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.

Built Baja Tough

Those who think that racing games have gotten too easy won’t be whining (not for that reason at least) when they play Baja. The opponent AI is stronger than most; on the rare occasion that one or two racers makes a mistake, the rest of the pack will surely speed past them unharmed. Their driving skills are remarkable – no track is too steep, no turn is too sharp. They know how to slow down, speed up and make contact at all the right moments. It’s like going up against a bunch of professional racers…if this was The Matrix and humans could be infused with gigabytes of AI data.

The out-of-this-world, never-saw-it-coming difficulty is unexpectedly tolerable. In fact, the player can win a race every time so long as he or she is no less perfect than the AI. That’s easier said than done, which is where Baja begins to stumble. Most courses are designed with a strict by-the-books pathway that must be taken to avoid any penalties. This is not optional – it is a must.

If you go outside the bounds of the track (which is only visible by the lighter color of the dirt and/or the tire tracks running through it), the game will trigger its warning system to let the player know. Unfortunately, that warning isn’t always enough to prevent the worst from happening. If you drive outside the bounds for too long, the game automatically transports your vehicle back to a previous point on the track. During this time, your vehicle comes to a complete stop. It is also transparent, allowing opponents to pass right through. To make matters worse, acceleration is a grueling process in Baja. This is a game that’s full of buggies, trucks and other off-road vehicles, none of which are very good at taking off. If the game transports you to the bottom of a hill, grab a stress ball. Squeezing it won’t help you win, but it’s nice to have something to throw at a wall that won’t break.

Baja Vs. Deja Vu

Baja’s controls are what you’d expect, minus any hint of an arcade feel. Though it may look like a spiritual follow up to MX Vs. ATV, Baja is more of a simulator. Its upgrade system is a simple menu-based collection that requires very little thought. You don’t have to read the item descriptions – just keep spending credits (earned from winning races) until each enhancement meter (such as horsepower) is full. On the track, however, Baja isn’t quite that simple. Its controls are easy to learn, and without any groundbreaking mechanics employed, they aren’t that difficult to master. But to fully utilize them means going against your racing instincts.

Unlike the AI, speed is not one of Baja’s strong points. If considering exhilaration alone, the racing experience is relatively low-key. Baja attempted to change that with diligent opponents, a choice players may not recognize when they’re annoyed or frustrated. The AI is not only good at persevering – it is also very good at screwing you over. If you collide with an opponent, the race is almost certainly lost. Vehicle parts tend to get attached and have a hard time breaking free (whether or not this is a realistic representation I do not know). While you’re wrestling one racer, the others are flying by. By the time you break away, the first, second and third-place competitors will be too far ahead to overcome. Fourth place is pretty worthless since it doesn’t award more than a few credits and isn’t good enough to bring home a cup.

On that note, Baja also falls victim to the screw-up-once-and-lose philosophy that so many racers have adopted. But it’s hard to fault this since developers have yet to come up with a better way. Racing games are either too easy or a little too hard. And when it comes down to it, nobody will stop playing Baja because it’s difficult. What will hurt this game is its unnecessary use of restrictions (why can’t we cut the track? There isn’t really supposed to be a “track”!), the sluggish acceleration, and an overall lack of speed.