Written By Shaun McCracken
Drome Racers really couldn't have come out at a worse time for the Gamecube.
While by any means it does nothing to change the genre, it really doesn't compare
to F-Zero GX, which came out two months prior to this game. Before F-Zero GX, Drome
Racer's biggest competitor in the futuristic racing genre on the Gamecube would have
been Extreme-G 3, and even that is a stronger game than this one.
I can understand that maybe this game wasn't meant for someone my age, but perhaps
for the pre-teen set. But seeing how this was developed by ATD, who created the
Rollcage franchise on the PS1, I might have thought Drome Racers would have carried over
much of that games DNA. Unfortunatley, this game is even weaker than that. It feels
slower than most futuristic racers, the weapon set is small and even a bit annoying,
and the courses seem really uninspired. Case in point, this game would even fall
short for the pre-teen set, unless they really like easy racing games that offer
no suprises, to which I say for the older gamer (like me), you wouldn't even
want to bother with this one.
There are problems in this game in all areas that really can't compare to
F-Zero GX or even Extreme G-3. First of all, the course designs are really uninspired,
like I've mentioned in the above paragraph. There are no drastic loops, drops or even
turns like we've seen in better futuristic racers. Even if the game does take place
on the ground, the terrian is much weaker than what you would find in a typical
rally racer. In short, the courses are fairly short, offer very little variation
and no real suprises. The second problem comes within the sense of speed. As we know,
futuristic racers are among the fastest kind of games around, and sense of speed seems important.
Here, things seem to be running at 35 mph, although the spedometer claims 110.
And you would think that when you hit a boost strip, the speed would pick up. It doesn't.
The thrid problem is the lack of refined control. There seems to be a lack of traction
half the time. While this sounds like the game may be unplayable, as one would think that a lack of
traction equates to a lot of spinning and disorientation, there's just a mild bout of sliding,
and thats mostly on road courses. The final problem is the fact that the game just
isn't impressive or involving. The game feels more like work than play, and it's just
not that fun.
The visuals of Drome Racers are barely average. Clearly this was a PS2 port, and
not of the textures were cleaned up for the Gamecube version. The framerate is fairly
solid, but the sense of speed is definitley lacking. The car models are very plain looking,
and there are no driver animations. This is pretty much a bare minimum approach to creating
a tolerable looking game. The colors are not bad, and the lighting for the time of
day isn't too bad, but it really doesn't enhance an average package.
If they clearly didn't give 100% with the visuals, what makes you think that
the audio package would be mind blowing? It isn't. The music is standard fare
techno that you woun't remember when you shut the game off. The engine sounds are
very disappoining and unvaried, and the sound effects are lacking. There's also do
surround sound support, but you really wouldn't care here.
Final Thought
Although the demographic the developers went for was not aimed at me, I was
still disappointed about how lackluster this game was. I would have thought that this
game would have offered the same kind of frentic and fast gameplay of Rollcage Stage II
of the PS1 era (since it was done by the same developer), but I was wrong. As it is,
it's a very bare bones futuristic racing game that pales in comparison (severely) to
F-Zero GX, XG3 and even WipeOut Fusion on the PS2. Maybe kids age 10-13 may find something
interesting here, and easier to play than the competition, but I still think they would
be selling themselves short. It's a game not really work seeking out to even play,
and one the Gamecube could have done without, even if it's a much needed racer.
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Drome Racers
