Wacky Races style racer returns to the Xbox in HD glory
Whilst it's fun to play the serious driving games like Forza 6, Gran Truismo, etc, it's also fun to just have a blast with an arcade style car combat based game.
And whilst we await the next game in the Carmageddon series, this may well satisfy some of your desires for a fun, no rules barred, play for the heck of it racer.
Cel Damage has a wonderful cartoon style presentation too it, and is probably the closest we will get to an official Wacky Races video game. Not that the cast are quite as kiddie friendly as the Wacky Races team, as we have a devil and a dominatrix amongst them, but despite some innuendos we have a moderately family friendly racing game here, providing the kids are say 13 years or older.
There's no serious plot line here, no involved career mode although you can follow the 'career' of one racer or swap and change at will, it's your call. There are plenty of modes on offer here both in single player, local player mode or online.
Standard time trial races, checkpoint racing and a general free for all car combat mode. Weapons are varied and fun raging from a buzzsaw, a large axe and a rocket launcher, but watch out for natural hazards such as twisters, and traps that can be shot and triggered by yourself and your opponents.
Look I do not have to do an in depth review here and that's not because it's a bad game, far from it. The physics are as said very cartoon like, with the traditional pause in mid air before you fall to your doom at the bottom of a ravine, canyon or cliff.
Tracks are varied from a swamp, desert and a graveyard and there are more for you to discover as you play.
On Line
Slick, very slick. Lobbies are full and it's not hard to find a game at all. Split screen action holds up to four folks in local mode it should be said, is fast, fluid, with no lag, screen drop out, or pop up. Online play does not suffer from these things at all either.
OK it may not be as detailed or as in-depth as some other racing games, but damn it's fun!
It does not rate as a must buy, it won't appeal to all, but fans of it from it's halcyon days on Playstation 2 and the original Xbox will be all over this.
It's not so much as a sequel but a revamp by all accounts, but perhaps there will be an official sequel somewhere down the road. If so I will definitely consider it. But I encourage anybody who likes the sound of this to have a go, it's laugh out loud fun and seriously, can you ask for anything more?
Thanks to Xbox for the code for this fun little racer. Now excuse me, whilst I load it up for another session.