Alongside Rogue Leader, Extreme-G 3 was the other game I got with my GameCube on launch day. An immensely stunning futuristic racer that also manages to be a little soulless at times. The Nintendo 64 had lots of great futuristic racers, and Extreme G, F-Zero, Wipeout and Episode 1: Racer all managed to feel completely distinct at the same time. Instead of improving upon what worked well for previous games, XGIII instead borrows from others.
The biggest change in XGIII is how the shields and boosting work. Boosting uses up your shield, and strips at the edge of the track will recharge your shield if you go over them. Exactly like F-Zero. The weapons also work differently, no longer items you pick up on the track that bring down pods that hover over the bike, but upgrades you buy in your shop that subtly pop out of your fancy looking motorbike. The style of Extreme-G is just gone, not just by copying F-Zero, but the design of the world and vehicles as well.
What XGIII does have in spades, though, is spectacle. The tracks look amazing, weaving through wonderful and unique looking parts of the world. The woosh sound when you go through the rings that hold the track up is a wonderful sound and when you reach a certain speed, you’ll break the sound barrier with a bang followed by silence. It’s wonderful the first few times you hear it, although at the fastest speed, it starts to get a bit annoying. With these things going for it, it’s a shame it didn’t have a bit more personality to go alongside it.