Powerslide

This was the best game back in the day. I sunk so much time into it. Still have the CD-ROM. Probably won't play it a lot on Steam, but bought it for a keepsake. The CD-ROM isn't going to last forever.

Powerslide: A forgotten gem that deserves a modern comeback! Highly Recommended This game is, without a doubt, one of the most incredible and criminally underrated titles, especially considering its release year of 1998. It truly offered a unique experience that few games, even today, manage to replicate. The brilliance of Powerslide lies in its core philosophy: true open-world racing. At a time when most racing games confined you to narrow tracks with invisible walls, this game offered massive arenas where you could literally drive anywhere—up mountains, along the sides of dams, and through hidden tunnels. The lack of restrictions was a technical marvel and provided an incredible sense of freedom. The physics engine was impressive for the era, allowing for massive jumps and stunts. This design choice encouraged genuine exploration. Finding the hidden cheat icons for GLIDER, WARP, BLAST, and STICKY was a real adventure, requiring patience and a keen eye for the environment rather than just following a YouTube guide (which didn't exist back then!). This self-discovery aspect made the rewards feel earned and incredibly satisfying. The post-apocalyptic atmosphere and art style have a gritty charm that still looks decent today. The sense of speed and the challenge of mastering the handling on various terrains (from icy roads to desert tracks) provided deep and polished gameplay. TL;DR: Powerslide is a masterpiece of late 90s game design. It rewarded curiosity, delivered innovative physics, and provided endless fun. If you appreciate classic arcade racers, unique concepts, or the thrill of finding secrets on your own, this is a must-play. A fantastic trip down memory lane that holds up surprisingly well.

Not bad

Just like the original i loved back in the day...

I played this game for years as a kid and purchased for the nostalgia feel. As a racer it holds up although it is kind of easy. Always thought the real fun was all the cheat codes and easter eggs they hid all over the tracks so you weirdly have a reason to go off on your own and explore to unlock more hidden aspects of the game.

Despite its age powerslide still has one of the most interesting handling and physics models in a racing game as while it may not be realistic it is certainly unique which gives it the ability to still be fun. The track design is also interesting and memorable although the gimmick of "if you can see it you can drive it" is fairly useless for the most part (side note: I have read that there are secrets outside of the main track but I havent found any yet). Unfortunately age has in many other ways not been kind to powerslide. From what I have read it seems that the game was made with 3dfx cards in mind so on modern pcs the game can struggle to maintain a consistent frame rate on higher resolutions and I could not find any way to set a higher resolution without having the hud or even parts of the race view get cut off. So yeah this feels like a pretty barebones port. I would like to see the publisher pick up the unreleased powerslide 2 sometime

underrated gem

I can't believe I've apparently never thought to look for this game on Steam, just kinda figured nobody would've cared enough, or the copyright would be unattainable... But, I accidentally found it lol, and I'm tickled pink! One of my absolute favorite childhood racing games, from back when games were actually hard to beat haha. Total gem! Great physics, neat tracks, neat cars, and an awesome general vibe! Now if only we could get DTR, DTR2, and DTR: Sprint Cars on Steam!

[h1] Powerslide [/h1] [h3] Positives: [/h3] + Nostalgia and retro feel + Impressive graphics and physics (for its time) + Well made and varied open world tracks + Cool vehicles + The Sabre and Supercar + Ok handling + Quite good music + Cheats you can play around with (take a look in the steam guides) + The first two championships are cool and fair... [h3] Negatives: [/h3] - ... but the last two (expert and insane) have completely unfair and unforgiving difficulty and is no fun - AI's way to aggressive on harder difficulties - The last parts of the championship are more or less impossible to finish on top because of this - Unrealistic almost constant sliding (feels like driving with F1 tires on rough ice) - Some gliches and bugs - Gets very frustrating to play because of the above - Soundmixing is not good (even when adjusted, the motor sounds deafen the music) - Some very low textures - Can be quite challenging to run on Windows 11 (see below for tips) [h3] Conclusion: [/h3] Well this game was and is still a mixed bag. The graphics and physics (though unrealistic) are very impressive for a game out of the late 90's. And along with Dethkarz, these racing games pushed the graphical boundaries of what expensive top computers were able to accomplish in 1998. And both games struggle with the same difficult championship and aggressive AI. But while Dethkarz did feature an in-game difficulty adjuster (thank God) and several restarts of individual races, Powerslide didnt. So if you fail in one race because of tiny mistakes, you must restart the entire championship. Over and over. And that is where the fun stops, and frustration starts. So do I reccommend this game? Partly, but only if you play just the first two championships (it unlocks almost everything) and afterwards just play around the tracks and test some of the cool cheats. But if you're like me and want to finish the campaign/career/championship modes of the games you play, look elsewhere. Believe me, its not worth it, at all. [h1] Total Score: 5/10 [/h1] [b] How to get the game to work on Windows 11: [/b] - The included nGlide wrapper will struggle to work out-of-the-box - But it happens that it sometimes do work, so go to the nglide configurator (in the game files location) and set your screen resolution and refresh rate just in case - Try to lauch the game and test it, most times the game dosent start properly or exits - Instead download the latest dgVoodoo 2 from here: https://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/#latest-stable-version - Unzip and install it - Copy all the files from the included MS - x86 folder (4 files) to the game files location - Run dgVoodooCpl and add the game files location under config folder - Set up the General, Glide and DirectX to your liking and the computers specs (detailed guides to do this are online if you need it) - I reccommend to set this under Glide and 3Dfx card: Other greater with maxed RAM and TMUs - I also reccommend to set this under DirectX video card: dgvoodoo Virtual 3D Accelerated Card with maxed RAM - Apply and run the game - Go to Options and Graphics - Change Driver from Software To Banshee - Change the resolution to the highest available (usually 1024x768) and activate shadows and particles - Restart the game if needed - Now you can enjoy the top graphics of 1998! NB! If the game suddenly exits or refuse to start again, it usually helps if you restart the computer.

Crashes a bit on Steam Deck, but fun game from a by-gone era. Well worth the $2.44 it currently is to play a game built for Windows 95.