Fall is always the most crowded time of year for video game releases, and oftentimes, it’s hard to keep up with them all, especially the smaller titles. With so many big games on the way, it’s easy to imagine that games like Nail’d might get overlooked. After all, racing games are a niche market, and off-road racing games are an even smaller segment of that niche. To top it off, the main concept of Nail’d is that other off-road racers like Pure are too realistic. Developer Techland’s goal is to make Nail’d the most over-the-top racing game of all time.

Based on the hands-on time I’ve have with Nail’d so far, it looks like the developer will achieve that goal. Nail’d is, in short, one of the most ridiculous games I’ve ever played. It’s an ATV racer for people who don’t think ATV racers are fast enough. Techland claims that Nail’d is ten times faster than any other ATV racer, and the huge ridiculous tracks are built to accommodate the ludicrous speed. That claim may be true because the speed of this game is just insane. Whether you choose an ATV or a motorbike, you’ll find yourself moving so fast that precision really isn’t an option. It’s easy to miss your intended path and wind up somewhere you didn’t plan. Fortunately, the tracks are filled with so many alternate paths and shortcuts that even if you miss a turn, you’ll typically still find yourself making forward progress.

The gameplay in Nail’d is simple; you drive your ATV as fast as you can through the sprawling tracks and aim for sections that add to your boost meter. Usually, these are right in front of huge jumps. Flying hundreds of feet off a jump in this game is the norm. The tracks are vertical, so don’t be surprised if you go off a jump and the ground on the other side is much farther away that you expected. Going off these huge jumps fills your boost meter, which is used to make you go even faster. Obviously, you won’t ever find yourself taking a breather in this game. If the game has a brake button, I never used it.

I played a couple of different tracks in Nail’d, including one that was inspired by a ruined version of the Hoover Dam. One section of this track has you riding sideways across a section of the dam that sporadically shoots high-pressure jets of water, which knock you off the track if they hit you. But if you activate your boost, you can drive right through them without fear of getting thrown off course. If you make it through the water spray, you immediately leap across a gorge and onto a section of twisted metal that’s suspended hundreds of feet above a raging river. Of course, if you do get knocked off, you simply respawn back into the race slightly ahead of where you had your near-fatal accident. That should give you a pretty clear idea of what kind of game this is.

Not surprisingly, Nail’d features a high-energy, intense soundtrack. I heard several fast-paced heavy metal songs while I played, so it was no surprise when publisher Deep Silver announced the soundtrack would feature songs by big-name heavy acts such as Slipknot, Queens of the Stone Age, and Rise Against. While I wasn’t able to check these features out, Deep Silver also stated that the game will feature vehicle customization and online community features, such as leaderboards and online multiplayer for up to 12 racers.

Based on what I played, I certainly wouldn’t call Nail’d a polished game. The graphics were a little rough in places (although it was an early build), and I saw clipping issues more than once. Of course, the environments go by so quickly that you’d barely notice their flaws. The controls also felt a little floaty to me, but it’s still several months away, so there’s definitely still time for Techland to tune the controls and address the other issues. But even if it’s not a perfect game, there’s an undeniable charm in playing a game that has you riding along the wall of a dam, avoiding jets of water, and going off a huge ramp that sends you flying a hundred feet over a bottomless gorge. Nail’d is definitely a game to watch if you like your racing games completely ridiculous.

By J. Matthew Zoss
CCC Freelance Writer