Dirt Trax FX

"Prepare to qualify!"

The super FX chip was a chip that allowed the Super Nintendo to render polygons to make it's games look 3D but without texture mapping. Just like all of Nintendo's add-ons, like the Super Game Boy where Nintendo only made one game properly use it to it's full potential; Donkey Kong; the Super FX chip had relatively no support from Nintendo in it's games and so most games that utilized the Super FX chip were mostly third and second party companies which ultimately resulted in few games to use the chip.

Dirt Trax FX was one of those games where you could say was one other great thing to come from the 90's. This game had praise for it's graphics and was thought to have graphics that could not get any better than they were - Well they got better but nothing beats old games.

Story: N/A (There is no actual story as all you do is race on dirt bikes.)

Gameplay: 9/10 There's not that much to elaborate on driving around a track on a dirt bike except that the tracks have structure and have plenty of obstacles which give the tracks plenty of flavour. The game also allows up to 4 players so that's a bonus. Eight unique characters are selectable. There are several unlock-able tracks including a snow level, a parking garage and King tut's Tomb.

Graphics: 5/10. The graphics could be better on the SNES as seen in Doom and Super Mario RPG. Everything looks like single-colour shaded blocks, even the dirt! The characters all look like a cool stereotypical 90's kid.

Music: 10/10. The sound effects fit the game with a "bump" and a "thud". The music in this game is damn good for a SNES game and should be expected to be nothing less than superb from Kingsley Thurber, who is one of greatest video game composers of all time. Hog has the best music next to Nails.

Controls: 10/10. The controls for this game are perfect not like the those god awful steering problems present in Stunt Race. In this game you don't have to hold the button to turn, allowing you to turn on a dime. The controls in this game are perfect and do not solely make the challenge.

Difficulty: 5/10. With the game's constant lagging (and a lot less than Star Fox, mind you!) the game be very difficult on higher cups. When playing tag race it is impossible to win since the CPU knows exactly "how" to follow your every move, and it seems to know where you are going, so you need to kind of trap your opponent.

Replay value: 8/10. You'll be back playing this every now and then. I recommend playing this with a friend to get the most fun out of this game.

Total: 9/10

Buy or rent: I would absolutely recommend buying this racing gem. The most I would pay for this game is $25. I already own it, why don't you?!?

Final words: Yes, the tagline is a reference to pole position.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/09

Game Release: Dirt Trax FX (US, June 1995)