Road Trip

"One of the best of the 'lite' racing games."

I personally have never found the ChoroQ games to be that great, to be honest. That said, the latest of the ChoroQ games, called Road Trip in the US, is a refreshing little racer that, while extremely simplistic and lite, is still a fascinating title. It's difficult to accurately describe Road Trip, but a good term would be ''driving RPG.'' While there are cup races in the game like you'd expect in any kart-style racer, Road Trip takes place in a giant ''world'' with towns and numerous locations for you to fully explore and get involved with. Many other cars will meet you on the roads of towns and you can talk to them to learn things about the world or complete mini-quests or even achieve special items. The world in Road Trip is quite large, and not only takes awhile to drive across, but will literally take HOURS to fully explore and see everything. Although anyone can play Road Trip just for the quick racing parts and win the game, spending some time exploring the large towns and all the weird side-quests is not only a great way to kill some time, but also will supply you with opportunities to make more money and/or find some interesting items. Basically, Road Trip is the kind of game that people who like a light, relaxing game should play. The racing isn't cheap or frustrating, it just takes good parts and driving skill, and the exploration part is very relaxing. It's cool to be able to just take a drive...and what a LONG drive it can be.. While the graphics and sound won't win any PS2 contests, they get the job done without any problems. To sum up Road Trip's pros and cons:
Pros-
+Very large, explorable world with lots to see and do for people who like collecting items and doing mini-quests.
+Some cool mini-games (like soccer) that allow you to get some interesting items like better engines or weird bodies.
+Nicely done tracks that are usually well designed and fun to race on.
+Decent physics, which make certain aspects rather challenging.
+You can't ''die'' or get damaged, making exploration risk-free.
+You can eventually unlock a fun ''Rally'' mode in which you race against the clock from town to town. (this takes awhile)

Cons-
-Hardcore racing fans will not like the simplistic game here which isn't anything to the level of, say, GT3.
-Trying to find specific characters on the map (other cars) can be difficult since the towns are so immense.
-Artificial Driving intelligence on your ''Teammate'' cars is pathetic, with them often getting stuck on walls and obstacles. They function well on simple, flat tracks, but don't expect them to win on more complicated ones.
-Part prices can be a bit expensive, forcing you to race easier tracks several times to make decent cash.
-Stores and important buildings should have labelled on your auto-map.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/14/02, Updated 10/14/02