F355 Challenge

"It's just good, nothing more."

INTRODUCTION

Another racing game for Dreamcast: It is F355 Challenge. You will race in famous courses, like Suzuka(Japan) and Monza(Italy). And the car you will drive is a beautiful (and expensive) Ferrari. Good for those that can't afford the car but want to feel the emotions of being inside of a great machine. The open video is excellent. Is shows a Ferrari leaving Italy and racing with many others cars, just like many other race games out there. Now, onto the review!!!

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GRAPHICS: 10/10 - Perfect

I will not lie: this game can compete (graphically) with some racing games of Playstation 2. There are many details in the cars and the polygonal rate is amazing. The courses are very detailed too.

The game uses 60 frames per second and runs very smoothly. It is almost like you are driving, because there is only a car view: the first person view. You can also see a veru detailed driver inside the car, when the race ends.

SOUND: 6/10 - Medium

There is no interest in the musics and they are very boring but the sound effects are great, like crashing and tyre breaking. There is almost no complaints here.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10 - Good

You can play in Arcade Mode, Championship and Single Race. There are also many others options, inclusive Online Play. But the difficult level is very high. Believe that I did not win any race yet.

In ''Championship'' you race in seven (is it eight? I forgot, sorry) courses and gain points based in your position (first place gain more points, obviously). But you need practice, much practice to win any race here. It's very repetitive, you can get tired quickly.

In ''Single Race'' you can make a Test Run, by practicing driving in the course and go to a quick race, with other seven cars.

FUN: 6/10 - Medium

The fun is only to race and the gameplay is very repetitious. You can only drive one car (the Ferrari) and you can unlock five new courses with passwords. Now, this game can't compete with Gran Turismo, like many can say.

RENT IT: you play through it in just four or five days and you will get sick of it, like I did.

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I am putting the number of blocks used because this can be of some use for consumers that are going to buy or rent the game. F355 Challenge uses 22 blocks in main save. To save records and other options you will need about 40-50 blocks.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/31/01, Updated 12/31/01