1. Gameplay

2. Development

3. Reception

4. References

5. External links

Days of Thunder (known as Days of Thunder: NASCAR Edition on the PlayStation 3 and Days of Thunder: Arcade on the Xbox 360) is a stock car racing video game produced by Paramount Digital Entertainment and developed by Piranha Games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released February 22, 2011 on the PlayStation 3 and February 25, 2011 on the Xbox 360. A portable version was developed by Freeverse was initially released for iOS on February 5, 2009. It was later ported to the PlayStation Portable on June 1, 2011. It is a spinoff of the 1990 film Days of Thunder in which the player is a rookie driver coached by Rowdy Burns, the antagonist from the film. The game received very little critical feedback; those that did review the game had generally negative commentary. Reviewers felt that the cars handled unrealistically, but one reviewer noted that some issues could be fixed with a patch.

Gameplay

The PlayStation 3 version of the game includes 12 NASCAR sanctioned tracks, among them Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, and more than 12 select NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, including Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart.^[1] All versions feature the Days of Thunder characters Cole Trickle, Rowdy Burns, and Russ Wheeler. The Xbox 360 version does not feature NASCAR branding or drivers, but still features fictional drivers from the film.^[2]

Both versions feature a single player season and multiplayer support for up to twelve players.^[3] Days of Thunder has four different game modes: Quick Race, Time Trial, Career, with circuits of varying difficulty, and Derby Mode, where players are encouraged to deal as much damage as they can.^[4] Three basic vehicle types are available in the game; Accelerators are lighter cars with increased speed but are more susceptible to damage, Intimidators are heavier and more capable of handling damage, but have a lower top speed, finally Regulators have a medium weight, medium top speed, and have average damage resistance.^[5]

Sponsorships with racing teams can be earned by playing through the game and completing challenges. When a sponsor is earned a new paint livery is unlocked for the player to customize their stock car with. Players can have up to five different saved cars, and each car can feature a different paint scheme and sponsorship. The sponsorship benefits are cosmetic only. Matthew Newman, Producer at Piranha Games stated that the game "is not a simulation, we chose to let the player unlock all the sponsors and race for whichever sponsor they choose in single player and multi player."^[6]

Development

When asked why the game would not be a simulation, Dickson replied, "Well, we wanted to stay away from that because the games that are out there that do that do it well."^[3] Developer Piranha Games wanted to ensure that players spent most of their time on the track, so aside from visual modifications, the ability to customize cars is limited. "We don't want you to spend lots of time outside the game, we want you on the race track," stated Dickson.^[3] The AI drivers in the game were designed to adapt to the player's typical racing style. "If you're kind of an aggressive driver, they're gonna drive aggressive against you," Dickson remarked.^[3] The game was released exclusively in North American regions for the PlayStation 3 on February 22, 2011,^[11] and for the Xbox 360 on February 25, 2011.^[12] A retail version of the PlayStation 3 version was bundled with the Blu-ray of the namesake movie, released on June 7, 2011.^[13] A portable version developed by Freeverse was initially released for iOS on February 5, 2009 . It was later ported to the PlayStation Portable on June 1, 2011.^[14][15] Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows versions were planned, but eventually cancelled.^[5]

Reception

Scott Ellison of Saving Content panned the PlayStation 3 version of the game. He stated "simply put, do not buy this game."^[19] Steve Melton of XBLA Fans agreed. He felt that with a title update the game could improve, but that it felt "like it was a contract job."^[20] The vehicle physics and handling were particular points of negative commentary. Ellison said that "the cars feel as if they don’t have any weight to them."^[19] Melton concurred and added that the handling was overly sensitive. "Sneeze and the car’ll be in the wall", he stated.^[20] Melton did concede that the steering could be adjusted in the game's options, but that the default configuration would dissuade most players from even looking there.^[20] In the May 2011 issue of Official Xbox Magazine the game also received extremely poor reception. The reviewer stated "Do yourself a favor: stay as far away from this wreck as possible."^[21] Levi Buchanan of IGN scored the iOS version of the game much higher than the average on other platforms. He stated that "Days of Thunder succeeds as both a silly and serious game."^[14] He further noted that the game's many cars and tracks gave it lasting appeal on the iPhone.^[14]

References

External links

• Days of Thunder developer website

• Evangelical lutheran church of mecklenburg
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oldenburg
• Evangelical lutheran church of papua new guinea
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John
• Evangelical Lutheran Church – Synod of France and Belgium
• Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America
• Evangelical lutheran diocese of north america
• Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
• Evangelical Lutheran Free Church
• Evangelical lutheran free church of norway
• Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of America
• Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary
• Evangelical lutherans in mission
• Evangelical lutheran state church of brunswick
• Evangelical lutheran synodical conference of north america
• Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod
• Evangelical Lutheran Worship
• Evangelical Lyceum
• Evangelical members within the uniting church in australia
• Evangelical Mennonite Brethren
• Evangelical Methodist
• Evangelical Methodist Church
• Evangelical Missionary Alliance
• Evangelical Missionary Church
• Evangelical missionary society of mayurbhanj