I picked this game up for the same reason I got Ridge Racer 64, to keep me busy until Mario Tennis would be released. It's an N64 racing game on strange motorcycles, and its weapon system is one of the strangest ever. This game is very different from any other racing game I've ever seen, even its next-generation sequel XG3. In fact, XG3 doesn't even resemble this game at all except for the bikes.

Graphics: *1/2

Even for an N64 game, I was unimpressed with the graphics. They're too blurry. They're not terrible, but it's not like there's a lot to be excited over. One thing I do like: you get a feel for where you are. Whether or not it's supposed to give this effect, I don't know, but I always feel like I'm in some strange, secluded place on a rainy day. So, in some ways, the game gives that effect through the graphics, but maybe I'm supposed to feel like I'm on a different planet in a very exciting place, kind of like F-Zero X. If so, I'm not getting that effect from the graphics.

Sound: *

The sound category's score usually hinges on the music. Music? What music? If there's music in this game, I can't hear it. It's not necessarily bad, because that's a hundred times better than the awful techno-style of music in XG3. Still, I'd appreciate some music. The sound effects and such are all right, while the voice that says the name of each weapon when you earn it fits right into this game. When it tries to say "multi-homing-missile" it sounds more like "multi-imbecile". It fits well into the strangeness of this game, but that doesn't mean it makes it good.

Difficulty: *1/2

As strange as this game may seem, it's not all that difficult. Winning races is very possible if you get the right items, use them wisely, and make good use of your turbo as well. The tracks are pretty hard to follow, but even so you can still stay in front of your rivals. Fortunately, the difficulty of the tracks is enough to make this one semi-hard, but mainly easy.

Characters: *

The bikes are what I consider the characters, and even with their strange names, it's not like there's anything intriguing about these bikes. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's best to
take one that's strong in weapons into battle and one that's strong in acceleration into a race, but that's too obvious to you. Anyway, other than that, the bikes are just boring.

Controls: *

The controls are just plain confusing. If you don't change them, you could end up with your acceleration
being Z or R instead of A, and your main weapons at C Down. I don't understand why the controls had to be
made so differently from other games. It's not that hard to just go and change them, but I think you need a stupid Controller Pak to save them so you don't have to do it every time you play the game.

Weapons: ***

The weapons in this game are pretty useful, especially the rail gun, which can take out half of your opponents' energy with one use, although slowly. The homing missiles are very useful too. You can also
charge up a shot by holding down the Z button and letting go when the shot is at its largest, at which time it will home in on an opponent and hit them, although not as hard as a lot of other weapons would.

Tracks: **1/2

The tracks are pretty good, though not perfect. The courses take you through many strange places, and they
can be either fun or confusing. Sometimes you'll find a shortcut (always marked by track that looks like
water), and sometimes you'll get lost. All in all, however, I thought the tracks were exciting enough to make normal racing fun.

Battle Courses: ***1/2

This is where the game-makers really made up for the poor graphics and sound. Here, they have made
interesting battle "arenas", so to speak, where you attack your opponents. They include an Egyptian tomb
place in the desert, a strange environmental wasteland, and a strange place in the middle of nowhere with some columns of stone, along with a few more too. I think they did a good job with these.

Turning: **

A very important part of any racing game is the turning, as in how responsive the controls are and how easy or hard it is to get around bends. In this game, the controls are very responsive, but maybe a little TOO responsive, as you'll be turning past where you want to go. The narrow roads in some places don't make
things any better.

One-Player Racing: *

These are probably the most boring races in this game. Now sometimes you'll have an exciting, close race, and sometimes it will be an all-out blowout. Most of the time, it will be a blowout in this mode.

Multiplayer Racing: **1/2

These are usually more exciting races. Although it really matters how good your opponents are, at least
you'll have more fun than going it alone. I like this mode a lot more than being against computer racers by
myself.

Battle Mode: ****

This is hands-down the most fun mode of this game. Each player has their own energy bar, and each one
picks up weapons and fires at opponents to try to eliminate them. The fun and challenging courses matched with the nice weapons make this mode great. It's also very unpredictable, because if an opponent picks up a rail gun and uses it on you, they can pull off an upset and beat you at this. All in all, this is probably the best battle mode in a racing game outside of the Mario Kart series.

Replayability: 1/2

The only reason you'll want to play this game again is due to its battle mode. Really, the rest of the modes
don't provide you enough to want to play this game over and over again. So, it turns out being a game that is only worth a rent.

Fun Factor!: **1/2

Although one-player races can be boring, the fun is really all found in the battle mode. It is fun and engaging, while the rest of this game needs some work. The battle mode itself gets all of these stars, or maybe all but one-half given to the multiplayer racing mode.

OVERALL: **

This turns out being a mediocre game. Technically, it is not very good at all, with low quality in graphics,
sound, characters, and controls. However, if you look at the multiplayer side of this game, you'll see great
weapons, tracks, battle arenas, and the battle mode. So, although only one category is at 2 stars, the rest of this game averages out to that score, with so many things either being really good or really bad. Should you buy it? For $10, yes, just to play the battle mode with friends. But for anything more, a rent is better, just to try it out. It's not a must-have, just another mediocre racing game that excels in some things and flops in others.

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