TrackMania

TrackMania is a series of racing games for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo DS and Wii. developed by Nadeo and Firebrand Games, Instead of following the usual trend of choosing a set car and track to play the game, in TrackMania the players can create their own tracks using a "building block" process similar to that of the 1984 game Excitebike, the 1985 game Racing Destruction Set and the 1990 game Stunts.

Trackmania
Genre(s)Racing
Developer(s)Nadeo, Firebrand Games
Publisher(s)Digital Jesters
Focus Home Interactive
Enlight
Ubisoft
Platform(s)Windows, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
First releaseTrackMania
2003
Latest releaseTrackMania
2020
Spin-offsShootMania Storm
New logo for the remake of Trackmania Nations Forever, Trackmania (2020)

TrackMania games typically have a time trial format, with medals awarded for beating set times in singleplayer mode, as well as the ability to submit times to online rankings. Players may choose to respawn at any time if they land upside down, leave the track or get off to a poor start. Multiplayer races operate as concurrent time trials; players' cars are visible on the same track at the same time, but cannot physically interact with one another.

History

There are currently nine games in the series.

  • TrackMania, the original, often referred to as TMO
    • TrackMania: Power Up!, Updated version
    • TrackMania Original, Overhauled version using many features from TMSX
  • TrackMania Sunrise (TMS), the second game
    • TrackMania Sunrise eXtreme (TMSX), Updated version
  • TrackMania Nations (TMN), the freeware game of the series
  • TrackMania United (TMU), sometimes considered a compilation of all previous games
    • TrackMania United Forever (TMUF), Updated version
    • TrackMania Nations Forever (TMNF), freeware version of TMUF
  • TrackMania DS, a version for the Nintendo DS
    • TrackMania Turbo (DS), the sequel to TrackMania DS
  • TrackMania: Build to Race, a version for the Wii
  • TrackMania2 (TM2), the complete sequel, sold separately in ManiaPlanet and Steam as four different environments:
    • TrackMania2: Canyon
    • TrackMania2: Stadium
    • TrackMania2: Valley
    • TrackMania2: Lagoon
  • TrackMania Turbo, spinoff of the first three TM2 games and added Rollercoaster Lagoon
  • Trackmania, a remake of TrackMania Nations, often referred to as TrackMania 2020

There is also a small, promotional Macromedia Flash online game called Mini TrackMania.

Games

TrackMania (2003)
Main article: TrackMania (2003 video game)

TrackMania Sunrise
Main article: TrackMania Sunrise

TrackMania Nations
TrackMania Nations ESWC
Developer(s)Nadeo
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseJanuary 27, 2006
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

On January 27, 2006, Nadeo released TrackMania Nations, also called TrackMania Nations ESWC partly as a promotion for the Electronic Sports World Cup, and also for TrackMania itself. This free, stand-alone game had one new environment, "Stadium", and many of the Sunrise edition features, including the advertisement panels, which show ads from sponsors streamed from the internet. The game contains 100 single player tracks, the earlier ones relatively simple in both design and gameplay, but it is largely pitched as an online game. One of the main attractions is the leader board, where players compete for the best times and points. The top five players can be seen on the game's homepage. Nations quickly became popular with almost 1 million registered online players within weeks of its launch), largely due to the wide availability of the freeware game.

TrackMania United
TrackMania United
Developer(s)Nadeo
Publisher(s)Deep Silver (UK), Buka (RU), Enlight (US), QV Software (AU)
Valve (Steam)
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseNovember 17, 2006 (online), France
  • RU: December 22, 2006
  • GER: February 23, 2007
  • EU: March 9, 2007
  • WW: March 23, 2007
  • NA: June 11, 2007[1][2]
Genre(s)Racing, puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

On June 30, 2006, TrackMania United was announced, a version that amalgamated all previous TrackMania editions into a single game that includes all the environments from the earlier games, and subsequently future installments of the series. TrackMania United features a peer-to-peer networking system allowing players to share custom content more easily, and a unified ranking system. The updated graphics engine includes a shadow mapping acceleration system, which is used in the most recent Stadium version. The new engine allows for more realistic shadows on high end systems while the Stadium environment has double the number of blocks featured in the free version, including dirt paths, water, and indoor sections.

Focus announced on November 9, 2006, that 10,000 copies of TrackMania United could be bought and pre-loaded online then activated from November 16, 2006 onwards. The game became available in retail outlets in France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, the French-speaking part of Switzerland and Russia later in 2006, then on February 23, 2007 in Germany, then on March 9, 2007 and later in other regions.

The game is available in the UK and was made available in the US via download for $49.99 on March 23, 2007 and $39.99 on April 17, 2007.[3] As of September 7, 2007, the game is available for $29.95.[4] It was made available for pre-order and pre-load on Steam on June 7, 2007 and unlocked on June 14, 2007.[5]

Players who previously purchased TrackMania or TrackMania: Sunrise can earn a daily copper bonus in TrackMania United by registering their product keys through the game.

Trackmania United Forever is an updated version of Trackmania United featuring seven environments and an all-new mediatracker. It was published by Focus Home Interactive and developed by Nadeo and has a similar layout to Trackmania Nations Forever. Four main modes are available: "Race", "Stunt", "Platform", and "Puzzle" as well as all the tracks from Trackmania Nations.

TrackMania United Forever
Developer(s)Nadeo
Publisher(s)Ubisoft 
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release15 April, 2008
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer
TrackMania Nations Forever
Developer(s)Nadeo
Publisher(s)Ubisoft 
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release16 April, 2008
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

TrackMania United Forever & Nations Forever

On October 7, 2007, Nadeo announced that they were working on updated versions of TrackMania United and TrackMania Nations. Both new versions have Forever added to their name, and are network compatible. TrackMania Nations Forever includes the new stadium blocks and physics system introduced in TrackMania United, which allow TrackMania United Forever and TrackMania Nations Forever players to compete on the same (Stadium) servers.

Nadeo has stated that because they want the game to have a long lifespan, they are working on the engine and user interface rather than adding new content. TrackMania United Forever, for instance, no longer requires the CD to be in the drive due to different copy protection and anti-cheat systems. They also warn players that some features may not be the final versions.[6]

TrackMania United Forever was released on April 15, 2008,[7] with the free-to-play variant TrackMania Nations Forever released the following day.[8]

As of 9 December 2010, following the closure of the company used for providing in-game advertising,[9] Nadeo introduced the "FreeZone" system to the game.[10] This meant that Nations Forever players could only play on specific FreeZone servers or normal servers that they manually added to their in-game favourites list.[11] Additionally, Nations Forever players were forced to spectate every one in five races.[11] These changes were made as an incentive for players to upgrade to the paid TrackMania United Forever as Nadeo could no longer make money from in-game advertising.[10]

There were also plans to add additional environments Toy and Moon, but they were scrapped.

TrackMania DS
Main article: TrackMania DS

TrackMania Turbo (DS)
Main article: TrackMania Turbo (2010 video game)

TrackMania: Build to Race

On June 30, 2009, a TrackMania game for the Wii, titled TrackMania Wii was announced by jeuxvideo.com in an interview with one of the developers. The game features all the environments from TrackMania United apart from "Bay", due to the complexity of its scenery. The game was supposed to be released in North America under the title TrackMania: Build to Race on July 20, 2010 but on July 19, 2010, Michael Mota of Dreamcatcher Interactive, TrackMania Wii's publisher, told the Examiner "We made the announcement to the major retailers about the TrackMania delay; I’m not sure why that hasn’t been changed. The game has been delayed until December." The game eventually came out in North America on March 24, 2011. It has a more primitive online play system than the PC line of games and also uniquely features a special "F" class of tracks unlocked after a certain amount of medals are accrued.

An updated Wii release date on the Nintendo website for the UK version published by Focus Home Interactive has been given as September 23, 2010.[12]

TrackMania2
Main article: TrackMania 2

TrackMania2: Canyon

Like previous TrackMania games, players can race on tracks while doing various stunts as well as build their own tracks. The game features a new environment, Canyon, as well as two modes, Race and Platform. Platform mode is featured in the free extension pack, TrackMania2: Platform.

Besides the new environment, the game also includes a split-screen mode, and a new "ManiaScript" is being worked on which should help players add their own new features to the game.

TrackMania2: Stadium

TrackMania2: Stadium was announced on November 2, 2012. This environment was opened to the public with an open beta on February 27, 2013. The game features the classic Stadium environment that was introduced in TrackMania Nations. There have been some improvements to the graphics, and it uses ManiaPlanet's client and interface. The game was released on June 20, 2013.

TrackMania2: Valley

TrackMania2: Valley was announced on November 2, 2012. This environment became available on ManiaPlanet on July 4, 2013.

TrackMania2: Lagoon

TrackMania2: Lagoon was announced on May 9, 2017. This environment became available on ManiaPlanet on May 23, 2017. With this environment ported from TrackMania Turbo (2016), ManiaPlanet was given a large update called "ManiaPlanet 4".

TrackMania Turbo (2016)
Main article: TrackMania Turbo (2016 video game)

Announced at Ubisoft's E3 2015 conference, TrackMania Turbo is a spin-off heavily inspired by 90s arcade racers. The game has been released in North America on March 22, 2016 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and on March 24, 2016 for Microsoft Windows.[13]

Trackmania (2020)
Trackmania
Developer(s)Nadeo
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseJuly 1, 2020
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

A remake of Trackmania Nations was announced for Microsoft Windows on February 29, 2020 and was due to be released on May 5, 2020 but was delayed until July 1, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

The base game is free-to-play, with additional content available with a paid subscription model, including an in-game track editor, online events and car customization.[15]

Environments

The game's featured environments are "Desert" (aka Speed in TMO), "Rally", "Snow" (aka Alpine in TMO), "Bay", "Coast", "Island", "Stadium", "Canyon", "Valley", and "Lagoon".

Reception
Aggregate review scores
Game Metacritic
TrackMania 74/100[16]
TrackMania Sunrise 82/100[17]
TrackMania United 80/100[18]
TrackMania United Forever ?/100[19]
TrackMania Nations Forever ?/100[20]
TrackMania DS 75/100[21]
TrackMania Build to Race 74/100[22]
TrackMania Turbo (DS) 77/100[23]
TrackMania2 Canyon 81/100[24]
TrackMania2 Stadium 77/100[25]
TrackMania2 Valley 79/100[26]
TrackMania Turbo 78/100[27]
TrackMania (2020) 75/100[28]

Due to the success of the TrackMania series, Guinness World Records awarded the games six world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These include "Biggest Online Race", "Most Popular Online Racing Sim" and "Largest Content Base of Any Racing Game", with hundreds of thousands of user created tracks and hundreds of unique cars available for download.[29]

Copy protection system
See also: StarForce

The PC games in the TrackMania series used a copy protection system called StarForce, which silently installed a driver with all versions of TrackMania Original, TrackMania Sunrise and the original TrackMania Nations. Many sources falsely reported that TrackMania Nations updated the StarForce drivers only if they were already installed, although versions released after May 28, 2007 installed the StarForce drivers on all computers, even though TrackMania Nations is freeware. The original TrackMania United features StarForce restrictions built into the executable to check the software's key, but does not install the driver.

Although Valve originally included it in the system, on June 29, 2007, the company announced that the version of TrackMania United distributed via their Steam digital distribution platform would no longer include StarForce.[30]

TrackMania United Forever and TrackMania Nations Forever do not include StarForce. If they are applied as upgrades to version of TrackMania United or TrackMania Nations which include StarForce, they attempt to remove it.

Spin-offs
Main article: ShootMania Storm

As the TrackMania games have grown in popularity, Nadeo has started plans for two completely new games, which instead of racing games they will be RPG and First Person Shooter games. These were first announced in 2009 through TrackMania United Forever, where the player's loading screen was replaced with images announcing either Shootmania or Questmania.[31][32] On 19 February 2012, Nadeo officially announced Shootmania.[33] On 10 April 2013, Nadeo released Shootmania on Maniaplanet. Questmania however was never released to this day.

See also

References
  1. "TrackMania United game preview - Page 3 of 3 - Gameworld Network". web.archive.org. September 1, 2007.
  2. "TrackMania United Gets Release Date - IGN" – via www.ign.com.
  3. "TrackMania United Forever Star Edition". Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  4. "TrackMania United". GamersGate. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  5. "Trackmania United Forever Star Edition". Steam. Valve. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  6. "TRACKMANIA FOREVER". Nadeo. October 7, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2007.
  7. "TRACKMANIA UNITED EXPANDS TO BECOME TM UNITED FOREVER". TM-FORUM. April 15, 2008. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  8. "TRACKMANIA NATIONS FOREVER, FREE AND FOR ALL! (INFO/TRAILER)". TM-FORUM. April 4, 2008. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  9. "Microsoft to retire Massive in-game ads brand by year end". GamesIndustry.biz.
  10. "FREEZONE - TM-FORUM". www.tm-forum.com.
  11. "Sad News: TrackMania Nations Forever is Going Away". www.gearhack.com.
  12. "TrackMania". Nintendo of Europe GmbH.
  13. "Trackmania Turbo trailer revealed, game coming out November 26". PCGamesN.
  14. "Trackmania Nations Remake Revealed". news.ubisoft.com.
  15. Vega, Sin. "Trackmania is out now". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  16. "TrackMania". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  17. "TrackMania Sunrise". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  18. "TrackMania United". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  19. "TrackMania United Forever". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  20. "TrackMania Nations Forever". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  21. "TrackMania DS". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  22. "TrackMania: Build to Race". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  23. "TrackMania Turbo". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  24. "TrackMania 2 Canyon". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  25. "TrackMania 2 Stadium". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  26. "TrackMania 2 Valley". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  27. "Trackmania Turbo". Metacritic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  28. "Trackmania". Metacritic. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  29. Guinness World Records (March 11, 2008). Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. pp. 150–151. ISBN 1-904994-21-0.
  30. Twelker, Eric (June 29, 2007). "Trackmania: United Updated". Valve. Retrieved June 30, 2007.
  31. Griliopoulos, Dan (November 2, 2012). "Hands On: Maniaplanet".
  32. "Shootmania+Questmania = new games from Nadeo (Trackmania) or cruel joke? Not a joke!". NeoGAF.
  33. "Ubisoft announces ShootMania Storm". ITP.net.
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