Game Over Online ~ Snowmobile Racing

GameOver Game Reviews - Snowmobile Racing (c) GT Interactive, Reviewed by - Cyrus

Game & Publisher Snowmobile Racing (c) GT Interactive
System Requirements P133, 16MB RAM
Overall Rating 41%
Date Published Monday, December 7th, 1998 at 10:08 AM


Divider Left By: Cyrus Divider Right

Racing games have been around since video games were first invented. Often they are marvels of computer graphics. Demonstrating the newest effects, games such as the Need for Speed series and Dethkarz demonstrate what 3d accelerators are truly capable of. Some racing games focus purely on gameplay and are instant classics, my personal favorite being Big Red Racing. Unfortunately the racing game genre suffers from a huge amount of bad titles. Snowmobile Racing is one of these, not terrible in every way but pretty poor overall.

Snowmobile racing is just that, snowmobile racing. You are able to pick from a large variety of mobiles but there are only four tracks. This, and the lack of a tournament mode or multiplay, made this game pale in comparison too many other racing games currently on the market.

Graphics:
The graphics are mediocre at best. There is very little detail throughout the levels or on the characters. I found myself becoming very bored by the courses very quickly and losing interest after the first lap. There are some nice effects like snow trails and ice. The reflective surface of the ice is very impressive. The environments are very static and devoid of life. This makes the game seem very unreal. I didn't notice any tearing or random dots but I did notice a jerkiness at times even when there was not much on the screen. Direct3d does a good job at accelerating this game but it only is able to do so much. There are only three character animations and I found this somewhat disappointing. Falling is a standard animation which bothered me as it would have been pretty cool to watch my driver fly across the track spraying up snow as he went. The menu system is very ugly and kills the feel of the game. Textures are clean and the sky looks exceptionally nice. Overall the graphics are nothing new and some effects, such as lens flares, that should be present are not.

Sound:
There are only three or four sounds in this entire game. One for the menu system, one for engine noise, one for jumping and one when you start a race. Every sound is well recorded and very clear but lacks originality. The engine noise seems accurate and syncs well with the games action. After the first track the sound became very repetitive and I would have liked more variety. Overall high quality sound, just not enough of it.

Multiplay:
This game needs multiplayer badly. With almost any racing game today, multiplayer makes or breaks it. A lack of even split screen play shows the amount of time that the developers spent on this game and it is not a good image.

Gameplay:
I was very excited when I claimed snowmobile racing because I expected that it would be something new. Unfortunately it's not. This game is the easiest racing game I have ever played. I won on each of the four tracks the first time I played. I then upped the difficulty and won again. The game does not have a tournament mode or a chance to win championships. It is all based around time trials. I found this very boring and without purpose. Without the prospect of winning there is very little that makes me want to play this game. The jumps also disappointed me. Tricks and aerial maneuvers could have made this into an excellent game. Too bad they are not included. Control is satisfactory and very easy to pick up as there are only four buttons. I was unable to use my gamepad which I find necessary in order to play racing games. Overall poor gameplay that just needed a little bit more attention.

Fun Factor:
Since this game is so easy it is not very fun. The level design is so boring and so repetitive that I cannot wait to delete this game. Multiplay could have beeen fun but I wouldn't know since they neglected to include it. Overall a very boring game that has replay value for about five minutes.

Overall Impression:
I had a good initial impression by the cool ice effects but that feeling quickly passed when I was shocked by the terrible gameplay, tracks and animation. I don't recommend picking this up and I am happy that I am done with it. My overall feeling is that this game had promise but just needs more attention and more features.

 

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Rating
41%
 

 

 
 

 

 

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