The Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home

"Full of charm, but dies with shallow gameplay"

The Dukes of Hazard Racing for home is the first Dukes of Hazard game. While the game is full of charm, and stay very true to the show, many things make it far from being an enjoyable experience.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Dukes of Hazard is quite shallow. The game is broken into 26 different missions ranging from a minute and a half to four minutes in length. Yes the game is extremely short, and can easily be beaten for the first time in two hours. You don't need to get up even once to beat this game. The missions range from collect these, win the race, avoid the police, and ram vehicles until they die. There are power ups on each level. Oil, nitro, and wrenches to fix your car when damaged. Driving the General is fun, but control is not tight at all. Cars feel quite floaty, and often times slight turns lead to complete spin outs. Going off ramps is also often problematic or glitchy. If the car controls were refined a bit the game could have been much more decent. Lastly are the levels. Too few. Way too few. You get like 5 different areas to race through all your missions, and you can barely tell them apart. Each level looks nearly the same as the last, and all the levels are very narrow. You will hit walls often, so drive carefully!

Gameplay Score (6/10)

Graphics

The in game graphics are very average. Each environment you drive in literally looks the same, except dirt roads may be black topped, or a few buildings and ledges will appear. The cars look okay, but the view makes them all look like Matchbox cars or something. The movie cut scenes are horrid, and the face on each character looks like melted wax. Not a strong point.

Graphics Score (5/10)

Sound

The sound in the game is the strongest aspect. All the sound effects, although few, are great. The engines of all the cars, the crashes, everything fits well. The music is very fitting to the game. All the music are country soundtracks done by the “Tractors.” The game also has the original theme song which was a must have in the game. The game features the voices of Waylon Jennings, and everyone else who played the main characters in the show. Good job here.

Sound Score (8/10)

In the end Dukes of Hazard Racing for Home is a good sounding, average looking short shallow game full of charm. Fans of the show will appreciate the lengths taken to make the game feel real, but the shallow and short gameplay combined with little meat and potatoes for gameplay really hammers this game from being what it could have been. Rent? Otherwise just try to find it for under $5.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/07

Game Release: The Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home (US, 11/30/99)