Days of Thunder

"Had potential, but needs work"

Days of Thunder.....
It's too darn bad that the game did not turn out as well as the movie did. It's so much as the game itself is irritating to play (and win), but it lacks several standardized game features that could have helped us gamers along. Let's take a look.

Storyline: 9/10

Not a bad storyline, true to the movie, except that it really didn't go anywhere if you didn't know what you were doing in the first place. Had they taken the story and twisted it around a bit, it might have landed a better score.

Control: 7/10

Albeit it being a third-person racing game, it still lacked things that are common to racing games. Don't get me wrong, the three-dimensional look really did give it a nice feel to the track atmosphere. It's just that it was a bit too simple for it's time. You could really only move from left to right, as wide as the track could take you, and the acceleration at which your car went was almost laughable compared to the NPC cars. Don't get me started about the pit stop. I'll explain later...

Sound: 7/10

I'll admit, the intro tune was rather catchy. But what the hell happened to the music when you started racing? It stopped. This is one of the last things almost any gamer wants in a game at the moment of excitement is for all music to come to a screeching halt. The sound effects were quite entertaining, though. The air pumps, the cars colliding, and the pit crew footstep sounds were definitely the most well placed. The only other traces of music are after the races end, dependent upon whether you won, lost, or completely obliterated your engine. So yeah.

The Pit Stop: 1/10

I'm actually thinking about changing that 1 to a 0. Sure, the pit stop looks all nice and accurate, but never judge a book by it's cover. Allow me to elaborate:

You start out by pulling into the pit stop area. Now that's only assuming you weer going slow enough to come to a complete stop when you first pulled in. If you're going even barely fast, you'll just blast right through it and proceed out the other side! Brutal. OK, so let's say you successfully pull in. You get five people to work with: one guy who refills the gas tank, one guy who repairs the engine, and three guys to change the tires. Sounds pretty good until you quickly run out of guys. You see, one of the three tire-guys has the lift up the car on one of the sides so that the other guys can change the tires. If one of the tire-guys holds up the right side, however, the engine-repair guy can also work his magic. It's really unfortunate that you can only hold up one side at a time, the gas tank filler guy can only fill the tank while the car is NOT lifted, the gas tank filler guy fills the tank unbearably slowly, and for you to successfully execute a 19-second pit stop would require fingers as fast as the Punisher on an Italian gang member. After having done the necessary repairs to your car, usually you will have lost several places in the race, further hindering your chances of actually winning.

It's bad enough that they made your pit stops a pain in the rear, but the NPC cars were programmed to never need a single pit stop. This proves to be a horrendous pain. It's almost like going up against the lord himself in his bright and shiny race car.

Things It Should Have Had:

1. Save Feature
2. NPC Pit Stops
3. MUSIC!!!
4. I would say better car design, but that doesn't go far enough
5. Different Pit Stop Action
6. Maybe....a difficulty setting

This game is one of those games that people would buy with high hopes of actually winning in it, only to be proven flat out wrong. If it makes any of you other gamers out there feel any better, I myself have even failed to successfully win at this game.
I do like this game, though. Despite all of its flaws, one can only imagine what could have been done to make it even better. My suggestions are only some, and had they been put into this game, it could've very well taken off as Super Mario had. It was just....slapped together without much conscious effort.

You wanna buy this game? Don't pay any more than $4.00 for it. Sure, it's one hell-of-a challenge, but it's just too much of a challenge for any more.
Cole Trickle, we barely knew ye were good at driving......

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/05