GT Advance Championship Racing

"It Could Have Been So Much Better..."

When I first heard about this game, I was very excited to say the least. I thought since it was a part of the Gran Turismo series, it would be a top notch racer just because well, it is a Gran Turismo. Was I dissappointed? Yes, yes I was.

The gameplay is the only real flaw to it. The driving is supposed to be the main part of the game, but it seems as if they focused on something else more. I guess that would be the graphics.

The tracks are average. Most of them have less than 10 turns on them to make a lap. When you are driving and need to turn, you sometimes will not find out about the turn ahead of time and you will careen into a wall which will cause you to lose so much time, it is ridiculous. Something else wrong with the actual driving is turning. The turning seems to only be successful if you make a COMPLETE stop and then gently turn. This will cause you to lose position yet again. These are really the only flaws to the gameplay but since it IS a racing game, they are pretty major flaws. The rest of the gameplay is pretty average.

The cars are mostly import cars. Japanese imports at that. This is a pretty great thing to me since I do like those types of cars. This will obviousely be a big turn off if you are an American muscle-car or whatever fan. Anyways, the cars range from Mazda RX-7's, Honda S2000's and Civic's, to Subaru WRX's and more of the likes of those cars.

If you race and win first, you can win new tracks, new cars, and new parts for your car (mufflers, spoilers, body kits, turbo, and etc). The races are generally pretty tough. The a.i. is good and can get tough at times. Well, the only other flaw to the game that I can think of besides the ones mentioned earlier, is the fact that it isn't a battery save game. Now, you might say, ''Well that shouldn't be THAT bad'', but it is for me. I just hate having to right down a password and enter it every time that I want to play the game. This might not be a bad thing for you. I guess the replayability would be good if you like racing over and over. It will take you a long time to unlock everything also.

The graphics are pretty good for GBA. The cars look great in gameplay and the backgrounds and levels are pretty to look at. The sound is average I guess. It isn't that great, but it isn't that bad.

Well, I guess this would be a pretty good buy if you are in need of a racing game on the GBA although there are plenty more that are better than this.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/03, Updated 01/16/03