Auto Modellista

"A racer to rival Gran Turismo? Sort of.."

The cel-shading technique has been done to death. Sometimes the result is good ("Fur Fighters" for example), but more often than not it does the game no favours and just ends up making it look too childish. However, this is not the case with Auto Modellista. It's refreshing to see such a game.

GENERAL GAMEPLAY:
Arcade mode, circa every racing game on the PlayStation 2 ever, is your bog-standard racing. Pick a car, a race course and some background music and off you go. Great for just fooling around with mates after a night at the pub, but not really that much fun.

Online gameplay is a nice touch. If you're lucky enough to own the correct equipment, you'll soon be pitting your skills against people in other countries. Online play is always good fun, because it's something new each time. You rarely race the same person twice. It adds something fresh each time you play and because of this it will keep you coming back quite a bit for quite a while.

The Garage Life mode is the equivalent to Gran Turismo's career mode. You can pick a car and race it. As you win races, you get new bits and pieces for your car to make it even better. It's fun, challenging and it'll keep you going back for more for a while.

The VJ & Theater mode is an interesting feature, although it's somewhat out of the scope of the review, since it does little to enhance gameplay. You can create your own music video, which is fun to do, but gets boring quickly.

GRAPHICS:
Like I said before, the game is entirely cel-shaded. I was expecting another awful 'Wacky Races' scenario, but what a nice surprise! The game offers a slightly cartoon-ish style, while still retaining a distinct level of reality.

Careful attentions has been paid to the track design. Each track has something new, and is nothing like the last. One of the problems with Gran Turismo is that the tracks are too 'same-old, nothing new'. Auto Modellista manages to find a new angle for each new track, and that alone puts it in a different class to the likes of V-Rally and Gran Turismo.

The only negative thing I could say about the graphics is that no matter how much you bash your car into other vehicles or walls, it appears to stay in tip-top condition. I suspect this is because they are actual car models, so Capcom couldn't do it.

SOUND:
The game's soundtrack is good. It's made of a lot of Jazz Rock, and it compliments the game well. There's nothing like tearing down a stretch of road with some jazz belting out.

The game's sound effects are great. Roaring engines, squealing tyres and screeching brakes only add to the experience and make it more lifelike (or as lifelike as it is possible to be while playing a game where the cars look like they've just jumped off The Simpsons).

The downside to the sound is the announcer and commentator. It seems he has a limited vocabulary, because he repeats the same phrases over and over. It makes losing even more infuriating when he says “Aww, better luck next time” or “I guess you can't win them all”.

FINAL COMMENTS:
Auto Modellista is a brilliant game, well worth your time and money. It has infinite replay value thanks to the online play feature, the graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack rocks (quite literally) and it's clear Capcom have put a lot of effort into it. It's one of those rare occasions when I feel like slapping Capcom on the back for a job well done. Here's looking forward to a sequel!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04