Do racing games need a track? Is it more fun to cruise an open world than it is to fly through a straightaway at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway? If so, then what limits should be imposed? Should racing games have no limits? Or should the same rules apply regardless of the off-road atmosphere?
Pondering those ideas without a clear conclusion, Baja: Edge of Control is a racing game that loses the track, not the path. The open-world environments are massive, with mountainous details spanning as far into the background as the eye can see. It's not a wholly uncommon sight but is certainly one that impresses. While speeding up a hill or over a bumpy trail, there's a rewarding sense that you are out in the middle of nowhere with no thought or care except the very race you are currently tackling.
Then you go out of bounds – wait, what boundaries!? – and face a time-altering, success-canceling penalty that means first place will never be yours. Just like that the open road loses its open-ended feel.
Baja Edge of Control coming digitally to Xbox One, PS4.
It’s no secret that the Xbox 360’s lifespan is coming to an end, meaning we’ve got an extensive library of games to sort through and possibly trade-in to GameStop or EBGames. Because of this, used Xbox 360 games are incredibly cheap, and a lot of people might be spending this summer adding those last few games to their collections.
Time to round up the best racing titles in a Top 10 run down.
There are games with niche followings, and then there are games that absolutely nobody played. Baja: Edge of Control is one of those games.
Lost in the skyrocketing popularity of Call of Duty and Halo, Baja: Edge of Control quietly landed on store shelves in late 2008, a month before the two major shooting franchises released their yearly variations. And it sat there. After six months, those copies were moved to the bargain bin, and eventually, GameStop. Today, over five years after release, online leaderboards struggle to show more than ten or eleven people with registered lap times at most tracks. Online itself was a ghost town since launch day. People simply didn’t buy this game.
And that’s a shame, because Baja: Edge of Control is a title that any motorsports fan shouldn’t hesitate to add to their collection.
