Days of Thunder

"Since when did Russ Wheeler drive a purple car...?"

Days of Thunder, based on the 1990 movie Days of Thunder, starring Tom Cruise, is probably one of the oldest racing games I know of. It's also one of the toughest. You want more? I'll give you more:

Graphics: 9/10
Compared to today, these graphics are not good. Not good at all... However, when you consider the limitations the NES has, the graphics are surprisingly good. Everything's good, but I do have one thing to say: Since when did Russ Wheeler drive a purple car? And since when did Exxon's colors become red and yellow? There're a lot of miscues there... Like a red Atlanta track, and a blue Dover. At least they got the track maps right, for the most part... They messed up with Daytona and Talladega, though, there is not a little straight for the finish line. And again, since when did Russ Wheeler drive a purple car?! By the way, if you win, you get a shot of Cole standing on the podium, looking pretty pleased, with Rowdy and Russ on the second and third place stand: oddly enough, Rowdy is in a red firesuit, Russ in a purple. ..Logic here is what?

Sound/Music: 8/10
The engine is rather lifelike, or as lifelike as you can get on the NES, and the sounds are pretty good. I just really don't like hearing DING! while on pit road, as that essentially means: "Hey Cole! There's another spot you need to make up!" That drives me nuts! Anyway, the music is few and far between. There's the standard tune (I do think this was intended to be for an arcade game, but it never made it.) and the music you'll hear a lot of when you fail to score the win, or run out of gas, the victory tune, and the music when you finally win the championship. There's also when you blow the engine, but that hasn't happened to me in a long time. I'll have to try to do that again sometime...

Gameplay: 8/10
This is where the game generally takes a dive for casual gamers who don't like the difficulty. It's actually not too bad when you begin to drive smart, not hard. The thing that'll kill you is how picky the game is about pit stops: if you aren't in the right spot, the action you want will not take place. It's annoying, but you have to live with it. After practice, you can pull off 20 second pit-stops (In real life, you're looking at 14 to 15 second pit stops, at best.) and can actually lead EVERY lap at Atlanta and Dover. Poles are very easy to get: it's when you have to race against everyone that things get rough. The basic goal in the game is to get the championship. the bare minimum to get it is probably 1300 points and a win, which isn't that much.

Replayability: ...It varies, but I'll say 7/10
For a casual gamer, you want to sell it on eBay after one try. For hardcore gamers, you'll want to beat the game and get as many wins at Daytona as possible. A win at Daytona is a must before you hang up the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/05