Re-Volt
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
Anyone who's ever guided a radio-controlled car around the tree on Christmas morning is part of the target market for Acclaim's Re-Volt. The one-of-a-kind arcade driving game tries to recreate the crazed fun that we've all had with these antenna-topped little roadsters. But Acclaim's new racer is both frustrating and fun.
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Unfortunately, while Re-Volt offers a nice diversion for an hour or two, just as on Christmas morning, the batteries don't last long. A raft of serious design problems make playing it more trouble than it's worth.
On the surface, Acclaim's latest looks like a winner. The premise: the latest models from R/C car maker Toy-Volt have become sentient. Quicker than you can say "Hey, that sounds like a lame Star Trek: The Next Generation plot device!", they've escaped and are holding rallies in human-sized neighborhoods, museums, parks, and supermarkets.
This leads to some inventive scenarios that involve bouncing basketballs, tumbleweed drifting by, out of control beach balls, and so on. There's a nice Lilliput-in-reverse feel to everything.
The Single Race mode lets you race a one-off on the course of your choice with an adjustable number of laps. Championship is a succession of these races run over a career in four cup series. Multiplay lets up to 12 players compete in a single race or Battle Tag, a combat/racing hybrid where the object is to remain untouched by the enemy for two minutes. (There isn't much in the way of opposition online at the moment.) The Time Trial, Practice and Stunt Arena modes speak for themselves.
The contests can be spiced up with optional Pick-Ups. Run over a lightning bolt icon and you'll receive one of 11 bonuses such as Fireworks (which home in on enemy cars), Water Balloons (as if the tracks weren't slick enough), and the Turbo Battery (which speeds your vehicle up 10 percent).
You'll find an expansive 13 tracks and 28 cars in the game, most of which have to be unlocked by winning races. Each car is rated according to speed, acceleration, weight, and transmission (front- and rear-wheel drive, and 4X4).
Unfortunately, these pluses don't mean that Re-Volt is a good game.
The driving surfaces are excessively slick. Aside from the pavement seen largely in the easier courses, you'll have to grapple with slippery marble, ice, gravel, tile, metal, and just about everything else you've ever fallen on.
The controls turn even gentle curves into hairpin knee-clutchers. My Sidewinder remains too sensitive no matter how I set the options. Breathing at the wrong time wipes me out.
And then there are the viewing angles. The three settings, two outside the car and one in the cockpit, leave you blinded to what's ahead. The internal view speeds everything up. For me, it required a level of hand-eye coordination that left me about the same time that Time Pilot was pulled from my local arcade. The external views look down on your ride from just behind the back bumper. This would be fine if Re-Volt were a typical racer. But it's not. Looking down, even slightly, in a world where everything is up makes it impossible to see the next curve. Courses have to be memorized, making for a lot of annoying repetition at first.
What you can see looks very good. The 3D-accelerated visuals are crisp and filled with all sorts of detail, from sprinklers to planetariums. Weapon effects are excellent. When you smack someone with the fireworks power-up, you'll both know it. A brittle engine sound brings the cars to life, but most other atmospheric audio effects are absent.
Overall, Re-Volt is equal parts fun and frustration. If you're a talented twitch gamer with a high tolerance for frustration, give it a try. But poor controls, driving surfaces as slick as your neighborhood bowling alley, and a limited view had me howling in mental agony every time I stepped on the gas.
