Nail'd Gamescom 2010 Hands-on Preview

As the announcer shouts "GO!" a thread of adrenaline clings on to me, tying itself around me. I speed through the track; I'm disorientated by the blurred objects around me. I have to make fast decisions with each turn, being specific, knowing exactly what I'm doing as any false, imprecise move will lead you into a wall of rock. Dirt is smothered into my face like a vigorous night with a Chelsea footballer as the wheels violently turned, and the deafening roar of the engine fills my ears with sound, nevertheless I can just about see the jump. This is it. This is my chance. Pressing the nitrous button, I approach the ramp at such high speeds that my cheeks are flying back because of the high G-force.

My quad bike reaches up high, higher than I've ever been before, and then all of a sudden gravity kicked in, making my stomach feel giddy. I then noticed a train underneath me. If only I could land on that, then I could have an advantage over the others... But doubt filled my mind as I saw other bikes attempt it, and fail. I decided to go ahead with it. To my astonishment I landed on the train, but with so much force I almost flew out of my seat. I did it. I was on the train. I could feel the stares of the racers gawping at me in awe and envy. As I turned off the train sharply to head towards the opening gap which I had to enter, I felt a sense of pride just as I crossed the finish line.

Obviously this didn't happen to me - because to be quite frank I am terrible at racing games - however this is how I imagine the experience to be like for someone else that could, and would, win. The reason I started this preview with a wall of text is because the graphics are so good they made me feel like I was there.

As you can see in the confines of my first paragraph, you can interact with the landscape during the levels, like the train which you can jump onto. You go at such an immense speed you don't get much of a chance to see the beautiful backgrounds unless you are doing a really big jump. Details on the landscape, like trees and mountains, are very dynamic and adds to the immersion thanks to the tiny details Nail'd provides.

The tracks are very large with alternate routes and because of this it does take a while to memorise the layout. This makes the game more challenging since, as with most racing games, you always find yourself playing on much simpler courses that you tend to memorise quite rapidly.

The musical theme of the game leans heavily towards the heavy metal genre and features songs from the likes of Slipknot, Queens of the Stone Age and many more. Furthermore, one song was made exclusively for the game and was made by a multitude of popular heavy metal groups. In total the game features fourteen songs with more to be announced closer to its release.

There is a twelve player multiplayer mode as well alongside online leaderboards and achievements, so you can compare yourself to the rest of the world.

Nail'd will have a lot to live up to as it resembles Pure or MotorStorm, however I have a feeling this is still going to be big. It will be released October 19th 2010, so keep a look out. If you enjoy a rush of adrenaline in your racing games, then this is the one for you.