Is it still necessary to present the concept of TrackMania? Like all installments in the series, Lagoon features extremely accessible arcade driving and a complete lack of collisions between vehicles, so players can only focus on finding the perfect path. You certainly already know all of this by heart, and if this is not the case, know that TrackMania²: Lagoon is a standalone expansion, which does not require you to own any other episode. In truth, this is the fourth module in the TrackMania² episode, each of which can be purchased and played independently of the others. After the desert canyons (Canyon, released in September 2011), the Formula 1-style tracks (Stadium, June 2013) and the country and muddy paths (Valley, July 2013), here are the exotic settings of Lagoon. And we wonder why this tropical environment took so long to come out. Six years after Canyon and four years after Valley, the enthusiasm for TrackMania² has obviously faded a little. Lagoon must therefore strike hard to restart the machine. For this, it can count on the exotic nature of its tropical environments, which offer an air of a great vacation before its time.
Needless to draw you a picture, Lagoon is more or less a recycling of Rollercoaster Lagoon and, as such, it frankly struggles to create surprise.
Rolling among palm trees, jumping over a stranded liner or skirting rice paddies is quite pleasant. In addition, the circuits do not hesitate to offer roller coaster type passages, where you regularly find yourself upside down, the wheels of the car sticking to the magnetic track. Note also that the single player mode is rather generous, since it offers sixty-five small circuits, divided into five difficulty modes (white, green, blue, red, black). These tracks can be raced against various ghost opponents, in order to win bronze, silver or gold medals, necessary to unlock the most advanced circuits. In addition, multiple editors of all kinds are available so that the most creative players can give free rein to their imagination and share their finest works online. And as usual, it is possible to play several locally or online, the competition constituting the real raison d'être of the title.
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
All this is very nice and, in absolute terms, we can even consider that the selling price of 20 euros is reasonable. But this reasoning is quickly undermined when you think that you have to get four different modules to have all the environments and circuits of TrackMania². The most annoying thing is that fans of the series may have already purchased TrackMania Turbo last year, in order to take advantage of its unique environment, entitled... Rollercoaster Lagoon! Needless to draw you a picture, Lagoon is more or less a recycling of Rollercoaster Lagoon and, as such, it frankly struggles to create surprise. This redundancy with TrackMania Turbo maintains the confusion for a series that has always tended to go all over the place. And it is not the ManiaPlanet platform, which must be launched before being able to access the game, which is likely to help players find their way around. Its usefulness is questionable, its ergonomics frankly leaves something to be desired, and we are still waiting for Questmania, announced eight years ago… Having to go through a platform that only offers two games (ShootMania and TrackMania) in the end is a bit ridiculous. On the other hand, let's recognize that the online rankings work perfectly well, and that it is always pleasant after a race to be able to instantly see what rank we rank in the whole world, in our country, in our region and in our city. Let's end with a word on the graphics, which are pleasing to the eye but which remain desperately in line with what TrackMania² has been offering since 2011. In short, you will have understood it, TrackMania²: Lagoon inherits all the qualities of the TrackMania series, but does not offer anything really new.
