Mad Tracks is a 2006 racing video game developed by Load Inc. for Microsoft Windows.[1] It was originally released on February 27, 2006, being positively received by critics for its multiplayer elements. The game was ported to the Xbox 360 as part of Xbox Live Arcade on May 30, 2007. In February 2017, the game became backwards compatible with the Xbox One.
In February 2019, it was reported that the game was delisted from Xbox Live Arcade alongside Doodle Jump for Kinect as a result of a change in publishing rights from D3 Publisher to Plug In Digital. The latter released a reworked HD version of the game was released on Steam on March 10, 2020.
Gameplay
Mad Tracks features a single-player mode and a multiplayer mode. In the game, mainly on the PC version, there are 46 courses in total, divided into races and mini-games, through 10 locations such as kitchens, bistros, and a table football set.[2][3]
In single-player,[a] the player's objective is to achieve gold trophies by completing objectives, from racing around a track to landing cars on a face-down dart board.[4] The online and multiplayer[b] is very similar to the single player. It supports up to 4 players in a single game and includes the same objectives as the single-player mode.[4]
Development
Load Inc. first announced the game circa 2003, under the title Darda, following a few months of testing gameplay issues.[5] For the rest of 2003 and early 2004, game was tested in a playable and non-playable demos like in March 2004, a prototype of the game was shown off at Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California,[6] and was slated to be released for Microsoft Windows computers and the PlayStation 2.[7]
After a demo of the game was showcased at E3 in May 2004, the studio began to search for a publisher. It was also announced that the game would be released on PlayStation Portable, and that its release was planned for the second quarter of 2005.[8] In November, Load Inc. signed a contract with Micro Application to publish the game. Its premiere was moved to the third half of 2005, with the exact date left unknown.[9][10][11]
The game was showcased at E3 in May 2005, with an Xbox version also being announced after first being mentioned in March,[12] and its premiere were slated for September 2005.[13] A completed demo of the game was released on January 10, featuring three courses at a file size of 55 megabytes. The game's release date was later moved to February 17, 2006.[14] On January 13, the game's official website was launched,[2][15] with a German version following suit in November 2005.[16] The PlayStation 2 version was later confirmed to be cancelled,[when?] since the console was becoming an increasingly less viable option, when studio had searched a target platform for translation.[17]
Release
Mad Tracks was released for Microsoft Windows in France on February 17, 2006 and published by Micro Application.[18][19] Later that same month on February 24, the game was released in German and published by Frogstar Interactive.[citation needed] A patch update—version 1.1—would follow. The update fixed bugs, improved performance, online, graphic cards and controller support. The game's file weight was dropped to 29 Megabytes.[20][21][22] Another patch update, version 1.2, was released on April 20, and improved online multiplayer support, fixed a problem with the game's level of detail for 2D mipmap rendering, added matchmaking and support for non-western keyboards.[23][24][25][26]
In February 2017, the game become backwards compatible with Xbox One.[33][34] On March 10, 2020, an HD version was released on Steam.[35][36][37]
Xbox Live Arcade
On April 12, 2006, it was announced that Mad Tracks would release for Xbox Live Arcade in June, costing around 1,000 Microsoft Points.[38][39] It was delayed in August, being slated for the following year.[40][41][42] A month later, Load Inc.'s development director Denis Bourdainin in interview with KonsoliFIN, had stated that the game will cost 800 Microsoft points (€9.30), alongside with two expansion packs each costing 400 Microsoft points (€4.65). All in total having as same amount of content as PC version which had cost under 15 euros. In concerning rise of a price to few euros in comparison to PC counterpart, Denis had promised that the Xbox 360 Version will be superior to the PC one. Along with Xbox Live support, the console translation's long development time has also enabled improvements to game mechanics and graphics.[43]
In May 2007, D3 Publisher of America, Inc. had announced that the game would be ported to Xbox 360 alongside RocketBowl (2004) and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (2007), though the port's release date was unknown.[44][45][46] In May 17 that same year, game was greenlighted after been, verified and certified by Microsoft Game Studios.[47][48] Around May 28 and 29, it was announced that game will arrive on the Xbox Live Arcade on May 30, for 800 Microsoft points ($10).[49][50][51][52][53]
In February 2019, it was reported that the game was delisted from Xbox Live Arcade alongside Doodle Jump for the Kinect, due to a change in publishing rights from D3 Publisher to Plug In Digital, who would later be handling the new release for Steam.[54][55] While the Steam version's release date was slated for "early 2020", the page for the game on IndieDB specified that it would release on March 10.[55]
Xbox 360 downloadable content
Two downloadable content packs for Mad Tracks were produced, each costing 350 Microsoft Points ($4.37) and adding 15 challenges in total.[28][49][56] The first was "Bravo", and was released on July 25, 2007.[57] The second was "Encore", which released on June 28, 2007,[58] and added 10 races and 5 minigames.[citation needed]
Reception
Jonathan Miller, writing for IGN, described Mad Tracks as "a decent racing romp, but you better bring your friends." They awarded the game a score of 6.8/10.[56]
iPhone app review aggregator appsafari.com gave the game a score of 4.5 out of 5 saying; "While there is the one small problem with the controls, this app is very fun and works very well. If you are interested in racing and blowing up other cars, you will certainly get some fun out of this."[59]
Peter Willington of the video game websitePocket Gamer gave a score of 3 out of 5, criticizing the grinding in order to progress such as making Championship mode and AI repetitive, but praised game's overall variety of content, multiplayer and controls, despite being underwhelmed with lacklustre visual effects, graphics, audio and items aspect. Ultimately, he wrote that "it's not a bad looking game, the frame rate holds steady for the most part, the car models feel chunky though not distinctive, the tracks wind and loop through the detailed environments."[60]
Sales
Mad Tracks was a commericial success. In January 2007, Load Inc. had reported that the game was digitally downloaded 100,000 times on PC.[61][62] Later that same year in December, it was reported that the game had sold over 1.8 million units, its demo since its release was downloaded 1.2 million times and on Xbox Live Arcade over 630 000 users had downloaded it, in six months after Xbox 360 version's release.[63][64][65] On June 30, 2008, Load Inc. reported that the Xbox 360 version's demo was played 700,000 times and had sold 72,000 units.[66]
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