Wangan Trial

"What Do You Expect From a Game Ttitled with Cinema?"

Story: 7/10
First of all, you're a young man who lives his life in street-racing world. The year was in the future, and everything was more sophisticated now. Everyday and night, you bring your sporty car in the road of Tokyo, challenging all your opponents.

More advanced story can be found in Story mode. 5 different girls to choose, but same story nonetheless. They are all in Japanese conversation and I can't really understand it. But somehow, they are all the same. You go race, meet the girl, continue the race and if you win it, you'll meet a scene with your girl. But if you lose, she'll get mad or disappointed and, poof, game over. The good thing is that the story was in a cinematic movie. Just like the title, all the characters here are real people, showed in a movie. The more race you won, the deeper will the story goes. But still in one sure line, of course. 'Win the race or I'll leave you'.

Graphics: 6/10
Watching the entire movie here was like watching films. Just like the X-Files. Not bad, but there's nothing special too. The girls' act isn't that good either. And sometimes the camera shakes a little without any reason. They just can't stand still.

The gameplay's graphic isn't incredibly wonderful too. The environment is quite obscure, and some of the circuit's backgrounds are just repeated from the previous background, such as the buildings, walls etc. The details were bad too. Don’t expect to see your car gets damaged, the tire thrown away or anything like that cause it won't be happened. Even there is no smoke came out of your car. Yes, there's something, but it just a little explosion that appears over and over on the back of your car for no reason.

Racing in the night, however, is not pretty bad. The light effect was good, like the shine in your car's body when you racing down a light. Sometimes you'll find that the day was continuing as you race your car. At first it was morning, then slowly it goes dark and the night falls down. And of course, you must be able to adapt yourself with the change.

The cars weren't pretty good too. They just look all the same. The difference was just probably from its color and maybe some accessories on it. Just don’t expect to see Gran Turismo here and there. You can't modify your car.

Sound: 6/10
Interesting music, but gets pretty repetitive after a while. The sound effect isn't bad. It's just too little. They really need to add more.

Controls: 8/10
Easy. A little touch and your car will move at your will. Not many improvement or difference with any other racing game. It's just easier and 'lighter'.

Gameplay: 8/10
The difficulty of the game is hard. Yes, especially if you're running to be the number one. The race divided into three parts or so. After finishes one part, you will start the next part with the current position you get from the last part.

Even a tiny, little bit mistake can screw up your position and chances of winning. And, because of your 'playing' area is in city roads, there are ordinary cars too that will slow you down. They even got some annoying cops that'll try to stop and hit you at any chance.

Replay Value: 9/10
One reason, the girls. Another one, the secret cars. And then, the challenge to be number one. Lots of reason, eh?

Overall: 7/10
This game is somewhat unique. It has easy control, self explaining that it is for beginner, but the game itself is real hard. So both beginner and experts can play this game. Too bad the other aspect aren't that good. The real movie is somewhat interesting, but it cannot help much too since it is in Japanese language, and non-Japanese players wouldn't be able to understand it much.

Buy or Rent
Rent it first. This game can be a regretful thing if you buy it without trying first. It's still good, though. It just depends on the way you look at it.

That’s all, thank you very much for reading. (4)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/01, Updated 05/26/01