Speed Racer

"Speed Racer crosses the finish line in style, or at least gives you something to play until F-Zero comes out."

Intro:

Usually games based off movies end up sucking...even if the movie was a great movie. Sometimes it just doesn't translate well thanks to short development times, interference from the studios, and simply being handed to lower level teams.

Other times movie games will truly shine and do something original and cool. We started to see it with Enter the Matrix, when it told a story parallel to the huge blockbuster Matrix Reloaded, instead of just rehashing the same story. While the game was rushed and had its flaws it did do what it set out to accomplish, which had never really been done in videogames based off movies. Then studios started being more careful with their movie franchises. Spider-Man 2 was an excellent example of doing the movie justice, then followed by King Kong and many others along the way. However, many studios still treated the videogame as a quick cash in, like Transformers and Iron Man.

Speed Racer is a faithful adaptation of the movie. Thank God.

Graphics:

If you've seen a trailer for the movie, you know how colorful and bright it is. When I first saw it, I thought of F-Zero. Apparently I wasn't the only one because the developers saw the similarities too, and applied to the gameplay (more on that later.) and the graphics. The game looks very much like the movie and runs beautifully. Everything is spot on, with the exception of the glossy look. Due to the short development time, nothing really glosses or goes so fast it leaves color behind it, like the movie. It's such a shame, because I can only imagine what 2 more months might have done. However, the game looks great and is glitch free graphics wise, and stays true to the movie.

Sound:

The 3 main characters Speed Racer, Trixie, and Racer X are played by some random voice actors. You may have heard of them. Emile Hirsh, Christina Ricci, and Matthew Fox. They're alright....

I'm obviously kidding, as these are the same voices that were in the movie. They sound great and special mention of Matthew Fox's performance. He was great in the movie and sounds great here, really nailing Racer X.

The racing sound effects sound ok....except for the lack of the jump jacks sound that was in the movie and anime. That one really hurt for me. Also, none of the music from the movie made it to the game. Again, this was a gripe I had with Superman Returns (also a great game) the movie's music is memorable while the game's is generic. Leaving out the Speed Racer theme ranks up there with leaving out the Superman March out of Superman Returns, unacceptable.

Gameplay:

The important one, gameplay. Now this game uses similar controls to that of Mario Kart, and it is compatible with the Wii Wheel. It nails the motion controller almost as closely as Mario Kart. It's extremely responsive and gives you a real visceral feeling when you shunt someone or jump on top of another car. It feels a lot like F-Zero, even having ways of spinning, drifting and having boosts located on the floor. I think the next F-Zero game is going to steel some ideas here. It even has some of the tough AI from F-Zero GX.

The tracks were straight from the movie and recreated so well. The only one missing was Casa Cristo, but I guess that would have been really hard to pull off as it is a rally race instead of a stunt track race.

Sadly this game doesn't have much to offer beyond it's single player campaign. There's a multiplayer mode for 2 players, which I have yet to try. No online, no 4 players. Nothing. Such a shame, and it shows how if this game had more time, it could have really been a killer app for the Wii.

Final Thoughts:

Cons:
Here he comes, here comes Speed Rac- (oh wait, that's not in this game)
Short development time held this game back
No online

Pros:
Great graphics
The 3 main actors return
Racing gameplay that gives Mario Kart a run for it's money

All in all if you were one of the few who saw this movie (This movie sadly isn't doing well at the box office, as of this writing. Hopefully it'll turn around on DVD. This sure does look to the Blu-ray everyone's going to want to show off.) you'll love this game. This game is a huge achievement in the field of videogame adaptations in movies. Hopefully Warner will give the game a remake and ramp up all the problems I had with it, but that seems unlikely given the nature of the movie's success. If your an F-Zero fan and GX is starting to get a little stale, this is something to help wait it out for the next one. Hopefully this game will be picked up by Wii owners in droves, because considering all the crap on Wii right now, it's nice to see great games like this.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/08

Game Release: Speed Racer (US, 05/06/08)