Back before there were
racing games like Gran Turismo … no, wait … back before Rad Racer on 8 bit NES …
well, wait … even before Atari (I know we’re REALLY going back a ways here),
many people including me can still remember building those figure 8 shaped black
racing tracks with yellow barriers and placing our slot cars along the electric
grooves to race against our friends and family in a lightning fast race in
constant loops. Well, every favorite pastime from cards to board games and even
a video game of someone playing a video game has been made (.hack), so it was
only a matter of time before someone came along and decided to make one about
slot car racing. This title is Grooverider, Slot Car Thunder by Encore.
OK, if I told you to go and
buy a racing game in which you can’t steer, you’d probably think I was crazy.
For anyone who hasn’t raced slot cars before, the cars sit in grooves along the
track and run around at various speeds depending on how hard a trigger is
pressed. The game stays true to this concept, so you use your left analog stick
to speed up depending on how hard you push it up, but you can also use the
trigger buttons to switch slots on the track. In addition, for a little more of
an arcade and/or fantasy-racing feel, they also added in powerups like a
missile, speed boost, jump, and mines along with barriers and some environmental
obstacles to try and steer clear of as well.
The game consists of 5
different areas in a penthouse apartment, like a kitchen, the living room, a
bedroom, dining room, and a roof garden, and each area has four tracks to race
on with varying obstacles and difficulty. You select a car from a certain box
set, which can be things like 70’s Cop Show themed or British Classic cars (you
unlock a total of 6 box sets to use). There are three different difficulty
settings that are 3 volt (easy), 6 volt (medium) and 9-volt (hard) power
sources. There are also a few different ways to play the game, so you can run a
single race, championship, time trial, or a custom setup to mix and match your
own tracks. There are even a few special races to unlock as well, like a cop car
challenge where you have to shoot the bad guy five times while zipping around
the track or mine mania, where you have to try and complete a lap around a mine
and barrier filled track while trying not to crash.
There are a couple of things
that were impressive in Grooverider, the first of which being the overall track
layouts. Each track, regardless of difficulty, had some neat twists and turns
around some pretty well done areas like going over a bed, then through a loop,
then going under the bed and things like that. Also, Grooverider gives a really
good sense of speed as you rocket around the track lap after lap trying to take
the first place position, and the addition of various powerups and track
sections like speed lines, areas to slow you down, or magnetized sections of
track to hold you in place were a neat addition and add to the fun and options
during the race.
Unfortunately, there are a
few things that really hold Grooverider back from being all that it can be. For
starters, the AI is extremely unforgiving; even on the easy difficulty setting,
and due to the difficult nature of a lot of the tracks you will probably find
yourself getting tossed into last place often. The computer doesn’t seem to
crash much, and after you wreck 3 or 4 times, you can pretty much call it quits.
To add to the frustration you can’t retry any of the tracks in championship
mode, so messing up in the second and third races means you just have to take
defeat or start the whole process over again.
Secondly, There aren’t a
whole lot of options up front. You begin with one track and one car, and have to
go through and do the championship mode in order to unlock more. Thankfully, you
can still unlock new tracks and cars even if you don’t win a championship
string, but that obviously stops after a while. Add to this the frustration of
the overall AI difficulty and the fact that you have no options to turn off
track barriers or powerups and soon the overall option of “keep trying so you
can unlock more” may not be enough to carry on.
Lastly, the game doesn’t
really seem to work in your favor 90% of the time. Since there was a decent job
done on the physics of the cars for the most part, taking turns too fast will
probably have you flipping end over end off of the track. The problem here is
that the game tends to want to put you right back in front of the turn again …
and within a second of pushing the analog stick up your flying right back off
and crashing again. Well, there are two out of three wrecks towards you not
having a chance in the world of winning, so odds get slim from this point. This
happened more times than not, so I’m going to presume that it is just part of
the game.
Thankfully, the multiplayer
mode really does its share to make the game more enjoyable, even if you find
yourself getting ticked off at the single player racing. By adding two people,
it takes a little of the pressure off since there are only two AI cars on the
track instead of three. In addition to playing arcade, championship, and custom
in multiplayer mode, you can also select a free for all which is a mode that has
all players receiving 5 lives. The person left who hasn’t run out of lives by
avoiding crashing, hitting obstacles, or avoiding weapons wins. The reoccurring
problem surfaces here too though, since the only tracks available for the most
part are ones that have been unlocked (the first track of each of the 5 areas is
available regardless), so if you haven’t felt like dealing with the single
player mode, you probably won’t have a whole lot to do.
Overall, folks who really
enjoy and remember all the fun of slot car racing may find the most enjoyment in
Grooverider, especially for the $19.99 price tag and despite the issues. If you
are thinking about picking it up since you’ve run through all of your current
racing titles, you may want to hold off and try it for a weekend first, even for
the discounted price.
Gameplay: 5.7
While there are a
things about Grooverider that are fun, like the really funky and cool track
layouts and hazards from the box sets (criss crossing tracks, tilted and
corkscrew sections) and the really fast sense of speed, the other things like
unforgiving AI, lack of play options to customize your game, and the annoying
fact that you can’t restart a race during a championship really can make the
game more aggravating than enjoyable.
Graphics: 7.1
The backgrounds
look really good, even if not the most top rated Xbox graphics to date, and
little additions to them like fires, household objects, and various other things
that can wind up as track hazards was a neat idea. The cars themselves also
looked pretty good, and there is a good amount to choose from with different
styles, but some cars from certain kits tend to look the same except for the
color.
Sound: 7.0
Most of the game
sound consists of the zippy track noises and screeching tires if you happen to
go around a turn too fast. The music wasn’t bad if you happen to like techno,
since they used some tracks from musicians like Tapeworm, Killahurtz, and Soul
of Man to thump in the background while you zip around the track.
Difficulty: Hard
Even on an easy
setting, this game can be extremely difficult due to the fact that the AI is
relentless and there is no way to go in and remove options like powerups and
track barriers.
Concept: 6.4
OK … I think that
Grooverider was a really good idea that just seemed like it was rushed at the
very end somewhere. Would I like to see a sequel? Sure … especially with these
things fixed, since I still can see a lot of potential in this game to be really
enjoyable.
Multiplayer: 6.7
Multiplayer,
while not perfect, helps to make the game more enjoyable thanks to the play
modes and the fact that it helps to remove the annoying AI cars from the track.
If you have one or more friends and family who like to play with you then it
becomes a little more worth the $19.99 price tag, even if there aren’t many
options until they get unlocked.
Overall: 5.8
Well, slot car
racing has finally been done for Xbox, but the plusses of the game unfortunately
get run over by the issues. If you have $19.99 burning a hole in your pocket and
you are a big, BIG fan of slot car racing, go ahead and give it a whirl … you
may really enjoy it. Even for fans mentioned above and non fans alike, I would
definitely recommend that you spend $3.00 to rent it prior to buying it though,
just in case. You may just save $16.00 to get a couple of actual slot cars to
use on the tracks that may still be collecting dust in your parent’s basement.
