4x4 Hummer Preview

Racing was on the minds of the 1C team when they showed off upcoming titles during a media event held at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco recently. Not only did it show off a combat-racing title, but it went totally off-road with the 4x4 Hummer game.

1C had this title set up with a Logitech wheel-and-peddle set that was not anchored very well to the table. As a result, one hand was used to hold the wheel to the table, while the other actually did the steering. This control scheme, despite its awkwardness, worked much better than the keyboard controls on 1C’s other racing title, Death Track. But still, there was a ponderous feeling where the steering seemed slow to react to commands.

One course was played, and it was very much an off-road experience. Problematic to the race was a camera that seemed anchored to the front bumper of the vehicle. There was a way to back out and use other controls, but the setup was such that the keyboard was not conveniently available. In this regard, the game was committed to the existing camera view.

The race completed was in a southwest environment, and the course markers were hard to see at times, hidden by brush. It was only an onscreen warning that a marker had been missed that resulted in backtracking to the find the course.

Graphically the game may have been successful several years ago. The physics were realistic enough, but the terrain, at times, lacked polished texturing that would challenge modern graphics cards and reward players with eye candy.

Game features include:

• Brand new off road driving experience

• 10 fully licensed off road vehicles from General Motors

• Full access to the vehicles 4x4 feature

• Challenging off road tracks from across the world

Locations for the races will include the Grand Canyon, Crimea, Egypt and Iceland – all geared to give a varied experience. And players will be required to use all the tools of an off-road experience during the challenges in the game.

Vehicles in the game include the Hummer H2 SUT, Hummer H2 SUV, Hummer H3 SUV and Hummer H1 Alpha along with Saab 9-7x SUV, Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Trailblazer GMC Envoy and GMC Yukon.