Looney Tunes Racing
Score: 86% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Infogrames Developer: Circus Freek Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: In the first of many disturbing parallels to the superb Crash Team Racing, Looney Tunes Racing has a graphical style nearly identical to the aforementioned game. Of course, that's a good thing -- the framerates are solid, the environments gorgeous, and the detail stunning. A lot more can be done with simply-textured or shaded polygons than people often think, and keeping the framerates high is an added bonus. LTR (it even says that in the game!) is a rock-solid game, graphically. It's also rock-solid in the sound department. From great sound effects, to characters that sound like their cartoon counterparts, to the great music (the opera stuff is killer!), LTR is an aureal experience. It often sounds funny, or pumping, or whatever it really needs to be at the time that you're playing it. It's definitely scored and sound-effected like the Looney Tunes animated segments, and comes off as quite amusing. I'm still humming the opera level music ('Fiiiigaro!') as I write this review, which is testament to its solidarity.
Gameplay: And while the gameplay is rock solid as well, it screams 'I'm Crash Team Racing!' so loudly at times that you wonder how Infogrames got away with it. With a slightly altered weapons system and the lack of 'fruit' that speed you up, LTR nonetheless ends up copying almost everything from CTR, up to and including the naming style. Parody, homage, or something entirely different, it nonetheless is vaguely disturbing. That's not to say that Looney Tunes Racing doesn't have a lot of goodness in it. With a lot of imaginative tracks that only get cooler as the game progresses, a neat weapons progression method, and its fair share of things to unlock, LTR will definitely keep the kart racing fans busy for a while. But in the end it's just another good kart racer, neither exceptional nor particularly original. You race as one of a plethora of Looney Tunes characters -- and a lot more can be unlocked during the gameplay -- on a variety of courses. The courses are generally awe-inspiring in their design, with lots of general wackiness spread liberally on them. You can race in Tournaments, or complete Challenges that have you completing certain goals. Both Tournaments and Challenges open up new racers and tracks, giving you enough incentive to keep playing the game. Looney Tunes Racing has some unique traits. All over the course are glowing arches that you can drive through. Doing so causes some serious gags to insue -- sheep hopping all over the course, shields falling off of a castle, guns shooting. The spots where the damage is dealt are marked with a huge 'X', but often the area around those spots are dangerous as well. This can often crimp your style as you race ahead of the others, as the events are usually triggered immediately ahead of the person who triggered them. Of course, improper timing can have you slam into the events you triggered yourself. There's also the normal bevy of weapons, but instead of picking them up as you race, you pick up coins. Each coin raises the weapon meter, giving you access to more-powerful gags to utilize on your opponents. From pies to homing pies to the requisite anvil, it's a fine art of balancing. Fill the meter all the way up and you get invulnerability, which is wonderful, but sometimes not what you want. Other than that, Looney Tunes Racing is strictly a standard kart racer. Lots of tracks, lots of people to race as, things to unlock, not a lot of shortcuts. In an unfortunate move, the multiplayer mode only supports two people. Perhaps they couldn't keep the framerates up otherwise, but one of the strengths of the genre is the party atmosphere.
Difficulty: While most of the straight races are quite easy, some of the challenges are near-impossible. Well, they're quite possible to beat normally, but you'll find yourself wasting hours trying to get that last five-hundredths of a second shaved off to get the Gold Medal. Since things unlock when you get Silver and Gold Medals, it's required if you want to unlock everything the game has to offer. Prepare to be stressed as you attempt it. The core racing formula isn't terribly difficult, although some of the computer-controlled racers seem a little too perfect for their own good.
Game Mechanics: The game controls beautifully, with all the standard kart-racing controls. You can accelerate, attack, brake, and powerslide. Both the analog and digital controls work, and I found myself using different ones on different occasions -- the digital for high-precision one-on-one racing, the analog for the normal races. Your results may vary. The game itself works fine, and I didn't encounter any real strangeness as I played. Everything seemed to work as it should. The menus are easy to understand and navigate, if a little too bare-bones for my personal taste. They're certainly fast-loading, though. PS2: Turning on the Fast disc speed option cuts the already-short load times to nearly nonexistent. It's quite nice, actually, and something you should make sure to do every time you play. The Smooth graphics option, on the other hand, detracts more than it helps. Since the game has a lot of sprites, especially in the menus, the smoothing that it causes in the races themselves is offset by the ugly boxes around the various sprites. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, though, feel free to use the Smooth option. It's nothing more and nothing less than what we've been playing for ages, but Looney Tunes Racing is another solid offering in the kart racing genre. Enthusiasts of the genre or Looney Tunes itself should definitely pick it up, and those who feel it may be one kart racer too many should definitely at least give it a rent. It's got enough little touches that it may just tickle your fancy. As it is, a four-player version would only add to an already solid gaming experience.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
Jeopardy!: 2nd Edition Metal Slug X