So you're a casual gamer who likes racing games, right? However, sometimes even the most casual of racers can just be a little too time consuming to learn and frustrating to play. You like to go fast without worrying about how to customize automotive parts with technical names like transmission, alignment, brakes and engine. Okay, they're not really that technical. But leave those things for the real world so that you can pay knowledgeable mechanics, thus doing your part to keep the economy healthy. So how do you get your fix? You get Nail'd - Deep Silver's gift to the casual gamer. It's an off-road racer that throws just about every gaming rule out the door. Physics and reality are tossed aside to give gamers a throwback Arcade gaming experience, minus the points. While Nail'd may not earn any prizes with hardcore gamers, it most certainly has a niche audience that will appreciate the adrenaline infused off-road speed fest - even with all the bells and whistles stripped out.

Nail'd is broken down into two primary modes of play: Tournament and Off-Road. Tournament play is where you will spend most of your time. Your goal is to work your ATV or MX bike through a tournament bracket, which isn't really an official bracket system since you're not competing against anyone. This is more of the level structure Developer Techland decided to go with. You start off with the Arizona and Yosemite Amateur Leagues, which eventually lead to the Stuntmania Elminations bracket. The Greece and Andes Amateur Leagues lead into the Afterburner eliminations bracket. However, you'll still have to grind through Arizona and Yosemite to get to Greece or the Andes. This is somewhat annoying because it's the opposite of what the bracket layout would imply. The hierarchy really starts at Arizona and should be drawn as such. Unfortunately, if you just want to hop around to different locations, you will need to play through the six races in Arizona, followed by the six races in Yosemite and so on. Eventually, all roads lead to the Off-Road Masters Cup followed by the Nail'd Grand Finale.

The game comes off as a bizarre cross between Need for Speed and Mario Kart, both in style and setting. None of the environments adhere to reality. You'll be in a fantasy mish mosh of mountain regions and train stations, drive along the sides of a subway station and jump in mid-air over ski lifts and helicopters. It's pretty awesome and break-neck fast. However, after a while there is a sense of repetitiveness. Six levels of Arizona followed by Yosemite and so on doesn't offer much variety once you get used the initial level structure and fantasy world. It would have been better if Techland added in several additional fantasy locations and regions, then split up the leagues by continent. Think about all the great tracks that they could have fantasized about in Africa or South America. Then, of course, there's the Swiss Alps, Antarctica and the Moon. While these may not be your typical off-road locations, if you're going to throw reality out the window, why not go all the way? If you play in Off-Road mode, you can get to other environments right away. But the point of the game is the Tournament.

Physics doesn't come into play at all. This game is about press button, go fast, go faster and occasionally steer left and right. There are flaming circles and checkpoints along the way to drive and jump through. These provide additional speed boosts. You can also perform less than a handful of tricks, like wheelies and perfect landings from jumps for additional boosts. Gamers spend a lot of their time in the air. It's a continuous wild ride, but without the points you feel empty after every race because most of the time you're racing against yourself. That's one of the major drawbacks in Nail'd is that there's not enough good competition. Once you pass your competitors they never catch up so you always feel like you're racing against yourself and your environment. Again, I love driving through construction areas, getting splashed by random bursts of water and smiling at helicopter pilots in midair before burning rubber across the side of a subway wall. However, I want to be rewarded with some points for doing so. You'll also find that there are several different routes to take on a single board so laps always feel different, much like Mario Kart. But doing it six times inevitably wears on you, especially without the ability to perform more stunts. I wouldn't mind drifting or performing a few midair flips once in a while.

There seems to be no official method to the crash system, which is an intrinsic part of Nail'd life. You'll often land the same way multiple times, but in some instances you'll survive and in other instances you will crash. Respawns happen so quickly, without your opponents ever catching up, that the crashes lose their effect. With the Slipknot and Stone Age soundtrack, it feels like crashes should be even more emphatic. For instance, it would be nice if there were a Hall of Meat style feature, much like EA's Skate franchise. That way you could see some of the wipeouts in slow motion.

Nail'd is a boon to casual gamers who just want to focus on driving fast without any complex mechanics to worry about. However, a lack of variety hinders Nail'd from becoming a memorable racing game.