Preview: Haste (working title)

Techland — makers of last year’s balls-to-the-wall racer Nail’d — is back yet again, this time in the downloadable space, with Haste (working title).

Along with a handful of other digital titles that Ubisoft was recently showing off, I was able to take the new ATV affair for little ride.

Haste (working title) (PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade [Previewed])
Developer: Techland
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release: Spring, 2012

When I first gazed upon Haste, the striking resemblance to Nail’d caught me off guard until I realized it was by the same developer. Those of you familiar with Nail’d will feel right at home, as Haste looks and plays extremely similar. In fact many of the game’s same mechanics have made the transition from retail to download.

You can still control your direction in the air, the boost meter is mostly identical, and brakes — at least in the Laos track I played — were irrelevant. That being said: Haste nails the same blazing speed; impressive framerate; and tight, but floaty controls that made Nail’d one intense ride. 

With a chance to let loose on two different style events — race and stunt — my initial impression was a little mixed. Racing was an insanely fast experience and gratifying when not crashing, but the stunt mode, in which first place is decided by the highest trick score, was thoroughly lacking. Like Nail’d, stunts are limited to front and back flips and shooting through flaming hoops. It’s still very early, so hopefully further variety can be added to spice up the flair.

The rest of the game, especially for a downloadable title, sounds promising. With forty current tracks (sixty total is the goal) and diverse racing locales with multiple routes, there’s definitely plenty of racing to be had. My only concern is with such a large amount of tracks, how much are cut up and repurposed segments from Nail’d as opposed to completely new course designs?

Either way, with six multiplayer modes and full customization of each ATV, Haste is shaping up to be one complete downloadable package when it blazes onto Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network next year.