Your "Next Car Game?"

Where's the fun?

There's been dozens of so-called "triple-A" game releases across every conceivable platform over the past few years.  From shooters to RPG's and pitch perfect racing games each one tried to outdo the next.  Maybe it was Battlefield's cutting edge graphics or Forza's realism that drove the masses to fill the pockets of the big game publishers.

We're a long way from the days of blasting pixelated enemies in the arcades or our living rooms.  Video games have become cinematic with storylines and effects rivaling any big budget movie.

There's nothing wrong with that but somewhere along the line it seems we started taking gaming a bit too seriously.  We demanded better graphics, more options and more challenging opponents.  Play any modern FPS and you may as well be a character in an action movie.

That's fun, in its own way, but at some point we all hit a brick wall.  At that point you have 3 options.  You give up and quit the game, you find a cheat to get you by the obstacle or you just keep grinding through. 

Far too often the thrill of the game turns into a career and that's when things go sour.  Games are supposed to be a release not another chore.

So when somebody dangles a carrot hinting at a game that would actually be fun to play I pay attention.  The game in question is from BugBear Entertainment.  The folks who brought us the best Flatout Games (not Flatout 3) are offering up a new game in the same vein as those classics.

It's called "The next  car game," at least for now.  A free technology demo is available for the asking with only an email address as the price of admission. 

The video below shows my adventures with it and right off the bat it feels like going home.  It's about rattletrap hot-rods doing ridiculous stunts in a destructible world.  It's what's been missing in driving games and Bugbear proves they're the only ones capable of even attempting to capitalize on their past success.

If Bugbear gets this one right and doesn't go down the road of Ridge Racer: Unbounded (with its awful controls) We may have the first really relevant independent triple-A racer in a long time.

Try it out for yourself at http://nextcargame.com/