A.I.M. Racing Reviews

Let's turn an RPG into a racer! Yep believe it or not. This is what happened. A.I.M Racing is a follow on in the series of 'A.I.M' (not yet ported to steam) and 'A.I.M 2' which can be found here... http://store.steampowered.com/app/289180/ Both of which I had never heard of before. Basically the story set up in these versions is that mankind was playing around with artificial intelligence and creating mobile war machines called 'gliders' which were in turn controlled by artificial brains in a capsule called 'mechminds'. Each generation produced a more complicated and sophisticated 'mechmind' and the 5th generation was considered to be the most superior. All this testing was done covertly on a planet known as 'Polygon 4'. Eventually because of various milestone events, the future construction of these war machine gliders were abandoned and the location of this planet a forgotten fairy tale. However the assembly line itself and the testing facility was still fully operational and the testing protocols as dictated in its programming was still active. Hence the planet itself was still testing the mechminds to see which was the most advanced in warfare and racing as set up in its programming parameters. Only once that answer had been obtained would the system 'shut down' or enter into a sleep phase. The mechanics of the game itself will remind you of Star wars Pod Racing mixed with the unfair elements of maybe Mario Kart SNES. You see the ai that you race are developed on purpose to be unfair, with the ability to be able to catch up unrealistically and to be able to overpass you at that single moment in time when you’re about to cross the finishing line in first place. So if you want a relaxing enjoyable experience and time to learn the controlling, I strongly suggest placing it on 'easy' so that you can at least unlock every level without needless constant repeats because of the unfair ai on the other difficulties and absolutely impossible ai to beat on the insane difficulty. There are 30 gliders and 16 different locations that you will eventually be able to unlock. The most superior glider will only be made available at the very end and already has its speed upgraded to the max. So since you are given a limited amount of upgrade options you may wish to place it on the various facets that the last glider lacks. Why? This is because once an upgrade is chosen, it can’t be undone and applies to all gliders from that point on. So perks such as strength, firepower or handling which the last glider lacks, will seriously help you in being triumphant against the last level which even on 'easy' setting is a trolling experience against unfair ai. The landscapes themselves are quite versatile from one another and always will inspire you with wonderment as you speed across the various alien projections. The locations will test your ability to drive when confronted with bright light, extremely narrow passages, sharp turns and well timed navigation through or around various obstacles. Each location seems to have a unique test to it, even the open basic track can be very testing as you’re now confronted with the fact that the ai can easily gun you down with rockets and splatter fire. Each location was also made unique by each having its own specific original soundtrack to accompany it adding again to an imaginative universe. You really can see a fair amount of time was put into this, but there are a number of blaring issues that need to be mentioned to. * There are quite a few areas where you can simply drive off the map. The game just freezes your glider into a trapped small area but you never respawn back on the map, instead many times you will need to restart. * Controlling can be really obnoxious on some of the gliders especially if your wing tips hit something or your forced to go into a tube like you do in an underwater level as most gliders can't handle the sudden change of navigation at all and will be flipping all over the place. * Ai that just sticks with you regardless of whether you go slowly or fast does not make a good racing game. * There’s not really a lot you can do when the ai in the harder difficulties are hot on your tail. Their splatter harassment and rocket launching will be deadly accurate with practically no warning attached. To evade their pursuit seems fruitless and more an inevitable mechanic of the programming. While other games often add defensive weapons, this game only offers offensive ones. * There isn't many shortcuts you can take, most of the tracks are just standard routes, offering no versatility in travel routes. * While multiplayer options are available no servers are maintained by developer or publisher so the game is more a solo experience. * No achievements. Regardless of all these gripes, because of its low price and imaginative landscapes I did enjoy the several hours I spent on this game. Granted it’s not a ‘great’ racer, but it is one that at least kept me entertained for a day or two. Developer: http://www.skyriver.ru/index.phtml Montage of various levels of the game: https://youtu.be/R0BpuwFqiPA If you enjoyed reading this review please subscribe to my curator page. Thanks... http://store.steampowered.com/curator/6843548/

A.I.M. Racing is one of those games that are reminiscent of the "racing with weapons" games like popular titles such as the Mario Kart series. A.I.M. Racing is a fast paced racing game where you obviously fight for first place using weapons such as mines, rockets and a default gun or laser shooter. There are also boosters that improve your handling, speed, and damage. You can also make your ship jump to overtake opponents or avoid obstacles and projectiles. You also have to finish first (obviously) in order to progress to the next track. Obstacles will be plentiful and can be moved and destroyed when ran into similar to games like "Flatout". You can choose from a range of ships that each have it's own unique stats. These stats are divided between speed, power/strength, maneuverability, size (how many items it can carry), and other stats. These ships however vary depending on the league you are in (ex. Leagues 1, 2, and 3 all have different ships). That being said, they are usually just visually different, where the stats pretty much remain the same depending on the ship. There will always be a ship that excels in handling and another in strength in each league. Of course enemies will be more challenging as you progress in the game's campaign but in spite of that, you will also be able to upgrade stats after winning certain races that apply to all ships you choose. This can ultimately help you win races with more ease but unfortunately you don't get to choose what you want to upgrade, there will be two options that I believe are random. Even though the game can be really fun, there are some things that are a huge problem and can be game breaking or at least make it seem unplayable. First is the controls. I from my personal experience find that not unless you are using a ship that specializes in handling, the controls will be extremely slippery. Ships that do not have adequate handling (even with half or 2/3 full bars) tend to slide or drift when trying to turn. This makes the game almost unplayable because many of the tracks have turns and not unless you're using ships that have max handling, you'll be overtaken quickly in later levels. Second is the physics. they can be extremely smooth at times, but sometimes things can happen that will make you question why or how it happened. A game breaking flaw I encountered multiple times in the game is the ability to get snagged on nothing. The game does [b]NOT[/b] take bumping physics lightly... actually, they do... a little [b]TOO[/b] much. Hitting a wall, obstacle or even player can turn your ship completely around, flip it upside down, or send it in the air. Even scaling a concave wall can completely mess up your orientation and result in you looking the wrong way. One specific track in the game has this problem and it is definitely frustrating. But back to "being snagged on nothing". There can and [i]will[/i] be times where you're leading no problem, but all of a sudden your ship crashes into seemingly nothing and now you're going the wrong way. I can not stress enough how annoying it is to lose a race because your ship decided to crash into nothing. It doesn't happen a lot but it still does, which it shouldn't. Aside from these flaws, the games is still extremely fun and it outweights the bad in my opinion. The game overall isn't amazing, but it is fun and intense. For the price, it isn't the worst I've seen. For the amount of content you get, I would say wait for a sale. Although, the campaign or "championship" is quite long and I still haven't finished it. Nonetheless, I would recommend it during a sale since there really isn't anything else to this game other than "be the best champion in the racing league". I recommend this game to people who enjoy the "Mario Kart" style of racing, where items are ultimately the key to winning. But remember, this game can be buggy at times. [h1]TL;DR:[/h1] A quirky racing game with limited fighting elements like "Mario Kart". Controls are for the most part slippery (use a ship with high handling) and collision physics can be game breaking (but does not happen often). Despite that, the game is more fun than it is frustrating. Recommended for people who like combat racing (ex. Mario Kart). As well as getting it on sale if you're considering.

First time I've ever played this game was around 2010. My younger self really loved it and surprisingly after 13 years I still really love it. Yes, it has some flaws such as unbalanced ships or some OST errors. The ship designs are unique and the maps are actually decent and decorated nicely. For a 2007 game, the graphics and colors are pleasing to the eye. I don't recommend it for everyone, but for it's price I consider it to be a great game.

Really good gameplay, and great map layouts. No unbreakable traffic cones that stand in the middle of a tunnel whatsoever

After 14 years, I was able to complete this childhood goldmine. It took me a long time before I uncovered this game due to me rage quitting and not writing the name of the game on a piece of paper. Is this nostalgia bias, most probably, but I think it holds up pretty well to this day. The days of Vista will not be forgotten.

I wrote this review with a heavy heart as I consider myself to be among the most fanatic fans of the A.I.M. game series. So this review doesn't come from a random game hopper. I find this game to be enjoyable... but [b][u]JUST[/u] enjoyable[/b] not [b]very enjoyable[/b], and the reason is actually very simple: not because it's not a RPG type-game, like its predecessors, but because sometimes A.I.M.: Racing is literally unplayable. Unstable physics engine and gameplay-wise bad map design isn't exactly the best combo. A good example of this would be the Ocean Station. The track is literally a underwater tube-shaped station, full of dynamic physics objects (DPO), where player [b][u]will[/u][/b] get stuck and start uncontrollably. These DPOs don't affect NPCs as much as they do players. On the same level, besides DPOs, there are also some invisible barriers (which are bad collision meshes on models, actually) that could randomly block a player and at least 10 other NPCs at the same time! This is just one big f*cking mess. I spent 4 hours straight (!) trying to beat the single Ocean Station of the Major League only because of the bad collisions... four effing hours! There are a couple of madlads who've actually beaten the game on [i]IMPOSSIBLE[/i] difficulty, but in my case it's not worth the rage and hassle, especially with technical problems like these. It would be sin to recommend A.I.M.: Racing, though other parts of the game were fine, fun and sincerely enjoyable.

[i]Pod racing without any annoying kids![/i] The awkwardly named A.I.M. racing is a wipeout style racing game where you pilot a hovercraft around a series of race tracks. There are power ups and game modes but it's mostly bland and forgetable [h1] Good [/h1] -feels kind of fast sometimes -I think we all want more wipeout style games on steam -has multiplayer [h1] Bad [/h1] -rough round the edges -unbalanced -controls are odd and feel bad -feels mostly slow -tracks not well designed or interesting Not recomended unless you need tp play a poor wipeout knock off [h1] 2/5 [/h1]

This game really has the feel of star wars pod racing. You can pick up power-ups that can affect the gameplay of the match. It can get a little frustrating in the begging to drive each vehicle. The graphics are alright and fun to look at. The opponents can be very stupid at times and run into the walls. The game is a good arcade racer with potential to be alot of fun. I would recommend this game to any racer that likes having power-ups to blow the competition away. Its a good game but can be improved.

The controller bindings are terrible. I was forced to steer, accelerate, and brake, all on the left joystick. Setting up different buttons did not help. This game would be playable if the controls were updated to work better with the common Xbox controllers. Graphics were alright, and I would probably leave this installed for a time killer game, but the controls ruined it for me. Looked like a decent Wipeout clone. :/

I REALLY like this one. Its more than a hover space craft race thing. Which of course it is. But the added weapon elements, and extras make it quite intense if you really want to go full on. Race, crash into, blow up and destroy etc opponents and aim to win as well. Great! The graphics are pretty good, should get good results even with a low end graphics card.