A few of you with giant-sized memories may remember that before two weeks ago, I had started a N64 racing game series of Reviews. Well, that series is back again. This is a game I picked up for $20 because Mario Tennis wasn't in stores yet and I wanted a game to keep me busy until then. At the time, I thought racing games were the best thing in the world, and that's probably only because I liked Mario Kart 64 (I don't even think I had F-Zero X at the time). That's probably the only reason why I even picked up this game.

Once again, I am reviewing on a 0-4 star scale. And this time, I'm not estatic about the game I'm reviewing.

Graphics: *

The background and tracks don't look very great, to say the least, and the cars look less than real. Some of this game looks really bad, and it's definitely not what I'd consider good graphics, or even okay graphics. It's 3D, and you can tell the difference between the road and the cars, so I guess it's not all bad. That's about all that's great about the graphics in this one.

Sound: *1/2

The game has two good sound tracks out of the ten or so that are offered, which have the names Gunn Runner and Manual Override. The rest are really, really annoying. Even Gunn Runner can be a little annoying, but the Diddy Kong Racing style of music makes it pretty good. Manual Override is a nice mix of guitar and synthesizer, if I'm correct in my musical terms. It's the one that can make a boring race worth staying awake through. Oh, the rest stink, if you didn't get that yet.

Difficulty: ****

I haven't reviewed a game this difficult in a long time. This game is impossible. Repeat: impossible. No, it's not just that I can't win. In fact, I can win several later races. The fact is, there is not enough time to get from checkpoint to checkpoint in later races. You run out of time. You don't even come two seconds away, you're ten seconds from making it there. It's impossible, except if you're so desperate to get something out of this game like me and use a GameShark to get maximum time and always be in first place. Winning any race is hard, by the way. After all, if you can't finish the race, how can you win? I have won, though, it's just very, very hard. How hard is it? You start out in 12th place, and your opponents are practically half a lap ahead of you. You slowly gain on them, but one crash into a wall, which is inevitable, will take you out of contention. And here's the catch: if you don't finish first, you don't get anything. Simple as that.

Cars: 1/2

The cars in this game aren't that great that you'll want to waste your time trying to win them. Three cars are good: the caddy car (golf cart), Screaming Eagle, and 64 car. Besides those, it's not even worth trying. It's a stretch for me to even give 1/2 a star, but the three good ones deserve something.

Controls: ***

The controls are simple: A is accelerate, B is brake, C Down is self-destruct game, C Up is convert game to F-Zero X, C Right is call the mental hospital, because you're crazy to be playing this game...

Tracks: 1/2

Okay, the tracks need serious work. Although a trip past a golf course and through a construction zone is nice, I'd much prefer for it to be possible to go off-road somehow, sometime. There is absolutely, positively no possible way to go off-road in this game. What does that mean? If you accidentally mishandle a turn, you're going to wipe out, going right into the wall. Plus, they lack any real excitement. There's a railroad crossing in this game, similar to Mario Kart 64's Kalimari Desert. What's not similar is that the train remains parked on a side track the whole time, giving no excitement at all. It's impossible to go in reverse, too. You're basically just smashing the A button and moving the Control Stick, hoping somehow your opponents will turn on the brakes and that the timer will freeze so you can make it to the shortcut. Isn't that fun?

Steering: no stars

This is a problem in all bad racing games: it's very hard to steer. Yes, you can't go off-road, but that means you're going to crash into walls and wipe out, stopping totally. I'd rather at least slow down than crash. So, winning is made even harder. I don't know why a game is made to be more hard than it is fun, to be honest with you.

Story: only joking

Being a racing game, this game naturally has no story (not that many racing or sports games do). So, I can't really give this category a score. This brings up a point: Do you ever wonder why Reviews contain this category even if there's no story whatsoever? Is it to take up space, or is it a joke? I say leave it out if there's no story, put it in if there is one. There's no reason a game should get a low score for something that it doesn't have. In that case, it can't and shouldn't be reviewed. Since this game has no story, but a rating of no stars would mean it has a horrible story, not that it has no story. No story means no rating whatsoever. Thank you for letting me let me waste your time here, maybe it will stop others from wasting your time as well.

One-Player Mode: no stars

If you want to waste fifteen minutes of racing time and frustration, this is the mode for you. You can also earn cars and tracks, but not only is it not worth it, you can't win them even if you wanted to! Okay, if you play really well you can win a few, and if you cheat you can win them all slowly. I only play it to listen to Manual Override, and even that's not worth it.

Multiplayer Mode: **1/2

Wait a minute... a worthwhile mode? Yes, if you play it with team rules. With team rules, you can play four players, with 1st getting 5 points, 2nd 3 and 3rd 1, while 4th 0. Then, race a series of races and try to get your team to come out on top! Of course, if you're good enough, all three opponents combined won't hurt you, because winning is better than their points combined, but don't mention that to the game-makers. If that were changed so that you actually need team effort, it would actually mean that it would be a team mode, not a one-player showoff. They couldn't actually do something right with this one, could they?

Replayability: *

The races are dull, most of the cars likewise, and the tracks don't help much. You may play this game again if you're playing with friends, and that's the only reason why one star is up there, not zero.

Fun Factor!: no stars

Even when you are playing against friends, you still probably won't be enjoying yourself much, because the races are so boring and usually blowouts (no contest). I don't even need to say any more about the one-player mode. You'd be crazy to actually try to earn all the cars. By the way, I did (cheating).

OVERALL: 1/2

As bad as the other two N64 racing games may have been, this one is even worse. This game doesn't provide the fun and can't come through with any good gameplay or graphics. Even the sound wasn't too great, except for one song. All in all, if you want a racing game for your N64, pick up either F-Zero X or Mario Kart 64, but make sure you steer completely, and I mean completely, away from this one. This has got to be one of the worst racing games ever, and only avoids the no stars rating due to not enough frustration to make me really hate it. One minor thing on the side: don't buy or rent it.

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