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Straight up folks - Acclaim's Extreme G series has never done it for me. Previous incarnations on the N64 suffered from unimaginative track design, weird bike physics, chop-tacular frame rates, the list goes on. It just seemed overall that they were trying way too hard to emulate the cachet of Psygnosis' far superior WipeOut series. "Yeah, we're cool and futuristic, just like WipeOut! But we have bikes! Hooty hooo!!!" Um, sure. Want to pass me my copy of XL, please, and get this pale imitation off my desk? This is not the Extreme G of yesteryear. Not by a long shot.

The improvements in this game are astounding. First, the frame rate stays right up at 60 fps, creating a true feeling of speed. Combine that with tight, well-balanced controls and you have a game that draws you into it and doesn't let go. XG3 dumps the weapon pickups from the earlier versions and instead provides a shop where you can purchase the weapons that you want. What's cooler is that your weapons stay with you for the rest of your career, allowing you to cycle through the various offensive and defensive weapons in-game. Some weapons have more than one use - for example, an engine boost thruster that's available for purchase also sends a fiery stream behind your bike after activation, scorching any chump dumb enough to tailgate. Mines, fire-and-forget missiles, engine upgrades - they're all there and balanced well. The AI opponents also use their weapons in an intelligent manner, and I never had the feeling that the game was cheating to beat me. Good job, Acclaim.

Let's take a look at the tracks. XG3 has really turned it around in this area, the tracks are large and well-designed. The wideness of the tracks allow for multiple players to bash back and forth without worrying too much about the walls...on the easier levels, anyways. Watch the rain spatter down, blowing in the wind. Enjoy the heat rising from the back of your bike as you begin the race. Watch the explosions light up the night sky as some sucker opponent takes a rocket right up the ol' mean bean machine. The graphics are rather pretty overall, if somewhat sparse in certain areas, but this keeps the frame rate quick and ultimately that is what racing games are all about. Besides, if you spend too much time gawking at the scenery during a race at these speeds, you're finished. The game moves that quickly and your opponents are that vicious. The fly-arounds done at the beginning of each race serve to acclimatize you with the track, and show off the expansive scenery - that's !all the lollygagging you need, as far as I'm concerned. Trust me, when your engine is upgraded to 1000Gs, hit that turbo and break the sound barrier...music and sound fade away like you're underwater, everything ripples... it's an epiphany.

The game music is a real disappointment, especially when compared to the quality of the rest of the game. In-game tracks are pedestrian rave/techno tracks, and I hereby nominate the menu music as the most god-awful annoying game music of the new millennium, hands down. Acclaim, I strongly suggest that when you convert this game to Xbox (which I'm sure you will), either license some decent music or allow users to play their proprietary mp3s off the Xbox hard drive. WipeOut XL demonstrated how proper licensing of music can take a great game to the next level, take a page out of Psygnosis' book. Please. Thankfully the game SFX are pretty good, with throaty roars alternating amongst high-pitched engine whines. Not bad.

Gentle reader, XG3 is a good game. A fast game. A beautiful game. It is also a short game - I beat it within a day. Now, keep in mind I've had more speeding tickets than you've had hot dinners, but the value for money isn't up there with a Gran Turismo 3, for example, or even a Ridge Racer 4. On that point alone I'm hesitant to recommend a purchase without renting it first. That said, I'd still get XG3 because it's a great, fun racing game, and in the end, that's what gaming is all about. Congratulations to Acclaim for a job well done. Just get rid of that #%^@! music...