This game is very closely related to the game I reviewed last week, California Speed. The same game
company made this game for the same system, Nintendo 64. The genre is the same: racing, through different
parts of the world. In fact, many of the cars look similar, and the same cardboard cutouts of girls are at the end of every race. It’s also another arcade import, and yet another that was a lot more fun at the arcade than as a N64 game. The voices are even close to being the same, and... you get the point.

This game is reviewed on the 0-4 star scale I always use. Nothing new, of course.

Graphics: **1/2

I’ll say this: this game looks a ton better than California Speed. The cars are a lot crisper, and the
surroundings look a lot more real. That’s not to say there’s nothing to be desired. The trees and bushes
could be more than cardboard cutouts. The turns in the roads could look more like curves, not sharp,
octagonal turns. But, for the N64, the graphics are above-average.

Sound: *1/2

There are many different music tracks in this game, but that doesn’t exactly mean they’re all good. There’s some kind of techno music that annoys me to death, and some others that are annoying too. I do like the China music and Miami music, as they go well with the environment, enough to almost give this an average score. As for the rest, well, turn the sound off.

Difficulty: ***

This is one of those many racing games where if you make one mistake, you won’t be able to catch the
leader. You’ll have to take several shortcuts, and a few of those don’t save you that much time. However, I’m not saying this is an impossible game to beat. If you concentrate on staying on the road, you should finish in the top three most races. Still, that doesn’t mean you’ll win often, and I’m warning you now, it’ll take a while to start consistently beating the computers.

Controls: *1/2

The controls are very simple: A to accelerate, B to brake, and the Control Stick to turn. A very interesting note: it’s impossible to go the wrong way in this game, and you’ll never have to go in reverse, because if you hit something, it will most of the time spin you out so you’re back on the track. That’s good, because there is no reverse control in this game. There are some stunts you can pull off with your car, like popping a wheelie by hitting A quickly twice. Of course, there are even more, but I always pull them off by accident due to the fact that the instructions never tell you what they are. The controls are actually TOO responsive at times (especially the turning!), too, but not enough that it’ll ruin the game.

Turning: *

Ah, the fun of turning when the controls are too responsive! You’ll be flying into the other lane or into a wall or into another vehicle constantly if you don’t watch it! The turns are tight, too, and overturning doesn’t help, believe me. Frequent walls, trees, and cars won’t make things any better, either.

Courses: *

The courses are of some interesting places, like Miami, Hawaii, New York, London, Italy, China, and France. These are places on the planet Earth, for those of you who are stuck on Plit. It’s too bad the places don’t have much that’s exciting. France just has a bunch of trees and tall grass, New York just has lots of turns, and China’s but a run along the great wall. Sure, some shortcuts spice things up a little bit, but not enough for fun. You can even visit the Moon, but you’ll be very disappointed. It is only a gray road around lots of curves and a few rocks on the sides. Yeah, that’s it. Even an unreal experience with aliens would be better than this, which was one of my biggest disappointments. After all, in a racing game, if you don’t enjoy the tracks nor the music, what’s there to love about it?

Vehicles: ***1/2

Surprisingly, this is the best part of this entire game. You can choose from a three-wheel truck to a big rig to an ambulance to a police car to a school bus to a double-decker bus! With some good play, you’ll be able to color them two-tone, which I enjoyed. Yes, I loved being able to make my bus green and yellow, not purple and white. If I enjoyed anything about this game, it was this I did the most.

Unlockables: ***

Well, what can you unlock? You can make your cars faster, for one thing. Also, you can make paint your cars, eventually two-tone. These were nice, as were the few extra cars and two extra courses. I did expect more, however, like lots of new tracks and cars, while there weren’t really that many. Still, these were enough to make my playing experience somewhat enjoyable.

Cruisin’ Mode: **

This is the heart and the soul of this game. Is it good or bad? Well, it’s more like mediocre. You’ll enjoy it for a while, but with the difficulty and frustration, you’ll probably not enjoy the end of this one. The Moon isn’t that great of a track, unfortunately, and that’s the end. However, you may like this somewhat due to the fact that there’s actually a point to winning.

One-Player Single Race Mode: no stars

This is hard and frustrating, plus you’ve got no one to go with you. It’s not fun whatsoever. Plus, even if you do win, so what?

Multiplayer Single Race Mode: ***

This is more fun, because you’ll be actually against someone else. You’ll get to beat other live people, and actually have a reason to cheer. It’s always more fun when you beat someone who actually feels the pain of defeat, while you rub it in.

Single Race Mode: *1/2

To sum it all up, the single races aren’t as fun, nor do they really serve a purpose. However, if you’re with a live opponent, or maybe two or three others, you’ll like this. I didn’t like going it alone at all, but playing with others was pretty nice. This is an average of the two above scores.

Replayability: *

Ah, here’s something this game lacks: being able to play this game over and over and over again, like I love to do with my favorite games. This one lasts a few weeks of sporadic play, but afterward you’ll find yourself looking for Mario Kart 64 or F-Zero X, a racing game that doesn’t die. The unlockables only last so long, unfortunately.

Fun Factor!: **1/2

Is this game fun? Somewhat, but only if you’re playing with a live opponent. Sure, it’s great if it’s you against others who can hold controllers. But if you’re against computers, well, then you’ve lost the fun of it all. Overall, it actually is above-average, on the basis of fun, that is.

OVERALL: *1/2

This one misses the mark. Its predecessor in the arcades, Cruisin’ USA, was a classic. This one’s not got the fun of smashing deers, telephone poles and toll booths. If you hit anything in this game, you slow down or spin out. That’s not good for an arcade-style racing game. It’s technically better of a game than California Speed, although the tracks of California Speed are a ton better. I say skip them both. The only way they’re worth it is if you play them in the arcade, not at home.

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