3. Calling in the chopper

The actual Baja 1000 is stupidly long, an aspect which Baja isn’t afraid of simulating (you may find yourself engrossed in the same mutliplayer race for several hours). And, just like actual Baja racers, air support is necessary to make repairs.

When you take damage in Baja, the side panels of your car will break off (losing valuable sponsor cash in career mode), and too many undercarriage scrapes will slow you down. Your car will never be totally disabled, but you’ll never win with a damaged vehicle.

The actual process of repairing is easy – press a button to call the helicopter, and stop next to it for a couple of seconds to be magically repaired and on your way.

2. Chasing the wildlife

Perhaps it’s a bit sadistic, but we like the inclusion of skittish dirt huggers in Baja. We never actually managed to run one of them over, so we aren’t sure if they’re squashable – we imagine PETA would be less-than-thrilled – but the act of trying was entertainment enough.

Okay, we were chasing the poor critters for more than just entertainment - we were testing the handling of the vehicles (of which there are 10 classes and over 400 upgrades for).

While remaining challenging for off-road enthusiasts, we weren't overly punished for not understanding the finer points of cornering (we even won a few races). Given all of the difficulty options available, novices shouldn't have a problem with the learning curve.

1. Jumping into sailboats

Testing the limitations of games is one of the most entertaining aspects of gaming (aside from actually playing them like they're intended). Hitting one of these peaceful sailboats took quite a bit of trial and error, and upon success we bounced off it like a bird against a window, but we were nevertheless satisfied with our accomplishment.

Jun 16, 2008