"Textbook example of what could have been..."

This review won't be a very long one, for the simple reason that any good points this game has are completely and utterly nullified (in my opinion) by one crucial factor, gameplay/control. More on that later.

I will however briefly touch upon the good, just so it doesn't seem as if I'm bashing the game just for the sake of bashing.

Pros:
Graphics/Vehicles/Tracks: The visuals in this game are pretty good, nothing stunning, but the vehicles do have a decent amount of detail, and the tracks aren't that bad. Overall not a bad looking game. Well, for it's time anyway. You have a fairly large selection of vehicles to choose from, I won't say how many (no spoilers) but I will say this, you would have to be worth more than a million (in game) to buy them all. Mostly American make, but a few foreign as well. You have the option to set the track weather, time of day, length, etc.

Modes: There's tons and tons of stuff to do in this game. You have your standard (racing) fare of Quick Race, Time Trials, Career Mode, etc. If there's one area of this game that stands out, it's Career Mode. There's all kinds of categories for parts and upgrades for your vehicle that you can purchase, using money you've earned in races of course. When you purchase parts, you don't have to install them right away, they can be stored in your garage for later use. In between races you can make adjustments, such as changing the type of tires you want to use, etc. You can own as many vehicles as you can afford, and you can switch in between races. If you're tired of a particular vehicle, you can sell it. I won't give too much away, but there was alot of attention to detail put into this.

Now for the complete downfall of this game,

Control: Before I get into it here, I feel compelled to give you a little background info on myself. I love playing video games, and I have been playing them for a very, VERY long time. Put it this way, I was a teenager in high school when Pong was all the rage in the mid-70's. I bought the Fairchild Channel F when it was first introduced in 1976. Playing video games is the kid in me (as they say) that never grew up, and I'm not ashamed of it. Why should I be? After all, I witnessed the birth of the industry when I was a teenager. Well, that being said, I have owned very nearly every system that has ever been sold in North America, and I have played untold hundreds upon hundreds of games. And this game, has THE-WORST-CONTROL-I-HAVE-EVER-SEEN in a game. Bar none. Nothing else I've ever seen has come close!!!

Now, the one and only phase of this game where you will feel even a modicum of control is in quick race, using a completely (100%) stock vehicle. In this situation, the handling is merely bad. However, the VERY MOMENT you begin to purchase parts and install them on your vehicle, you can kiss it all goodbye. (By the way, once you've began modifying, this applies to any mode you play, even in quick race, if you choose your own vehicle from your garage) From that moment on, your truck will handle like an icecube on a baby-oil covered frozen lake. Think I'm kidding? Afraid not!! See that left turn over there? If you've built up any speed at all (that's a joke too, more on that in a bit) you take that turn and your vehicle continues to drift to the right. Tape your analog stick to the left, set your controller down, go grab something to drink, and when you get back, you'll finally be making that left turn. Unless of course (during your absence) another vehicle has hit you head-on, in that case you'll find yourself about 2.9 miles further back than where you left off. Yep, ''Flubber Physics'' is what I like to call it. Another thing, in this game, a cactus is enough to stop a 4,300 pound vehicle dead in it's tracks!!! And the framerate. Wait a minute, what framerate? Seriously, this game is sloooooooooooooooooow!!! Anyone old enough to remember the game Grand Prix, made by Activision, for the Atari 2600? Well, as far as a sense of speed goes, this game makes the Atari 2600 Grand Prix seem like *Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2* in comparison.

On a more serious note, I've played quite a few racing sims in my time, and while I'm not that crazy about them in general (put me firmly in the Arcade category) most of them are, for the most part, not that bad. Just takes a little getting used to. This game takes it to the extreme, to the 25th power. If you so much as drive over a 2 inch bump in the road, you'll be airborn for 30 feet, and unable to turn during that time. As much as I appreciated the overall effort that must have been put in this game, the control just utterly demolished any enjoyment I hoped to have. It's just not fun to play. Maybe some of you will have (have had) a better experience with it. Maybe I just stink. But, racing is my favorite genre, and if I say so myself, I'm not that bad. Really.

I started out with every intention of giving this game the overall lowest score possible. But, the longer I have typed, the more I've come to realize that many people who worked on this title definitely deserve praise and recognition for paying so much attention to detail, as I said earlier. Whoever was in charge of the handling physics, well, I better not say another word if I want the fine folks at gamefaqs to approve this review.

I give it an overall 5 for effort.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/17/03