A game all about VW? What the??
Written: Nov 01 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sounds/Music, Huge Levels, Lots of Cheats, Smooth lovely graphics
Cons: multiplayer gets boring, not much else
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| xToXox's Full Review: Beetle Adventure Racing for Nintendo 64 |
The Nintendo 64 has always had a small game library. There is rarely a good game that gets lost in a shuffle, or a horrible game that doesn’t get blasted by critics and gamers alike. There is never a game (good or bad) that doesn’t get some publicity or hype. That is why I am so surprised so few people have heard of Beetle Adventure Racing. If there is a genre of games that the N64 is abundant in, it is defiantly racing games. There are simulation type racers (NASCAR), go-cart type racers (Diddy Kong), and the extreme type racers (SF Rush). Beetle Adventure Racing has a little bit of everything.
The game starts of with a 70ish intro sequence, showing cars flying through the air with funky disco music. The menu selection is easily navigable and well laid out. After selecting Championship Mode, I was disappointed to find only two cars to begin with. I know the game is called Beetle Adventure Racing, but they could have thrown in other types of Volkswagen cars. From there on in, the game is full of immersing eye candy, with smooth gameplay. The screen is laid out nicely with a nifty speedometer that was taken from Need for Speed. Then it was off to the races. The diminutive Beetle has a believable engine sound, quite natural. The screeching of the tires and crashing sounds were nice. I also liked bopping on the horn when I was passing a pitiful computer. The music was perfect; it wasn’t so horrible that you would mute the TV, but wasn’t so good that you spend more time listening to it than playing the game. In my opinion, you should listen to some 70’s funk while playing this game anyways.
The cars handle surprisingly well. It isn’t hair trigger steering, but it never feels like you are driving through mashed potatoes. It is also easy to pick up, and wont take too long to learn which button does which or how much to press the joystick. The car has fairly real physics, but the car does have a tendency to go flying hundreds of video game feet through the air when propelled off a large jump. I also disliked the crashes. On impact the Beetle shatters like it was made out of glass. A neat effect, but somewhat unsuitable. It also wasn’t consistent enough. Sometimes it would shatter if you just nicked a wall, and other times you would come to a complete stop and have to back up. As I got better and stopped crashing as frequently this problem disappeared. Easily the weakest element of the game is the water crashes. There is water in several of the courses, and like in most racers there is a tendency to drive into these pools of water. This game is no different, but instead of a huge SPLASH that would be expected from a Beetle there is just a little plunk. Crashing in a racing game is usually quite satisfying (See SF Rush) but I was disappointed by this game.
The game's strong point is defiantly the courses. People often judge a game because it has too few courses, but 5 or 6 well designed courses beat out 15 or 16 poor ones. The courses are typical video game fare: the countryside, a snowy mountain, a tropical island, a sandy desert, a busy city, and an overgrown forest. The tracks are massive feeling more like a level in a platform game. You could go through a dinosaur-infested jungle, a dingy swamp, a seaside town, a fiery volcano and a pirate battle in one track! There are shortcuts galore in this game. Crashing through walls and falling off bridges will take you entirely new parts of the level, often putting you ahead of the competition. These routes themselves feel like mini-tracks altogether. Each route has nifty sound effects too, when you drive under a crashed UFO there are weird alien noises. Some of the shortcuts are just for variety, and some are to get the bonus boxes, which I will talk about later. The computer controller cars are worthy opponents. There are a couple which always lag behind, but the rest of them are fiendish drivers. The honk at you if you cut them off and will try and block you off the road. Some are skilled drivers others rely on the speed of their vehicles. I could go on and on about the different tracks, but I would be sure to miss something as they are so huge and varied.
Most gamers like cheats, tricks, and little surprises and this game has a bagfull. There are wooden crates scattered throughout the courses with numbers on them. The points are cumulative throughout the race and they provide you with bonuses. If you manage to total 50 points, you are rewarded with a continue, 100 and you get a multiplayer bonus level. These boxes are easy to find on the first couple of levels, but the later ones are well hidden. There are also Flower Power Boxes, which open up cheats on the cheat menu. They open up cheats to modify such things as braking power, and multiplayer health. I didn’t like the multiplayer in this game. It was almost too hard to get some of the bonus levels, and usually wasn’t worth it. It is much like the Battle Mode in Mario Kart. Beetle Battle as it’s called squares you off against up to 3 other players. It’s a race to collect different colored beetle icons, which are scattered throughout the level. Some of the icons require you to go off huge jumps and others require precision driving. I admit it was fun to see the little Beetle fire a barrage of missiles but I soon switched back to more enjoyable one player.
All in all, this game is definitely a keeper. It has some faults, but they are usually forgotten when cruising the massive levels. It is one of the most enjoyable racers I have ever played on N64 almost topping my personal favorite SF Rush. If you like racing games, and aren’t one of those people who care what car they are driving I suggest you buy it. For every one else at least rent this game. Don’t deprive yourself of this marvelous game.
Recommended:
Yes
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xToXox
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Location: Jacksonville, Florida
Reviews written: 24
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