As I was looking through the Dreamcast games at my local Blockbuster I was looking to pick out a game I had never really heard of before. Vanishing Point caught my eye, I checked out the back and the graphics encouraged me even more, so I thought to myself "This is just what I am looking for". Another thing that attracted me was that it was published by Acclaim. Acclaim is ranked in the top 5 video game publishers, in my book, this made me wonder why I had never heard of this game. Nevertheless, I rented Vanishing point and now I will rate the game.

I will be rating this game on 4 main categories: Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Lasting Appeal.

Gameplay - What is kind of funny about this game is that the gameplay gets better the more you play. You start off with 2 vehicles, Ford Mustang Cobra and the Ford Explorer, neither of which was fun to drive. Not only did it make the game more difficult and at times frustrating, but it almost made me want to turn the power off and drive back to Blockbuster. As you may have already figured out there is an up side to the gameplay as well. I couldn't believe how much there was to unlock, cars, modes, courses, and more it was unbelievable. For this reason I would actually say the gameplay is average, nothing to brag about but it gets the job done.

Graphics - It's obvious, the graphics are amazing, the potential of the Dreamcast was shown in Vanishing Point. What really got me when it comes to the graphics was that the game seemed fast, the effect that the game gives is very exciting. I'm sure you have played racing games where it feels like you are racing 25 mph, Vanishing Point could not be farther from this. Not only were the cars beautiful, but the courses and tracks were done with tremendous detail, very nice job done overall.

Sound - The sound is something that really could have made the game a whole lot better. With such a fast-paced action packed game, a soundtrack that complemented it well would have done wonders for its overall rating. That said, the sound was mediocre, it really could and should have been better, but it certainly was not bad.

Lasting Appeal - Why buy a game that you will play for a day or two? I can assure you that Vanishing Point will give you many days worth of value. The reason for this is because of all the cars, modes, tracks that you can unlock. All this and something I haven't even mentioned yet, you can download cars off the internet, pretty cool, huh?

I have written video game reviews the last 3 days (including today) and each day I have called the game a sleeper. Vanishing Point is a sleeper, and in case you are not familiar with my video game reviews (you should be!), a sleeper is a game that doesn't have any type of publicity, a game that nobody thinks will be anything good, and turns out to be a game worth checking out. That's exactly what you should do if you think Vanishing Point sounds like a game that would interest you.

Recommended: Yes