This Cube game (also available on PS2 and Xbox) is EA Sports' version of the NASCAR racing series. NASCAR is a racing league of stock cars (in other words, cars that look like normal cars but have twice the capabilities). The genre is halfway between racing and sports since this type of racing is generally
considered a sport, but I don't want to say "sports genre" since that makes everyone here hit the Back
button as soon as they see it. It's more about racing than anything else, just organized racing.
Surprisingly, this Review is on the longest-running scale in Lemmy's Land (66 in a row!), which is 0-4 stars. Traditionally I use this second sentence of this paragraph to make a joke, but I've started to lose my touch when it comes to that.
Graphics: ***
I can't complain much about these graphics.
The wrecks look real, the pit crew looks pretty real, even the
spraying champagne looks real. What
more could you ask for? Well, paper-thin gas tanks and stuff on pit road
look bad, as do close-up shots of wrecked-up cars. lso, you never see your
racer jumping out of the car if it catches on fire, as I guess he just
decides to sit there and burn. Still, you won't find a prettier-looking
NASCAR game on the market. Although it doesn't compare to some nicer-looking
racing games of other sorts (namely Gran Turismo 3), this one's not bad.
Sound: ***1/2
I surprisingly liked the menu music
to this game. The engines sound real, the announcers sound fine, and
nearly all the sound effects sound
perfect... except for some of the crashes, which come out a little
quieter than you would think they would sound.
Difficulty: ****
The controls section of this Review
explains why this game is so hard, but here's a quick rundown: it's near-impossible
to pull off a good turn, the controls are horribly unresponsive, the computers
go much
faster than you can at top speed, you
usually start out in 22nd place, and even the easiest difficulty level
is about as hard as the hardest difficulty level in Mario Kart 64. (In
other words, this game makes Mario Kart 64 seem like a piece of cake.)
Characters: no stars
It's kind of hard to grade this category in this game since there are drivers but they all usually stay in their cars and rarely come out. They really don't make much of an appearance except for assistance on practice runs.
Controls: no stars
The game gets killed right here. The
cars are not responsive whatsoever to your Control Stick, especially when
turning. Even when turning is put on ultra-easy, it is still impossible
to get a good turn. 90 percent of the time you'll at least nick the wall,
even when overcompensating towards the grass (opposite the wall), and the
other 10 percent of the time you'll get slowed down a ton by either driving
on the grass (sometimes
disqualifing you) or hitting another
car. With no real feel of being able to step on the gas pedal (or however
the acceleration works in those special cars), the car just goes at whatever
speed it wants to (so it seems), and you're usually not able to get up
to speed with the other cars. This game would be perhaps a little better
on the PS2, as every button is analog, so if you impound your thumb into
the X button the car will respond in that way. On the Cube it isn't made
that way, and you're kind of stuck at whatever speed the car gives you.
What can I say about the effect of the controls on the game as a whole?
What a shame.
Loading Speed: ***1/2
I haven't used this category for a long time, but it is in order here. This game loads very quickly in comparison with most other EA Sports games. Granted, the Cube version is probably doubly fast than the PS2 version and triply fast than the Xbox version, but I'm reviewing the Cube version, so that's the way it goes.
Cars: *
The bad part about the car selection
is that there really isn't much of a difference between them. Sure,
maybe you're a fan of a certain driver
and then you'd want whoever that is. But if not, it really doesn't make
any real difference. There isn't any rating scale that changes the performance
of each car.
Tracks: 1/2
The tracks are very boring, but this
was expected. NASCAR is usually on a stupid oval that you circle
around for three or four hours. There
are a few tracks that are a little more fun (called "road tracks"- but
they really aren't on a real road), but the best thing to do is make the
race length 2 or 3 percent so it only takes you eight laps at the most
on these tracks. They are so boring I have fallen asleep twice in the middle
of races. They are really that bad.
Create-A-Car: **
This mode is fun because you can create
your own driver and paint job, get sponsors, name your driver, get
a number, and some other things as
well. Why doesn't it get more than 2 stars? Simple. If you ever play a
game with create-a-player or create-a-character,
you usually (99 percent of the time) edit the stats of that
character. In this game, you can't
edit your car's stats. What if you want to make it good at turning, and,
in turn, have to lower the acceleration? Nope.How about making the top
speed higher while decreasing the balance of the car? Sorry. It's fun to
make a flashy-looking car, but other than that, you're not getting any
benefit over having a normal car. In other words, the point of the create-a-car
mode is missed entirely. I'm truly amazed.
Lightning Challenge: **1/2
This type of mode is needed in some
other sports titles I know. It's a mode where you take the car of a certain
driver and re-enact history. You either try to win a race just like that
driver did, or you
try to win unlike what that driver
did (or you try to simply avoid taking ANY damage whatsoever). I've actually
won quite a few of these due to the fact that I started out in either 1st
or 2nd or perhaps even 3rd. In this mode it seems like the difficulty is
made a little easier for some strange reason. It actually makes something
possible to beat in this game. However, about two thirds of the challenges
are extremely hard, so don't get excited. If this type of a mode was in
a game like NCAA Football 2003, I guarantee it would be awesome, but in
this game it comes out only above-average.
Thunder License: *
This is a time-trial mode of sorts. With advice from drivers (which doesn't really help the controls any), you race to beat a certain time on the clock. If you beat it, you win a plate. If you don't, you keep on racing until you either beat it or go a certain number of laps. Most of the time you'll end up going that certain number of laps, or maybe you'll be like me and fall asleep in the middle of a lap...
Thunder Plates: **1/2
This was a good idea: license plates that you can earn, which give you new tracks, drivers, paint jobs, or slight power-ups to your car. It's a great concept, but the problem is that they are very hard to earn... so hard that you'll most likely never get every single one.
Quick Race Mode: *1/2
This mode is self-explanatory. It's a single race for one to four players. Fun... or not. No, it's pretty boring unless you do it the way I sometimes do it (explained later in Fun Factor!).
Season Mode: **
This mode is okay... it's basically
just a bunch of races tied together. You pick which races (at least
five), then you play for points (more
similar to the Mushroom Games than Mario Kart 64, as all racers get points).
The racer with the most points wins the championship. It's only a little
better than a single race because there's a point to racing.
Career Mode: ***
This is basically a string of seasons. One big difference: you have to earn money to gain or keep sponsorships, you need money for repairs, and during the offseason you can pay for research on technogical advances to make your car faster and better. Finally, a way to make your car better! Why wasn't this in the create-a-car section?
Value: 1/2
This "retired" category is back in my
Reviews again. This game was definitely NOT worth $50. Maybe it was
worth $20 or $30, but not $50. The
only thing I think is worth any money is the thing I mention below in the
Fun Factor! section.
Replayability: *
I've pretty much buried this game. Like
several others before it, this game is one that was fun for a little
while, may be fun for a little more,
but not a serious contender for being a great game.
Fun Factor!: ***
Here's what makes this game fun: Running
through the track backwards, right at 42 oncoming cars. It's
absolutely hilarious. You can watch
cars go flying and burn, wreck up others' cars and yours, cause huge
pile-ups, and force other cars to have
to run off for pit stops. It's a lot of fun, and I'm being serious by
saying it's the most fun thing in this
game. Aside from that, normal races are not really that fun. You
usually don't have the neck-and-neck
excitement of Mario Kart 64 and last-second victories of F-Zero X. But
when you drive the wrong way...
OVERALL: *1/2
It's very hard for me to decide between 1 and 1 1/2 stars, but this game gets the extra half-star for the fun included. Aside from that, it's only really worth a rent. It gets old way too quickly, and the unresponsive controls kill it. Unless you really enjoy finishing last in races with no hope of winning or coming back, or you really enjoy crashing into everyone, this game really isn't worth it. Right now it's the biggest bust this fall of 2002... but there are lots of games to go.
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