I’ve spent three or four hours playing Nadeo’s latest slice of science-defying racing absurdity – nowhere near enough to tell you conclusively Wot I Think, but plenty to witter about what I’m starting to think.

If there’s one factor that’s bedevilled the ever-joyous Trackmania series, it’s that naming conventions and cross-pollinated content has made it ever harder to work out exactly which one’s which. While the 2 here marks a chance to start with a clean slate, the series’ latter day focus on being a service rather than a self-contained entity means the confusion doesn’t quite go away. Initially, as a relatively casual player of Nadeo’s driving fantasy games, I struggled to quite appreciate that I was playing a different Trackmania to whichever the last one I played was. Be it product or be it service, Trackmania is also a state of mind, and 2 took me right back there. I knew how to play, and knew it well.(more…)