Vanishing Point

"A great game with questionable control"

I tell ya, I didn't expect much from it after reading the review in Electronic Gaming Monthly. It only received a 6, 5, and a 7 and I trust these guys like my parents. But I saw it for 9 bucks and it ''had'' to be better than Speed Devils, so I thought ''What the heck...'' I was pleasantly surprised...although not at first.
The thing most evident-and its biggest problem- is the control. The word to describe it is slippery. It's not as bad as Square's Driving Emotion Type-S for the PS2. It takes practice. Crashing and swerving with your clumsy Ford Explorer is frustrating at first. But with practice, it makes sense. I'm not old enough to drive yet, but I think a car is hard to drive at 110 miles per hour in traffic. After a two-player session, I went to the main game and it clicked. I had advanced far into the game. In fact, once you get used to it, you will have a hard time taking yourself away from it(I had trouble getting away from it to perform necessary bodily functions). You just need to sit down for an hour or so and learn how to ''gently'' feather the control. Here's a tip: Let go of the analog to center your car.
However, once I got to grips with it, it's all gravy. So many things to unlock! There are a ton of unlockable cars, real ones, although the quantity won't impress you if you've played Gran Turismo before (there's about 60 or so in it). There are a ton of mini-games a la Crazy Taxi to unlock, which will improve your skills greatly. There are a ton of tracks and options and two-player modes and even a rally mode! Whoa! This is something that will stick to you for a while.
The graphics and sensation of speed is slick. Clockwork Games's engine provides no pop-up whatsoever (hence the name Vanishing Point, geddit?) Oh, and the tracks are reminiscent of Ridge Racer and are soaked with Grade-A quality. Did I mention the unlockables? The tune-ups and the two-player modes...wait. Yes I did.
My bottom line is that if you can gently move an analog stick, or you need something else besides Sega Rally 2 and Le Mans 24 Hours, get this game. And please get away from it to perform bodily functions. Thank you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/15/01, Updated 12/15/01