Scorcher

"A decent futuristic racer"

Scorcher is a futuristic racer (like F-Zero) for the Sega Saturn. It was released in 1996 by Scavenger. In the game you ride a bike, which rides above the track (like the F-Zero vehicles). Your bike can travel at speeds at up to 450 mph using the boost, and about 180 mph in normal mode.

GRAPHICS 5/10
The graphics in this game are OK, but nothing special. It could have probably been done on a Super Nintendo with a Super FX chip. The graphics are blurred and the titles are off-center. In the European PAL version, it runs in letterbox mode. Graphics could definitely be improved.

STORY None
This game has no story and it does not need one

GAMEPLAY 9/10
The gameplay is excellent if you can sort out the controls. This is not a game which will make you turn of your Sega Saturn half way through a race. Despite poor graphics and control, this game is very entertaining to play.

The different modes in this game are:
Championship – The standard grand prix style race. Win the races in this mode to unlock new tracks
Time Attack – Race against the clock or try and improve your last lap time
Practice – Try out your racing technique with this mode

CONTROL 4/10
The controls in this game are hard to learn, but once you have learnt them, control is fairly easy, although it is quite hard to remember the right buttons for boost and accelerate, you will get used to the control system in this game. The developers should have included a controller configuration option in the options menu

SOUND/MUSIC 9/10
This game has some very good music. The title screen music is poor but in the races the music improves drastically. You may want to play this game just to listen to the in race music

REPLAYABILITY 6/10
After unlocking all levels, you will probably want to race on some of the first tracks again for a few times, and improve your lap times, but nothing that great that will make you want to play it again.

TO BUY OR RENT
Buy it, but don't pay too much. If you see it at a garage sale, pick it up but you may want to borrow it from a friend first to see if you like this type of game.

WAS THIS GAME A WASTE OF A CD
No, I think this game was worth the CD it was burned on.

This game uses between 2 and 48 blocks of memory.
There are a total of 8 tracks in this game

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/03, Updated 07/01/03