By way of introduction to this review, I’ll let you in on a little secret – my Editor wanted it done ages ago. I’ve had it in my grubby little paws for weeks, I’ve had all the time and opportunity to really delve into this game and learn its worth. So why the wait?

Frankly, I couldn’t really be bothered playing it. It’s mediocrity incarnate. I was absolutely apathetic to every track, rider, stupid feature and tired gameplay mechanic it throws at you in a desperate effort to win your affections. This is an uninspired, game-development by numbers title, with all the va-va-voom of your average accountant – no, in fact, that’s an insult to accountants everywhere.

This is the kind of title that really pisses me off, because it’s there to just make up the numbers. It adds nothing new, indulges in every formulaic and derivative device that infests console gaming and takes no serious advantage of the Xbox’s capabilities.

I read a great article on Adrenaline Vault a while back by Matthew Dujnic – perhaps some of you read it. It was about “game burn”, a process that I knew and had experienced often, but had only put a name to after I read the piece in question. “Game burn” is that feeling you get where you suddenly realise that you’re playing a game which is almost totally derivative – it could be almost any game in the genre, just change the locations, the name of the hero, the villain, whatever. A game with no twists, with nothing new to add to the medium.

Arctic Thunder gave me game burn.

The problem with AT is that it’s not terrible. When I review a game, I’m always conscious of the fact that game developers are talented people, and that game production is an extremely difficult and time-consuming thing to do. That said, however, I have more of a problem with mediocre games like AT than I do with the horrendous turkeys. Those at least can be discounted as the product of an inexperienced or plain rubbish team. I can’t use that excuse with Midway. It distresses me greatly to play games that make me cynical about the industry. Anyway, enough ranting. I had better explain my position with some evidence, hadn’t I?

Racing games these days seem to go down one of several, well trodden paths. One is the Gran Turismo, Project Gotham Racing path, where real world cars are included, and realistic (to a point) handling is essential to the gameplay. Another path is the driving path, where the aim is either an arcade or a realistic simulation of some real life car sport. There’s also the glut of futuristic games. And then there’s AT’s chosen route - the combat racing route - where the race is won as much by the trigger-finger as it is by the gas-pedal.

Arctic Thunder involves racing along in snowmobiles and attacking the other riders while attempting to finish first. The locales are the expected arctic landscape types, mixed in with a large number of industrial-style levels. So far, so generic.

There’s a bunch of riders to choose from, a bunch of weapons to use, a load of this, a bit of that, some of the other… .The game involves that most staple of console devices – the unlock “goodies” by earning points device. The riders can be upgraded by spending some earned points on them, in an ill-advised style addition. New riders can be unlocked…and so on and so forth.

Are you getting the picture yet? Do you feel the burn?

The game scoops up a load of standard ideas and implements them in a workable fashion. That’s about it. It’s fast paced, but the high speed has no real impact on the game play. It has lots of weapons, but they’re all fairly rubbish and can’t be used in a strategic fashion. There are lots of levels, but they all look alike, and after a couple you don’t want to see more. There’s a lot to unlock, but as an attempt to add some longevity, tightening the core game play instead of pointless additions would have better served the developers. It handles sufficiently well for this type of racer, but the races require no finesse or deft touch to win. It has a mode, but it’s tacked on and poor.

If AT sells and makes money for Midway, then their approach is entirely justified and everything I’ve said is completely irrelevant. I’ve not seen the figures, so I don’t really know. Sometimes game developers aim high and miss completely, producing a mediocre game despite lofty ambitions. That, I don’t think, is the case here. I think accomplished exactly what they set out to do with Arctic Thunder – make a generic, combat for the next generation consoles. I guess it’s up to them to decide if that’s all they want to do…

As average as they get…

50%

By Nick McCrea