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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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 Posted: 27-Jun-2002 19:10 Post subject: Talen's PS2 Game Review: GTC Africa (Racing) |
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Grand Touring Championship: Africa
QUICK REVIEW:
Gameplay:6/10
Control: 5/10
Graphics:7/10
Sound: 3/10
Replay: 5/10
Overall: 6/10
The Basics:
To put it simple, this game is trying to be too many things at once. At first look it is trying to be a Rally game, and the closer peek into the shows it is really just trying to be an arcade racer.
The Game has you selest a team (Each 2 has 3 different cars to choose from.), and then you race rallycross style. Rallycross is half rally which includes off road racing, with a -cross style of head to head competion on a circut (instead of a Point A to Point B style) race. So, it gets labeled with most other Rally games (Like Colin McRae Rally and the V-Rally series). This particular game takes place in Africa, and ranges from the urban Street racing in South Africa to the peaks of Kiliminjaro to the dunes of Lybia. All in all there is a wide variety of tracks to play with.
Concept: 6/10 Cool idea, but it needs to figure out what its trying to be...
Gameplay:
The cars are a bit of an oddity. Included are the Subaru Impreza, Ford Cosworth Escort (arguably one of the best Rally cars ever) and the Ford Focus. But, it does end there...the Ford Mustang GT, Mercury Cougar, Pontiac Firebird and the Chevy Camaro are used as well. Not 60s and 70s models, no...new ones. Even the 2002 Mercury Cougar, which if I remember right is not going to be made. They all pretty much handle the same, with the 4WD Rally cars handling much better.
Handling is where the game lacks, though. All the cars feel glued to the ground with a type of "selective" glue. Sometimes you take a turn at 100mph and do fine. Other times you take a similar turn at 50 mph, lose control, and fly off the track. A little more consistancy would have been nice. Powersliding is right out, though. If you try and powerslide into a turn, you will almost always end up short and hitting the inside of the turn cause for some reason the game thinks a car can turn on a dime from 150 mph. If you dont underjudge, you'll overshoot and hit the sides. Now, now all tracks are like this, but most are.
Control: 5/10...It is a mixed bag, better than some, but tis no GT3.
Races are won by coming in 1st...and points are scored. The more points you score, the better off you are in the championship. Team Rating is an important factor here. You start of at 50%, and when you take damage, the team likes you less. If you take 30 points of damage, you stand to lose 8% of your rating. Win the race, you'll get a 10% approval. Why does this matter? Well, the better the team rating, the more time you have to complete your laps. If you run out of time before the race is over, you lose out, and cant win. Kind of a dumb concept, in my opinion.
Gameplay Total: 6/10. Interesting concepts, poor execution...
Graphics:
The cars are mediocre. Not quite up to WRC's models, but most definatly better than Smuggler's Run or Midnight Club. There is no damage on the cars though, and dirt doesnt collect either. So after 10 laps in Kenya you wont pick up a spec of dirt, and your car wll shine like it just been washed. It is a simple effect that was left out...
The tracks are mixed bags. On one hand you have the Kenya track, which starts out on the open plains, but then winds into a canyon and a jungle, and then out onto a huge open part of the desert plains again, before you hit the line. Its absolutly gorgeous, espicially coming out of the jungle into the desert. On the other hand there are the tracks like Egypt. It is a purposeless track that winds a lot, and lets you look at the Prymids. But its so dusty and hazt red that it just, well, sucks.
Graphics: 7/10. Not bad, but could use some touches.
Sound: Dissapointing. All the cars sound the same...which is lame cause I know that a Subaru Impreza does not sound like a Mustang. Music is forgetable, as in most driving games. I personally run most my racing games without any music.
Sound: 3/10 Little Effort applied to the game
Replayability:
22 or so tracks...each worth seeing once or twice. Three tournaments in the game. The East Coast challenge, the North West Challenge, and the GTC Challenge. East Coast is a run from South Africa to Egypt, N-W is a run from Egypt to South Africa on the North and Western paths. And the GTC is all of it. Since the only difference in the cars and teams is the looks, there is no challenge to try it in a certain car, then another type.
Replay: 5/10. Some quirks...but not many.
2 Player Mode: Not Tested
Overall: 6/10. Its better than some race games...but Colin McRae 3, V-Rally 3 and WRC are much better at this sport.
_________________
"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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Cadet
ComStar
Lieutenant, SG
Joined: 17-Mar-2002 00:00
Posts: 495
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| Posted: 27-Jun-2002 19:26 Post subject: Talen's PS2 Game Review: GTC Africa (Racing) |
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I'd rather have a high performance street car or an expensive Italian racer.
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I'm not family friendly. That's why I don't post here.
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