Le Mans 24 Hours

"Don't let the poor graphics fool you - this game is the epitome of "don't judge a book by its cover.""

Given the fact that video game systems average a hundred or more games released in a given year, it's not a surprise that there's plenty of games that slip under the radar and through the cracks of gamers. Usually a few of these un-heralded games get some notoriety and a little fame - yet there's always a few that get unfairly blasted and ignored for all the wrong reasons.

Such is the case with Infogrames' Le Mans 24 Hours. As a quick and dirty port (with some new cars and tracks along with the basic engine) of the excellent Dreamcast racer that was well-received by the press & gamers alike, but unable to make a dent in sales despite the $30 price tag, Le Mans suffers from the usual effect of such a port - that being substandard graphics. However, this PlayStation 2 port maintains all the great gameplay that made the Dreamcast version so good.

Alas, due to the poor visuals (along with the fact that Gran Turismo 3 was released a month earlier), Le Mans quickly found its way into the bargain bin, and if you can find a copy, it's available for less than $20 usually. It's a shame that the game did so poorly, because once you can take your eyes off the decent (but not outstanding) graphics, the game is a winner in pretty much every other category. Even after owning the game for a year or so, I still can play it like it's fresh in my mind.

Gameplay

Le Mans manages to do one thing off the bat right - instead of stuffing in game modes that have no reasons but to humor you, each mode of play features something to unlock. This adds replay value - and not in a cheap way either. Le Mans is all about unlocking; unlocking cars and tracks.

Le Mans features a time trial mode, where beating the best time is indeed a challenge & rewards you with a new race car; a quick race, where beating a track unlocks a new one, until you've unlocked all the tracks and the mirrored versions of them; Championship mode, a fairly deep but not extremely deep series of races; and the Le Mans mode, which lets you play out the real Le Mans and Petit Le Mans races.

Le Mans 24 Hours comes equipped with around 70 cars - however it's perhaps about 25-30, with the rest being different teams, paint jobs, and occasionally the cars have different stats. Included are favorites like Dodge Vipers, Nissan R390's, amongst many others. You only start off with a handful of cars at the outset, but the farther you progress, the more become available to race with.

Of course, Le Mans comes with many real tracks - both forms of Le Mans (full and short), Donington (full and short), Suzuka (east, west, and full), Road Atlanta (full and short), and Brno, along with a half-dozen or so along with them. Not only are a few of the tracks featured by multiple designs and race areas, they're mirrored as well, once you unlock them. So if a need for course variety is there, Le Mans carries it and then some.

While the time trial and quick race modes really don't need much explanation, the other pair of modes perhaps do. Championship mode is a series of race circuits. There's around 10 of them, each carrying 3 races per championship. The early events are rather easy and short, involving little strategy besides being the first guy to cross the finish line, while others are fairly long, with the need to pit in tossed into the gameplay, forcing the hand of a driver to use strategy. Completing each one of these championships unlock new cars for use in the Le Mans races.

The Le Mans and Petit Le Mans are the main goal here - and once you've mastered the other modes you'll be ready to take it on. Each one of the races is split into set periods of time. Petit Le Mans, held at Road Atlanta National Speedway, is split into 10 minute, 30 minute, 100 minute, and the full 10 hour increments. The regular Le Mans race is either 5 minutes, 24 minutes, 240 minutes, or the whole 24 hour race that Le Mans is famous for. Each of these races for each set time period unlock different things, so only through playing all of them will unlock the goods in full.

However, there's no need to worry about racing all 24 hours in Le Mans - thankfully you are able to save each time you hit the pits in the actual race. It might seem impossible to manage the patience to complete all the 24 hours, but being able to save and come back to the game later certainly takes a little of that exhausting idea down a bit on the difficulty scale.

The AI in Le Mans is fully adjustable - if you struggle with braking, you're allowed to have computer aided braking and turning, as well as computer aided steering - plus you can adjust this level to give the computer less say, or no say at all. And for the actual competition, you can adjust the AI of them too, giving you a very customizable experience.

All this sounds well and good, sure, but if the game isn't fun, there's no point, right? Thankfully, Le Mans is excellent in this area too. Le Mans shines in a few categories that many racers never get right - strategy. Racing is more than a sport of going around a track at full speed - sometimes thought and intelligent strategy gets you far. Before each race you can adjust little features of your car, such as whether to adjust the engine for more top speed or better acceleration (or just balance it out), to changing your type of tire, to even reducing the amount of gas in your car, to force an early pit stop (no clue why you'd do that, however).

Within the actual race, strategy comes in one small form - the pits. Since the AI cars pit realistically (unlike GT3 where they pit in a set pattern), you have a pair of thoughts to undertake. Do you pit before they do and possibly have to pit again later, costing you the race even if you get by - or wait a lap, risk running out of fuel and assure you don't have to pit the rest of the race? Since pitting can take up to a minute, being able to recognize when to pit and when to put it off is vital to success, especially in the later, longer races that require more than one trip to the pit stop.

The actual racing is still important, however, so it has to be pulled off well. And thankfully, it is, and is pulled off excellently. Each car does handle a smidge differently (even the multiple variations of the Viper), yet are still very responsive to your controls and do exactly what you want them to do.

However, this is a game that manages to toe the line between sim and arcade - and as such requires more than barreling around corners. Instead, learning the tracks is a must for victory, since many of the tracks have some major traps to screw you badly. So, learning how to properly brake and take a turn is essential for victory.

Le Mans offers 2 different control schemes at the same time - the DC style of using the top triggers (which is rather uncomfortable on a PS2 Dual Shock, anyway), and the traditional use of the X and Square buttons. Both are equally responsive and work well - it all depends on your style.

When everything ties up, you get an addicting racer that has just enough balance between arcade speed and simulation controls - making for a game that will entertain anyone into racing games, especially Gran Turismo lovers, since the bulk of the game consists of many of GT3's big fancy racing cars. The only real major flaw I can find is how easy the Le Mans races are - after only 100 laps of the 24 hour Le Mans race, I had a 15 lap lead over the 2nd place car - and this was on the intermediate difficulty level.

Graphics

Where Le Mans takes the biggest hit - and subsequently, the reason so many dismissed this game as a serious racer, is the graphics. It's easy to see the developer Melbourne House only took the code from the Dreamcast and applied it to the PS2 version - and the effect makes the game actually look poorer than the DC version. It's not really terrible, per se, and certainly does look somewhat next-generation (meaning it doesn't look like half the effects & animations came from the PSX) - it's just that a month before this game was released, Gran Turismo 3 set the bar for PS2 racing game visual excellence, making Le Mans look terrible in comparison.

At first sight, the cars look very flat - as if they spent some time in Grand Theft Auto 3's famous car cruncher. They look decent besides that, but looking at cars that are almost flat as a pancake certainly isn't a nice effect.

The rest of the engine looks extremely muddy and dark - even when the sun is out, it looks like a cloudy day at all times. Also, it's apparent that there is no anti-aliasing whatsoever, giving the game a very jaggy look that honestly can screw up how you play the game. Flicker is also very evident, giving Le Mans a feel of a 1st generation PS2 title instead of the 2nd generation title it was supposed to be.

Le Mans does, however, have its shining moments - the biggest of all being the interactive pit stops. When you head in to pit, you get to see a real pit crew touching up your car. Instead of a phantom pit stop where the car is suddenly ready to race, you're able to witness the crew filling your ride up with a new tank of gas, as well as see them quickly remove your old tires and slap on 4 new ones, before sending you on your way. The whole process of pitting takes a minute or so (including the slow progression to and from the pit area), but it is neat to watch the process.

Also, another nice effect is the shift from night to day in the Le Mans modes. As the day goes by, the sun shifts position and things gradually get darker - street lights turn on and headlights pop on as well. The process of turning into daytime again also is done with equal flair. Of course, in the shorter versions of the races, the effect is accelerated, so things just pop up in terms of night versus day, so you have to play a full race to get the full effect of the very cool process.

The track designs are done well, given that they're modeled after the real things, instead of fantasy courses. All the trademark turns and traps from the real tracks are present, and many of the real landmarks around the tracks are included as well, for a few really nice touches.

Sounds

The sound effects and music are equally average, just like the graphics. The tunes you hear while you race are monotonous and repetitive Euro-techno pop that isn't done well at all. Some of it does sound like driving music - however it's the kind of driving music that you'd play on a cross country trip with grandma and grandpa. Other tunes are just purely pitiful and lacking both emotion and any relevance to racing.

The main sound effects such as tires squealing and engine noises are pretty nice, but they seem to be the same for each car. What's neat is being able to hear the roar of your car passing someone (or someone passing you), and the sounds of cars hitting the wall after you've run them into it and driven away (cringe-worthy to be sure). Finally, the roar of the crowd as you pass a seating area is another nice touch to the average sounds.

Overall

Released nearly a year ago, Le Mans 24 Hours has been vastly underrated by many a magazine and website, giving the excuses that the graphics are bad and since it's a Dreamcast port, it can't be any good. This is a shame, since Le Mans is one of the deeper sleepers in the PlayStation 2 racing genre - one that could keep you occupied with it for many months. However, the window for that opportunity has passed - yet given how inexpensive the game is these days (a whole $13 bucks at EBGames.com), it's worth a shot as an excellent budget game that gives you plenty of bang for the buck. It won't entertain the ever growing market of people who put graphics over gameplay, but those prepared for an excellent racing experience that requires a lot of time to be put into it to get the most out of it, Le Mans 24 Hours is right up your alley.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/02, Updated 06/12/02