Racing Gears Advance

"Awesome racing game that shouldn't be missed."

Racing Gears Advance is the first game by a little known developer called Orbital Media. It is racing game with an isometric view in the vein of the classic Rock N' Roll Racing. Win races for cash, then buy weapons, buy upgrades, and just annihilate the competition.

Gameplay 9/10
With great AI, great tracks, and great handling, this is a very inspired racing game that definitely delivers in gameplay. To start, there is both singleplayer and multiplayer. I haven't tried the multiplayer, but singleplayer consists of a Championship Mode, Quick Run, and Practice Mode (mainly for learning the tracks and finding the short cuts).

Once you've chosen your game mode, you can now choose the dream car of your choice. There are a good selection of licenced cars to choose from, and its great that each car even has its own unique special ability. For example, The Hummer can't spinout, while the Corvette has turbo boosts.

Now that you've picked your car, get ready to race! Races are really fast, and you'll want to master all the short cuts of each track if you want to win consistently. There are also weapons that will be put into play that will slow down your car when you get damaged. It's a system that works fairly well, except that the later difficulties can get really really hard. Nevertheless, the controls are really tight, and you can even drift your car, which is cool.

For the most part, you'll be spending your time in Championship Mode. Here you'll be able to race in 5 tournaments of increasing difficulty, each consisting of 5 tracks for a total of 25 tracks. After each race, you'll have to repair your car if it was damaged, purchase upgrades (engines, breaks, turbo, armor, etc.), weapons (oil slicks, nitros, smokescreens, etc.), and tires.

One very unique gameplay feature in Racing Gears are the tires. There are Dirt tires, Rain tires, etc. and before each race you'll be shown how the upcoming track is going to be like. It's then your job to equip the correct tires for maximum efficiency.

Graphics 8/10
Solid graphics for a GBA game. The environments are pretty detailed, the menus are nice, and the art is pretty good. The cars could look a bit better in my opinion, but that's but a minor gripe.

Sound 10/10
I love the music in this game. Simple, but really catchy and effective. It really sets the tone nicely. The basic sounds are pretty good too, as you'll hear the sound of dirt rubbing against your tires when you drive over it, and weapons exploding. Its these small attentions to detail that really help give the game a good presentation.

Final Verdict 9/10
All in all, this is a great game that is a serious bargain if you can find it. Definitely one of the best racing games on the GBA, and a game that you just can't go wrong picking up. The difficulty in the later stages could have been easier, but the AI is very good in the other stages so it isn't too big a deal. This ain't your usual "elastic-band" AI, they behave realistically, and play fair.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/06