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By Lonnie on November 20th, 2001
Introduction Exactly what was Titus thinking when they decided to release yet another RC racer? Perhaps we will never know because this is one of the most fun and addicting RC games to date.
Team15 has managed to take the dull, slow, and boring elements of previous RC games and make them disappear. So with the holiday rush among us many might find it easy to pass up another "Radio Controlled" Racing title. Lets hope its not their only mistake.Presentation At first glance StuntGP does indeed appear to be similar to titles such as Revolt on the Dreamcast. It is fairly easy to navigate the menu’s and get to where you are going. Load times are fairly short compared to Top Gun, Titus’ other title available for the Ps2 this holiday season.
Again Team15 are sticking to the "Keep it Simple" policy.Graphics & Sound I won’t even mention how bad I hate the repetitive music in this game. This game lacks any hint of a professionally done soundtrack, no let me put it this way, the only real way to enjoy the music in this game it to put your TV on mute and play that new green day super hits album! Graphics on the other hand are beautiful. The only major gripe about the graphics is the lacking animation of the wheels. Sometimes when the car is in motion the wheels are not. We also noticed some minor popup when going off the course. Everything is to scale you will find yourself traveling under cars and next to a jet ski, adding to the RC feel of the game. While overall the surrounding are less detailed they very colorful giving the game a unique touch, we liked this very much considering the industry has been on this whole make it realistic trend. For those of you who cannot handle a spoiler, well forget it this is too cool not to share. Team15 actually did something that not many companies are doing right now. Remember the beloved twin towers that were destroyed on Sept. 11th well in what may have been a monument of some sort, you will find in the background the world trade center. Perhaps this was Team15’s time capsule. Gameplay StuntGP offers you five one player modes as well as two multiplayer modes of play.
Arcade mode starts you out with three vehicles and one track to begin with. After the first race if you finished under the specific rank (i.e.. You must finish 4th or better to advance to race 2, 3rd or better to advance to race 3, 2nd or better to advance to race 4.) After finishing the forth race, provided you win, you will unlock a new car. Winning any race unlocks that course for other modes. In exhibition mode you set up a single race using the cars as well as the courses won in other modes. Time trial is your basic run the track in the fastest time mode, not much to explain here. For those more serious about beating the game there is championship mode, a full season of StuntGP competitions. You start off by picking a sponcer, this sponcer will give you discounts on products they make. After winning races sponcers give you prize money, which in turn can be used to buy parts and upgrade your car. Championship mode offers 20 tracks and plenty of opportunity to become world champion. On the Two-player side of things you have Quick race, and Tournament. Quick race simply randomly selects everything and pits both players against each other keeping track of the overall score. Where as Tournament is similar to Exhibition where you pick all the settings. Control is a very important factor in any racing game. There are very few things to complain about with StuntGP Controls are a little bit on the loose side, however, purposely done. For a game that’s basis is more on tricks than actually neck to neck racing we found that StuntGP is slightly lacking on the tricks side of things, but then again how many tricks can a vehicle with four wheels do? There are about 35 tricks total, some of which are as simple as power sliding. Most of the other tricks in the game are simple variations of each other. Which brings me to another mode of play. Stunt challenge is really more of a special track or eh.. Arena where you have 90 seconds to impress the judges and make your marking into the top 100. This area is fun at first however after playing it for some time we found that there only being one arena made it get old fast.Lasting Appeal When this game first arrived on my desk, I was somewhat disappointed and another RC game. However, I was proven wrong. This game will most likely appeal to the younger crowd as well as the less hard-core adults. Actually after I think about it this game would likely appeal to anyone who is willing to give it a try. Conclusion With all the great games out this holiday season it is likely you will pass over this gem. However for anyone who is interested in taking my advice, at least rent it you will not regret it. |
