"Cruis'n California: Atari copies Nintendo again, and takes out the fog while they're at it."

Whoa, would you look at that? It's Cruis'n USA! Wait a minute... that's not Cruis'n USA, the graphics are too good to be that. And the tracks... they're so... "fantasy-ish." A mall that you can actually drive through? Now there's something original (I know, California Speed came after Crazy Taxi, but still...). What really stands out in this game, however, is the rollercoaster track.

On the rollercoaster track, you drive around an amusement park, scaring pedestrians and trying to get into first place before the real fun comes (the rollercoaster itself). Once you reach the rollercoaster, you don't have much of a chance of getting first place if you're not at least in second, because like most good things, this comes to an end very fast.

I won't spoil too much of it for you, I'll just say that if you're at an arcade that has California Speed, spend the $0.50 and check the rollercoaster track! It's not the most spectacular ride on earth, but it's great for a racing game made by Atari (maybe they just published it? I'm not sure).

Other "fantasy" tracks include a beach (like an extended version of Crazy Taxi's Yacht Harbor), the mall (as listed above) and a bunch of other unmemorable tracks.

Gameplay: 7 The gameplay in California Speed is nearly identical to Cruis'n USA's. Is this a good thing? Some people would probably be disgusted when hearing this, but if you get past what you think is some "horrible" thing, then you will really enjoy this game.

Level difficulty is high/low at various points on each track, as with Cruis'n USA. It's a very cheap game... or overly easy. I guess the only way developers know how to make a racing game is by softening the difficulty we expect from a racer, and making it easy for anyone to pop $0.50 in, "almost" win and then get hooked and end up spending $5 to $10 on it. It's really a cheap gimmick, actually...

Sound/Music: 3
If you thought the nifty tunes of Cruis'n USA were annoying, then you have a good idea of what to expect from California Speed. However, if you thought Cruis'n USA's songs were good, then who knows what you'll think of CS' music. You might love it, or you might hate it... Funky beats and odd-named tunes just don't cut it for me, though.

Graphics: 7
Fogless, a big plus over Atari's past offerings, California Speed has a variety of exciting and innovative, colorful and bright track designs. More digitized women in skimpy outfits await your arrival at the finish line, something that'll make any twelve year old boy (or, truthfully, anyone that likes women) play once or twice just to check out all the interesting sights. Unlike Lara Croft, these girls are "real."

Replayability: 5
After completing each track, there isn't much to do in California Speed, if anything at all. Granted, it'll take a short while to finish this game, once you have, however, you'll just want to get up and leave, or move onto the next racing game.

Should I buy California Speed?: No.
Any home console version out there doesn't do the arcade version justice, and the arcade version isn't practical, even for someone with a lot of money and a huge game room. Arcade owners don't even have to read this review, they've already made up their mind on whether or not to buy this game, and so have movie theaters, because many of the ones in Michigan already have it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99