TrackMania DS Review

There really aren’t enough racing games on the Nintendo DS. I always thought that a racing franchise like F-Zero would make perfect sense on the DS. They could theoretically port F-Zero from another system and then include a level editor or something extra. That’s why I was glad to hear that TrackMania would be coming to the Nintendo DS. The ultimate level editing racing game is now on DS.

I should start by saying that I never played TrackMania for the PC. Ortwin reviewed TrackMania Sunrise, giving it a 9.2 out of 10. You will have to take his word for it that it was good unless you played it before. The DS version of TrackMania is a miniaturized version of the PC game without all of the community features that made that game so popular. There also isn’t any online gameplay, although there is wireless local area play.

TrackMania DS has been available in Europe since the fall of 2008. Atlus, who normally import games from Japan, are bringing this over the pond a little late and without alterations. In fact, I reviewed this with a European retail copy. The developer of TrackMania DS has previously worked on Race Driver: Create and Race, so they have experience making quality racing games on a smaller scale. Unlike Race Driver, TrackMania is more about arcade-style gameplay.

You have three different main modes to choose from in TrackMania DS: Solo, Editor and Multi-player. Within Solo there are Race, Platform, Puzzle, Quick Race and Custom. Each of these modes have practice modes to teach you how to play the game properly. Race is a straight forward mode where you just try to get the best time on pre-existing tracks. The Platform mode is a more difficult mode without a time limit. The goal of this is to just complete the track in X amount of tries. Finally, the Puzzle mode asks you to construct a track given a certain amount of pieces, a Start and a Finish.

Since the editor is the standout feature of TrackMania DS, I will now talk a little more about it. The track editor that was included is quite powerful for a handheld title. You can free draw with a pencil tool, delete blocks, etc. The stylus controls the camera as well as the height. Since TrackMania is all about crazy tracks, there are varying heights that you can lay track at, add turns, ramps and speed boosts. The best thing about it is that you can instantly race a lap on the track that you build without having to save it.

TrackMania DS is a fun little handheld racing title. There are a ton of game modes to try out and virtually limitless possibilities thanks to the track editor. I found some of the tracks included in the single player to be annoying. I don’t like to fall through a hole on a track and not be able to get back on. That said, if you have patience and are a creative type, you probably will love this game.