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 Re-Volt Has Great Looking Tracks
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All of us racers at one time or another, whether it be at a young age or adulthood, have owned or at least have seen a remote control car. I can remember the unmistakable high pitch noise that most of them made. Even up at local groceries one can see remote control car tournaments taking place with homemade cars racing around a makeshift track. Remote control cars, today, have changed shape and style but still provide the original effect created by the first set. There are cars that can drive on both sides, those that can spin on one wheel, and even ones that can fire projectiles or morph into different forms.
Something that most of us think about when we hear "Remote Control Cars" are those amazing looking commercials that all the manufacturers provide to get sales. They portray their cars racing off of cliffs in the desert, cars blazing down a street at a remarkable pace, and racing around obstacles. Most of us did not have an environment around us that would provide us with the same scenery that was portrayed. FINALLY a company has come along with the temerity and fortitude to stand up to everyone else and release a game that gives the common person an opportunity to race remote control cars around deserts, through a neighbor's house, cruising under a T-Rex model, around a side of beef, and even along the Titanic! Acclaim has released Re-Volt, the first game of its kind that provides a really good racing experience.
Re-Volt differs from many racing games today because it provides many gameplay features for kids and adults to enjoy. Before even beginning a race the user is able to choose between many difficulty levels each with its own features. If you are a beginner you can choose Junior RC which makes crashes and speed more forgiving and drastically slowed down. For amateurs there are Console and Arcade. Console mode increases the speed of the cars but still retains the simplified collisions. Arcade is what most will be choosing because it offers the most well-rounded racing. Pros, on the other hand, may choose Simulation which adds a huge amount of realism to the way the cars handle and the collisions are not very forgiving.
We all know how many remote control cars are available today and Re-Volt portrays this well with a list topping 28 vehicles. Most of these cars, however, are not available in the beginning. To be able to play as all of them you have to win Championships and finish first in all the single races. This accomplishment will take many people a LONG time but it helps to keep the replay value way up there. The types of RC cars available all differ greatly and one can tell this when racing. There are the average looking cars that either look similar to NASCAR or Formula 1 cars but then there are the ones that are much different. One vehicle has 4 huge wheels, 2 on each side, that are taller then the car's body and this allows it to travel right-side up and upside-down. Also there are behemoth vehicles that can take massive amounts of damages but are slightly slower then the rest of the field. Another slightly odd vehicle is the final vehicle to be acquired and that is the Panda vehicle. Oh yeah, it is just a large panda on wheels. Strange but an incredibly awesome vehicle to have.
The control that Re-Volt has is excellent! Most of the cars are very easy to control and respond to your movements quick. It is only when racing with the faster cars that control gets a little slippery. Re-volt's realism is also great. With the large number of cars there has to be differences in the way they handle and there is. There is a real strategy involved in choosing between which car to use on which track. Plus, trying to figure out which car you feel most comfortable with is a task that must be done.
"With all these cars there better be some great tracks", oh there is. Re-Volt has some of the most innovative track design I have ever seen in games. Like the commercials there are tracks for everything. In the track "Toys From The Hood" you can race through a neighborhood and "Ghost Town" allows one to race through a deserted desert town. In all there are 14 tracks (each track has two variations, Toytanic 1 and Toytanic 2). But the back of the box is kind of deceiving, it reads "Race on over 50 tracks". This is somewhat correct but what adds up is the fact that you can race the tracks backwards, mirrored, and mirrored-backwards. Just another marketing ploy but it is somewhat correct. Do not expect 50 completely different tracks. There is even a stunt track for those who like to just race around and pull off tricks. Littered throughout the tracks are obstacles and jumps plus a whole slew of power-ups in the shape of lighting bolts. The tracks available are...
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POWER-UPS AVAILABLE |
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Re-Volt has soooo many features that make it so great. Yet another helpful addition is the excellent graphics. They are very smooth with a good 3D accelerator and look great! Textures on the pavement, dirt, etc. look awesome. The neighbor's sprinkler, abandoned car, loose shopping cart, and the gazebo in the backyard look masterful. Particle explosions and water balloon blast are all rendered beautifully. I promise you that you will be amazed.
Just to go over quickly, the sound in Re-Volt is top notch. It is not the greatest music but the techno beats sound really good. Plus the engine noises, explosions, and background noises like the dog barking are great.
One of the best additions to Re-Volt is the Track Editor Mode. Not many games have a track editor but Re-Volt's editor is very good. It is not the best because the backgrounds are all the same. But other then that it is very good. You can place dips in the road, hills, power-ups, turns, and much more. THe track editor is a very good addition that shows that Acclaim really had their thinking caps on when creating this game. A big blinking thumbs up.
Modes of play range from Time Trial, Single Race, Practice, and Championship Mode which all are self-explanatory. But then there is a Stunt Area where players can show off their skills. Try to collect all 20 stars littered throughout the track. Collecting them will unlock many game secrets. You will probably have to wait till later in the game to worry about this because faster cars are needed to get all the hard-to-reach stars. Multiplayer is also available in Re-Volt. You and up to seven friends or Internet buddies can test skills against one another over a LAN, TCP/IP, or Modem connection. This mode is always a welcomed addition to any racing game. Many players will get good use out of this feature.
Let me remind some of you, this game is not a NASCAR or Formula 1 type of game. It is more of a Mario Kart style game. Re-Volt looks like a children's game but it has the potential to become one of the year's best racing games because of the amount of depth involved. I have to admit that acquiring all the power-ups is very hard to do and the competition is very hard. Plus it is very frustrating to be near the finish line and get hit by a rocket or two and end up in 5th or 6th. Re-Volt has a very small amount of problems. You will be doing yourself a favor if you download the demo to try it out.
| -Nick Steinhauer |
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