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in a new
approach i wanted to review a batch of games to see what's
best. the goal is not to give you a beefy review of every
little feature (especially since some of these games are old
news) but that you will have a better idea where to spend your
time and hard earned $$ by seeing these games compared against
each other.
the topic: racing
with project gotham being at ground zero for the x-box this
machine is made for racing. i got my hands on as many racing
games as i could and here is the result...
the games:
rallisport challenge (4.5 planets)
burnout (3 planets)
crazy taxi (1 planet)
project gotham (4 planets)
wreckless (2.5 planets) |
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there are two camps of games - "reality" and "over the top"
(ott)
the realists
this camp includes rallisport, gotham and (surprisingly)
burnout. rallisport is the undisputed champ. the graphics are
as slick as gotham and the frustration factor is lower than
the kudos system in gotham. the environments are slick, sound
is great and the controls are straightforward. burnout comes
in last in this category and it's too bad because it could
easily be the champ in the ott category. this is the critical
flaw in burnout, the crashes are awesome but the only way to
get ahead in the game is not to crash.
the impressionists
my personal slant is towards this side, the best thing about a
good ott game is that (if it is a 5 planet game) you should be
able to play it straight and it should be as much fun as a
"reality" racing game, but you've got the added bonus of being
able to crash into stuff and do some incredible arial stunts.
past favorites in this class are carmaggedon for the pc and
top gear daredevil for the ps2. sadly, i have not yet found a
winner in this category. i have yet to try simpson's road
rage, so i would be interested in anything people have to say
about that. totalled! came out this week but reviews i have
read say that it sucks....
crazy taxi was the game i was most excited about, i was even
considering purchasing it until i had played it for a couple
of days. after playing i felt like giving wreckless a half
star raise. the graphics are not even close to wreckless and
worst of all, when things get thick the screen has a serious
lag. the killer for this steaming turd are the stupid little
missions you have to complete to unlock maps and cars. i hit a
new frustration peak with a jump course that moved
batman:vengence to the #2 most frustrating game of all time.
as ramz mentioned in his wreckless review, taxi also has the
clock running to keep the "rushed" feeling. if you've played a
level more than 30 times and you still can't beat the timer
you start asking yourself "why would i ever play this over nhl
hitz or halo?". the key beating the clock are two moves, the
crazy dash and the crazy drift which are absurdly difficult to
control.. in some levels you have to do both at the same time
which requires a perfectly timed trigger release and pull with
a button, while holding down two other buttons. even my mad
catz controller with a programmable macro was no help. not
only that, there are a bunch of drivers and taxis, but as far
as i tested they all had the same performance... oh, did i
mention that there's no multi-player?
the winnahz!
play rallisport unless (like me) you
really need to hear broken glass and watch pedestrians run for
cover. wreckless will work until something good comes along... |
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buy this game @
amazon.com |
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