Ferrari F355 Challenge

"Had the potential to be beyond great, and it only turned out mediocre.."

Before I even get too far into reviewing this let me just say that I am the biggest Ferrari fan you will ever meet in your life. Ever, no matter what, no matter how big of a fan you think you may be you won't stand up to me. So with that said..

The first time I ever played this game was in the arcade, and it is still my favorite arcade experience of all time, hands down. Sitting inside the capsule-esque machine with the shifter, paddles, clutch, and steering wheel made you feel right at home among the Ferrari. And the speakers literally surrounding you just made the experience that much better, the sound was literally the most beautiful car sound in existance. A few days ago I found this game on Gamestop online (used) and decided why not. I ordered it and awaited with great expectations. Here's what I noticed.

GRAPHICS - 5/10

These were sad. Not quite what I remembered from the arcade. Many jagged lines paired with what seem to be only a semi-decent framerate made it seem more like an evident port then anything. The menus were same as the arcade (thankfully) and the layout on screen is roughly the same. Even with the HD kit on a 27" high definition T.V. the tachometer and analog speedometer are unreadable - nothing more then blurs. Good luck trying to see the redline mark.

The tracks were nothing spectacular, reminded me of a souped-up Virtua Racing almost. Had the typical Sega feel to it. All in all not what I wanted but.. could have been worse. At least it wasn't Auto Modellista.

SOUND - 4/10

WHY GOD, WHY!? My favorite part of the arcade and they BUTCHERED it. This made me sick, nearly literally. The sound in the original was beautiful, the mechanical snarl wound up into a whining roar known as the F-355's powerplant, smooth as silk. Not so in the PS2 version. It sounds like they took a clip of the car turning 1K, 2K, 3K, 4K, 5K, 6K, 7K, 8K, 8.5K in increments and then just put it in the game. Anything from 1000 to 1999 RPM sounds like 1000. Then it kicks up 2000 RPM and goes up a notch in pitch. Annoying as can be because it's EXTREMELY evident, there's no "between" sound here. It's just disgusting how rough cut this sounds.

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

The saving factor of this game, it didn't retain arcadey physics. It is definately a simulation in the full sense of the word. Braking wrong causes slides, pushing the gas pedal through the carpet causes a powerslide, etc. It's fun to dink around with to get the feel of driving a Ferrari but to be honest it just isn't as worthwhile without the sound to go with it. Regardless, it's a simulator, not an arcade style racing game. It does have assists to help out with those who are less experienced, such as ABS, traction control, steering assists, etc. I perfer to take them off because it slows down the car around the track too much.

STORY - ...?/10

... go buy an RPG if you want a story. It's a racing game that was ported out of an arcade. It doesn't have one.

Rent or Buy?

I personally enjoy having a video game library and don't mind having this as part of it, thanks to the Ferrari name. However, since this game isn't really what I would call "kick ass" I'd say rent it first, provided you can find it. If not, good luck finding a used copy. Its at least worth a try.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/05