully completing the game, as you only need to play through each speed level with one character to open it up for the whole bunch. A side effect of this is that moving onto the higher speed levels early on means that you’ll have to revisit the duller, easier levels. Especially if you want to unlock the secret character, secret track and all the easter-eggs available for grabs. In order to help add weight to the overall format of play, the usual quick race and time trial modes have been added, which are useful when it comes to practising and perfecting lap times. Unfortunately the multiplayer section although fun, has fairly limited appeal, and pales in comparison to the likes of four player F-Zero X. There simply just quite isn’t the range of depth in this particular mode that one would’ve hoped for, and it very much feels like a tacked on afterthought.

Generally, Quantum Redshift is a solid racing game that adds a little spice to the Xbox’s racing library. It’s has the right ideas, the right aims and for the majority of play is very much an enjoyable experience, but it just doesn’t have the staying power or the imprint that perhaps more respected names in the futuristic racing genre have. To its credit, it is probably the best example of the futuristic racing genre of this current generation thus far.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/03, Updated 07/23/03