One day, I was looking at a leaflet which came with my Nintendo 64, which showed me screenshots of Diddy Kong Racing. I though to myself, "Ha, it's not likely that I'm going to buy this rubbish!" But, I had forgotten about the old saying: never judge a book by its cover.

I am going to rate this on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent. There are six sections in the Review: story, graphics, sound, difficulty, controls, and replayability; so get ready for the ride of your life.

Story: 3

The story to this game in intriguing but very very unusual. It refers to past games, which is a good thing, but come on, one of the characters is going crazy because this weird elephant/genie guy has come back. It's just so random. Well, in my opinion anyway. It is perfectly normal for an island in the middle of nowhere to be inhabited by a talking clock which owns many many racetracks. Yes... so normal...

Graphics: 4

Yes, we all know that this is for the Nintendo 64, and the graphics, compared to consoles like the Nintendo GameCube, seem terrible. But, hang on a sec, these graphics... they are unique. They still have the flat trees and plants, but if you ignore that and look at the scenery around your racer, you will be surprised. The racers all have their own style, and a totally different look. I gave it a 4 because the makers of this game sure know how to make use of an N64, graphic-wise.

Sound: 4

When i first raced in the Walrus Cove level, I loved the song. I haven't played this game in a while, but can still remember what it sounds like. The music is unlike any other I have heard before, and each song has a catchy jingle that gets stuck in your head. In a good way, I mean.

There is only one fault- the character voices. Almost as annoying as the Crazy Frog, when you select a character or collide with them in a race, they will make a stupid little noise which goes right through my head. If the designers of this game would have made the voices a bit less annoying, then I definitely would have given sound a 5.

Difficulty: 5

Oh no, the dinosaur squashed me again. This is an extremely hard game, in my opinion. Yes, I know what you're thinking. How is it so hard? But, I am talking about the bosses and the silver coin challenge. Some bosses are hard, some bosses are super hard. Also, the boss cheats every time you race him. The silver coin challenges are hard, depending on which course you have to get them on. These require you to collect all eight  coins, and finish in first place. Now that's what I call hard. The starting levels are quite easy, but the bosses and silver coin challenges? No.

Controls: 3

This is where it loses points. When you are playing in Adventure Mode, you can only use the car when you first race in most levels, so you can't use the hovercraft or plane. Whenever I play multiplayer with my friends, I always choose the hovercraft or plane. The car is not extremely hard to drive, but the steering is not good, whereas the hovercraft and plane have fairly sensitive steering. A tip for multiplayer mode: don't use the car!

Replayability: 5

Well, I've beaten Wizpig and all the bosses, and done all the trophy races, so now what do i do? Well, there are many things to choose from. There are the battle stages to play through, times to beat, and many many other options. A personal favorite of mine is to select Tiptup and fly around the island in the plane, making loads of loops. I think that's fun. This is a real strong point of the game, and couldn't be improved any more.

Overall: 4

Well, I definitely think this game deserves a 4 beause of the greatness of it all. Aww, those animals are so cute. I suggest, if you like racing games, and if you like a good challenge, that this game is for you!

Want to review a game yourself? Email me!
Go back to Lemmy's Reviews.
Go back to my main page.