Auto Modellista

"Underrated and very enjoyable"

''Experience the true essence of racing.'' Auto Modellista is Capcom's take on the racing genre and was first released on the Playstation 2. The twist to this title that sets it apart from other racing games is its interesting cell-shaded twist. Since its release, it has gone through a lot of flak from angry and obviously dissatisfied gamers. One of the obvious reasons is the presence of other notable racing franchises that need no mention in this review. Another possible point that has made Capcom befall into the wrath of angry gamers is the numerous editions the game has. It never fails to amaze me how Capcom manages to confuse gamers with the different editions and some title changes with some of those editions for basically the same game. The difference lies in the number of cars, and the title.

Finally, Auto Modellista hits the Gamecube shelves and in contrast to many angry Sony-gamers, Auto Modellista is a welcome addition to the rather barren genre in the cube. Absent in this version is the online competitive play, which is said to be on the PS2 version. Indeed, Auto Modellista is a very solid game and has its own flaws. Despite these blemishes, Auto Modellista is heavily underrated and easily a very enjoyable experience on the cube.

Graphics (9/10)

It's racing with a cell-shaded twist and NO! you won't yell 'Celda' here. Unexpected it maybe, Capcom opted for a different look from the current crop of racing games. The interesting visuals are also worthy of notice since the cars still look recognizable despite the fact that it's in cell-shaded 3D. The tracks are nicely rendered and the cars look great. The added speedlines as an additional effect really does help give the sensation of speed. Definitely one of the prettiest racing games out there. Indeed, a very unique, and a very refreshing change.

Sound (8/10)

Auto Modellista features the song Springfield Avenue from Ing. Unfortunately though, it's the only song worth noting here. The rest of the 16+ tracks are synthetic music that aren't simply worth listening too. The sound of the brakes and the engine rumbles are pretty nice. The engine sounds per car are distinct. Overall, not very bad.

Controls (7/10)

While Capcom made a gamble over cell-shaded 3D look, they stayed to the tried-and-tested control scheme. L and R triggers are for the gear shifts while A and B are for the accelerator and the brakes respectively. The Analog Control stick is used to steer your car while your X button is for your hand brake, Y is for the camera change and Z is for the back mirror. The rather useless signal lights can be toggled using the C-stick. Pretty much standard fare control scheme. The cars have a tendency to understeer and the skidding happens almost every turn. It's almost impossible to complete one lap without skidding at all. This must be the work of some quirky physics, though. Overall, pretty much standard.

Game Content (8/10)

Auto Modellista pretty much carries a decent number of cars under its belt, although it is easily dwarfed by more notable racing games on other consoles. You have the usual car manufacturers such as Mazda, Suzuki, Ford, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Honda, and many more. The number of cars per manufacturer, though, really does vary, from dozens of Nissans and Hondas to a single lonely Viper. There are many other useless things included in Auto Modellista, such as the garage items and stickers. You can design your car by replacing bumpers, side skirts, etc. as well as plaster your favorite brand stickers and horrible custom Capcom stickers. There's an edit sticker feature though, and it really does give players a bit more choices on what sticker they want to stick in, as well as try to fix those horrible Capcom stickers. There's really a lot you can do with your car, which gives the game a deep wealth of activities.

The physics are a little weird as it makes cars skid almost all the time. The collisions are fine but aren't really much. The physics aren't fantastically realistic, but they are sufficient to deliver the game.

Garage Life is Auto Modellista's gem and it makes players go through 7 levels or shall I loosely call 'seasons'. Each season has a number of competitions to go through and winning each competition unlocks a couple of things. There's an increasing difficulty as you go through the seasons, which is nice.

The VJ theatre feature is also one of Auto Modellista's main thrust. This allows you to give your saved replays some background music, and some visual effects and cues. However, the interface is simply impossible to comprehend and the manual does nothing to help it. It takes a while of getting used to and when you do get the hang of it, you come up with sucky clips. At the manual mode, it is close to impossible to plan everything out. It usually degenerates with you just randomly selecting the effects to use. At the automatic mode, where the game controls most of the effects, the VJ feature becomes more manageable as you have more breathing time to think of what to do with the small number of effects to deal with.

The game also comes with the usual arcade races and the time trials. The weird thing about the arcade races, though is the fact that you can't tweak your cars before going into the race. This means the only way you are going to tweak your cars is if you have one in your garage (through Garage Life).

AI (6/10)

The AI does give some sort of challenge and they compete pretty well. But more challenge is thrown to the player when the player uses an under-powered car and the AI uses some ridiculously powerful cars such as the Caspita.

Replayability (8.5/10)

There are a lot of things to unlock in this game. You won't be able to get everything in one sitting. Even after completing the Garage Life seasons, you are still left with a lot of things, albeit useless, things to unlock. There are also a couple of cars left to unlock. Afterwards, most of the life of the game is through multiplayer challenges, and the customizations of your cars. This game will pretty much keep you busy for weeks.

OVERALL (8/10) NOT AN AVERAGE

Auto Modellista stands on four basic corner stones: Cell-shaded Look, Decent Garage Life with Silly Unlockables, Unusable VJ Theatre, and Fun. When compared to other racing games across platforms, Auto Modellista either doesn't stack up well, or barely holds on its own. However, given its own merits, Auto Modellista is is a solid racing game for Cube-owners. The main point in having a game is to have fun with it, and if you get frustrated, then the game-makers have definitely missed the point. Thankfully, Auto-Modellista is an enjoyable experience and is heavily underrated for the smiles it is capable of giving. Does it deliver the true essence of racing? That's another thing altogether.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/04