nail'd

A great experience for every lover of this genre: exciting and longeve modes, stunning graphics and a good online multiplayer make it a sure bet for every lover of off-road arcade racers.

And if nothing else, the sheer speed alone has me wanting to come back to this game. So pick up a controller, strap on your helmet, and hold on to your butts because Nail'd will give you the ride of your life.

nail'd has seemingly come from nowhere to shake up the off-road racing genre. Some may be put off by the emphasis on speed, and be disorientated by riding up, down and to the side, but rest assured, take your blinkers off, and this is one thrilling ride well worth taking.

Disney Interactive Studios' Pure is still the front-pack leader when it comes to dirt-racing greatness in video games, but if there were room for a close second place candidate, Nail'd easily takes that spot. What the game lacks in complexity, it makes up for with thrill-a-minute racing action and a slick presentation.

We're hoping people do discover what a gem Nail'd is, because with a bustling online community the multiplayer could become addictive despite the game setup issues. Even so, the game is a wonderfully unique racer that really stands out even based solely on its single-player component.

Even though there's almost a complete lack of strategy required to race, some wonky visuals on the console editions, and a conspicuous lack of split-screen play, I can still offer a pretty hearty recommendation for nail'd.

Nail'd doesn't have all the hype that some of the recent releases have enjoyed but it is just as much fun.

The simple verdict regarding nail'd is that the game is a blast to play. It may not be the be-all, end-all, ultimate driving experience, but it is a damn fine racer for anyone who wants to go fast and fly high. If that's you, go get nail'd.

Creating a fast racing experience sounds like a fundamental requirement of any racing title, but Nail'd isn't just a game that blows by low expectations. It's a focused experience that sticks to a tight racing line and captures the essence of speed in a flash.

I enjoyed playing Nail'd for quite a few hours and you just need to take Nail'd for what it is: a mindless awesome speed induced arcade racer that will have you doing crazy stunts and going way too fast.

Though Nail'd might not offer a deep career mode, or crazy over the top stunts, it nails an incredible sense of speed and has out of this world courses that might have you reaching for the nearest altitude sickness pills.

Nail'd is arcade driving taken to the extreme. A fun game over all, which engages you tu run and jump at incredible velocities.

Nail'd may lack the polish of our favorite off-road racer, Pure, but thankfully, its thrills still trump its flaws. Well, most of the time.

Simple and startlingly speedy, this is a decent alternative to Pure. [Mar 2011, p.84]

Nail'd is a good arcade racer that will have you doing crazy stunts and going way too fast.

Removing the harsh consequences for simple mistakes tears down a wall of inaccessibility that can alienate people from the genre and makes Nail'd the perfect point-of-entry for anyone interested in racing games in general, and the off-road subgenre specifically. I just wish the game had been polished enough that this innovation wouldn't have been such a major part of the experience.

Although fun, it doesn't have the greatest depth in the world. Nail'd is unreservedly a mindlessly fast racing game. It's the kind of game you could easily blast through in a weekend, but it is cheaper than the average game, so if you like fast arcade-style racers this is definitely worth a look.

Its clear tendency towards the arcade end of the off-road spectrum may disappoint some racing fans, but if you're not among them Nail'd will definitely guarantee you hours of fun and intense over the top action.

The arcade side of the offroad experience: you won't like it if you're an MX vs ATV fan, but it's still good fun. Could've been way better with a decent collision system and some more polish.

The game is fun and engaging, but it has so many flaws overall that it's not as good a game as it should have been. The great but repetitive gameplay, along with the average visuals and very few tracks, won't make this game remarkable. But it can be a fun alternative for fans of the genre.

It takes time before it breaks out of its shell to show its true colors (which you can dive into immediately if you hop online), but Nail'd is rarely dull and has a lot to offer.

But despite its lack of any real innovation or complexity, Nail'd succeeds in being one of the most approachable and entertaining racers of the year.

As it stands, Nail'd is an arcade racer less about perfection and more about the simple joys of going fast and landing big stunts. It's a simple trick, but it's well-executed.

Over-the-top fun off road racer. Even with crazy courses and obstacles, still could use some spicing up. A lot of fun for a short time, and with some enhancements to multi-player could have a decent shelf life. Recommended if you liked Excite Truck.

The game is very easy, and won't take you very long to whiz through.

Nail'd doesn't stand out among other off-road racing games. There are to many issues that will cause a lot of frustration. This game focusses on speed but still feels a little slow. Nail'd fails to achieve a certain quality so just wait and pick it up later for a bargain.

Overall, Nail'd is a good title, let down by some poor development choices. The stunts aren't as spectacular as players would have hoped and the lack of variation in the race types means the title can get quite repetitive quickly. This is one title worthy trying before buying as it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head.

I can't recommend it enough if you can understand how unwieldy controls can actually make a racing game better. Otherwise, I suggest you stay away from Nail'd entirely, as its unintentional tendencies towards being completely off-the-wall will do nothing to appease your simulation sensibilities.

As relentlessly daft and shallow as it is, Nail'd is a very hard game to dislike. It's almost tailor-made for a weekend rental, which should give you enough time to rinse the single-player, have a few knockabout online races, and return it before the simplicity and repetition sours the happy memories of your brief time with it.

A blistering fast and high flying off-road racer with no intentions of anything resembling realism. But while it can be fun for a quick romp, it lacks in both the variety and challenge departments. Too shallow to entertain for more than a few hours.

Nail'd is a decent off road game, with beautiful visuals and stunning track design, but it is not as rewarding and challenging as an arcade game should be. The greatest flaws of the package are that the game is too easy for a long time and the handling is just a walk in the park, causing a near boredom experience.

Fun - but only for an afternoon. [Feb 2011, p.98]

Nail'd does a great job in giving you the feeling of speed and height. The game doesn't make it challenging enough to keep you coming back for more though. These days, even an arcade racer needs more than just the thrill of speed.

nail'd is often a frustrating game to play due to the problematic physics engine. It also doesn't convey much of a personality as an arcade racer; applying a dated presentation to lackluster arcade racing doesn't make for a tremendous experience.

It's the very definition of a game that is perfect for a rental because it isn't worth buying by anyone because there's only enough content here for anyone to enjoy it for a few days.

Nail'd works just fine as a mindless racing game with thin idiot-proof gameplay to tide you over when you don't feel like something substantial with a learning curve.

A racing game that does not quite live up to the level of expectation in the genre at the moment.

Unfortunately Nail'd's core gameplay doesn't do quite enough to justify stripping back all of those extraneous details. It's a game that's begging for a little more refinement, visual polish and structural content; and without those in place it struggles to elevate itself above the frustrations inherent in its erratic engine and course design.

There are a few cheap thrills to be had in this off-road racer, but loose physics make its excitement a lot less extreme.

You can see some fun poking out here and there in Nail'd. The in-air physics work largely as advertised and add some excitement, but the game still feels surprisingly boring most of the time.

The graphics are great and the course design often inspired but in terms of depth and longevity all this nails is its own finger.

The front-end, sporting an excruciatingly bargain-basement 'extreme sports' vibe, sums Nail'd up quite beautifully.

Incredible speeds and incredible frustration awaits you in this pure Pure clone.

Techland has played fast and loose with a genre that need refining in to truly let pulses soar. The result is a game that's daft, sloppy fun begging for an injection of refinement. [Feb 2011, p.97]

In a strange way, I respect the intent behind a game like Nail'd, and I don't generally like tearing down the hard work of a smaller publisher. Unfortunately, shallow gameplay, a myriad of glitches, boring and repetitive objectives, a non-existent online community, average at best graphics all conspire to make Nail'd a game destined to be forgotten in the bargain bin of your local games store.

Bringing back the old arcade style might have been a good idea, but Nail'd is so simple that instead of entertaining it becomes quite boring.

What should be exhilarating, fast-paced and exciting turns out to be boring, samey and unbalanced to the point of being broken. [Issue#68, p.89]