Baja

The tires on Robb Rinard’s trophy truck spit dirt and stones as he drifts back and forth down the narrow serpentine trail. Sunlight flashes from a side panel as it tears away from the truck, the bolts that hold it in place spraying across the path like the result of a fist connecting with a toothy grin. Rinard inhales as his truck hits a jump and vaults into the air. The vehicle’s 40-plus inches of suspension literally spring into action upon landing, allowing the upper body to juke and jive like a slinky while the tires pull the beast forward.

Rinard exhales and grips his controller tighter. “In a real trophy truck,” he says as his thumbs continue to twiddle, “a breathing apparatus helps drivers remember to breathe with the truck’s rhythm.” Then he laughs. Adrenaline-packed demos comprise everyday duties for Rinard, the man behind high-intensity titles such as MX Unleashed (2004) and currently the chief designer on 2XL Games’ forthcoming off-road racer Baja.

After pausing the game, Rinard pulls the camera high into the sky to scroll over 27 square miles of rugged landscape — and that’s just one track. Baja’s 95 courses sprawl over 2,000 miles of steep, twisty, dirt-covered terrain. Far into the distance are course boundaries denoted by invisible walls that shimmer like a desert mirage. Everything inside these transparent boxes is governed by one rule: If you can see it, you can drive there.

Trophy trucks, the central vehicle in Baja, are pickup-style rigs renowned for being some of the fastest, meanest off-road machines available — but their fans can be even nastier. In real trophy-truck races, some spectators construct booby traps along isolated paths in the hopes that their least-favorite racers will mistake them for shortcuts. Baja’s tracks will make for bumpy rides, but neither fan involvement nor actions such as drifting and wrecking can alter their appearance — Rinard felt that malleable environments would detract from the game’s fun factor. The challenge, he claims, will be in mastering the flora and fauna of 95 unique courses.

One hundred sixty-eight (!) licensed vehicles will occupy nine classes ranging from Volkswagens and buggies to the powerful trophy truck. Each class can compete within itself in circuit races, rallies, and the famed Baja 1,000, an endurance race of nine individual courses that will take more than 20 real-time minutes per track to complete. Because Baja 1,000 events require a substantial time investment, 2XL has implemented fail-safes to ensure that reality’s concerns don’t supercede the thrill of racing. Should nature call during a multiplayer match, any of the 12 possible human racers competing via Xbox Live or System Link can temporarily allow an A.I.-controlled driver to take the wheel. The Baja 1,000 itself can also be split into the Baja 250 or 500, dividing the event into three or six maps, respectively.

As players win races and gain prestige, companies can purchase contingency sponsorships — individual vehicle panels that display the company’s logo. If a panel falls off, its company won’t fork over the sponsorship, forcing players to make a strategic choice: race flat-out, or take it slow and steady, coming in second or third place but adding sponsorship cash to their winnings.

In addition to panels, players must supervise various gauges, including oil, water, shocks, and brakes. Rinard’s shocks were in bad shape after his crash landing, but rather than seek out one of the pit stops scattered throughout each course, he pressed a button to summon a repair helicopter, just like the pros can in real life. Gamers with Dolby 5.1 systems can follow the chopper’s sounds toward a rendezvous point, which is also marked on the game’s mini-map. After a burst of clanks and drill whirs, Rinard was back in action.

Simulation elements such as gauges can be disabled, but Rinard hopes players will shirk arcade-style tweaks. “I really respect what trophy-truck racers do,” he says. “This is the game I’ve wanted to make all my life. I think gamers will enjoy it immensely.”

As long as they remember to keep breathing, of course.