Diddy Kong Racing

"A take off of Mario Kart, with a weak story"

I borrowed Diddy Kong racing from one of my friends and was early on pleased with it. It had it's plusses until the Silver Coin Challenge, and then the Trophy Race. That meant you had to win the same course 3 times, and that is tedious. You also have to race insanely hard masters twice. The only thing I like about the system was the T.T Amulet courses, which are pretty fun all around. But on too why this game was disapointing.

STORY (3/10): Why do they have to fight Wizpig on carts? Why is there a magic elephant helping out? What is Diddy Kong trying to do? Why are all these people helping him? All these questions and none are truly solved. That is the problem with Diddy Kong Racing. They tried to throw in a story, and it failed strongly. This is why you should let a racing game be a racing game.

GRAPHICS (9/10): The graphics are pretty good. The characters all look smooth, and the raceships all have a smooth look to them. There are good backgrounds to each course, and you sometimes will see a huge Dinosaur or battle a Walrus, which look pretty damn real. All in all, this game has amazing graphics.

SOUND (6/10): Another game without a catchy tune. The music is all in all sound though, with nothing that will drive you crazy, besides the main screen music, which you will get sick of quickly. The sound effects are also moderate in performance. The engines sound ok, but not near as realistic as other racing game. The problem with the Sound effects are those downright annoying horns, and the voices from your characters. Luckily you only have to hear those sounds when you pick your character, and now and then when you race. Now if only there was an option to shut them out period.

GAMEPLAY (3/10): As I stated earliar, you must go through each course three times to completely beat that world. Each World have 6 courses (including T.T), and there are 4 worlds. That is only a total of 24 courses, which is not too many. However to beat it that is 64 times through courses, and RARE probably thought that was a good idea, but I would have been more pleased if they did not keep forcing us through the same levels. Also you have to face a certain master in a race twice in each level. Once would definitely be enough, for they are annoying the second time through. And you must also go through all the courses again to search for a key. Sounds fun don't it. That key opens the T.T battle courses, which in my mind is the only plus side to this game. Now the actual control is not great either. The karts are easily controlled, but are not that smooth, and rough at corners. The hovercrafts are horrible at turns, and will turn to far most times. This skill will take time to get down. The real control problem occurs on the plane, where it does not always respond quickly to the control stick. This could lead you crashing into a wall. This also is tough when your in the outside world trying to get in Wizpigs lair. It isn't supposed to be hard to get into a level, is it? The final is multiplayer, which is moderately good. You probably won't play through the actual races, because a newcomer will have no chance to control the ships but the T.T courses, in particular Icicle Dungeon (I think) are courses that are fun to have a quick five minute game amongst friends.

REPLAYABILITY (3/10): Racing games should have great replay value, this one does not. After you actually play through the game, playing each course at least three times through (some many more, because of times lost) you will likely be sick of them. This wouldn't be too bad if the courses themselves were also lackluster. This courses are nothing rememerable besides Icicle Dungeon, and they will likely never be played after. This was one game after I beat, I quickly returned it to my friend.

DIFFICULTY (7/10): This is a tough game. The early courses are a walkthrough, but all of the boss races and the later courses you will be playing hundreds of times. This would be ok if these were entertaining times, but it is just frustrating. Make sure you have a clean mind, before you get this game.

OVERALL (4/10): Graphics saved this game. The moving obstacles, and the detail on the boss races make this a beautiful game on the outside. The problem is that once you look at the middle, you will toss this one out to the birds.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/09/01, Updated 12/09/01