R: Racing

GameCube, R: Racing (2004) game

First impressions were of a competent racer, if a little bland, with a girl gamer-pleasing, female-focused (sometimes a little too much for good taste in the cutscenes!), story mode in 'Racing Life,' perhaps to counter the argument that too many games were based around a male character. But I have to admit, this did make me less drawn in to the story, perhaps because I'm used to there either being no real narrative to racing games, or for them to be male-focused. I wasn't particularly impressed with the game, as it seemed a little too easy (I played it on the medium difficulty, 'Normal'), and before long I'd polished off the story mode, which, to me, seemed to be just getting going when it suddenly stops. Game over, or so I thought. To concentrate on that for a moment, I was intrigued by the innovations, namely the Pressure Meter, used as a visual aid to show the pressure you were heaping on the opponent car in front of you, and which if forced to the maximum would cause this car to lose control, often spinning it out or making it drive off the road. This gave you a sense of power, and also a reason not to just ram cars and rush right on, especially in the sense of the game being too easy - it gave you something else to aim for, if winning wasn't enough, how about pressuring every other car and winning maximum pressure points?

The other innovation was a hit and miss affair, although it again made you feel more immersed in the experience as you clearly had an effect on proceedings: the radio chatter. This would come in either advice or encouragement (or reprimand), from your manager, Stephan, or in insults or surprise from your race opponents (I didn't appreciate being sworn at, something I wouldn't normally have expected in a Nintendo title!), and was context sensitive: depending on what action you took, the response would be different. It was a hit for the immersion, but a miss for the irritation and repetition after you'd played it for a while, and it was never used to its full potential. For example, in one of the latter races you were ordered by Stephan on the last lap, to place second, even if you were leading the pack, and if you disobeyed you'd fail the chapter. This created all kinds of moral conundrums, but pretty soon after this shocking experience, the game's completed, when I was expecting, having won my opponent's respect and a future with Stephan and GVI, that the game would really begin in earnest and I'd be doing a lot more racing. Well, I was right, but also wrong.

Though the 'Racing Life' ends abruptly, the game still has much to offer in the 'Event Challenge' mode. I couldn't help noticing how low a percentage of the game I'd completed (another reason I thought the story would be continuing), until I realised that to get 100% (more on this later), I'd need to unlock all the cars and win Events. 'Event Challenge' was where I grew to like the game and appreciate it more, the old tactic of the addiction of completion. I can't say the game was ever addictive, but the meagre percentage points for each win spurred me on. I don't feel that the game was very clear in a lot of ways. Not just the confusing expectations of the story ending so soon, but also in exactly how to go about getting all the cars and how much you needed to win in the Events - Sometimes your percentage complete score increased (usually by only 0.2 or 0.3%), but sometimes not. And once I'd earned enough Reward Points to purchase all the available cars (an easy way to do this was to complete one of the stopping challenges in Extras which could net you around 20,000 for a few seconds work), I still had some frustrating empty silhouettes in my Garage. Eventually I realised you had to replay chapters in 'Racing Life' with these cars to win them. It also took me a while to realise you had to play Events with specific cars or car types before you would be eligible to win a higher medal. Maybe I'm just slow, but it didn't seem obvious! I also failed to realise that once Gold was achieved you couldn't unlock more percentage for winning on Silver or Bronze, and that it was by playing 'Racing Life' (yet again!), on 'Hard' that my last remaining points were won.

I say last remaining, but actually I was only ever able to get a 99.8% score, that elusive 0.2% seemingly impossible, as there were two last Event races where you were forced to use a weak car, but were placed against impossibly fast competition. I assumed there must be a way to do it, and even discovered that the majority of the opponent selection was random, so if you kept restarting the race you'd eventually get up to four other slow cars to compete with. Unfortunately, there was always one souped up vehicle making catching up with them an impossibility. Having a look on the internet I found a good FAQ by kickle88 on gamefaqs.com which explained things (recommended if you need assistance), and if someone who would go to the trouble of making such a detailed guide wasn't able to get 100% I didn't feel bad about it: "I have found no solution to win the Gold in Event Challenge-Single Race 44 and 52. To do this you can use the Fiat 500 and the Renault Alpine, both Privateer Class. The problem is that you have to compete against a RUF RGT of GT Class 1! As you can see by yourself, even upgrading to STEP 2 these cars the gap is insuperable… On a french forum about the game they said that probably this is a debug of the PAL version, while in the USA and JAP version you compete against Privateer Class cars only." This is frustrating, as such a bug shouldn't have been allowed on a Nintendo console, but that's the way it goes - I spent a fair amount of time trying to win those two, but in the end I had to agree that it was not remotely possible - I'd hoped that changing the opponent selection (as mentioned above), might make a difference, perhaps with enough slow cars, the leader would crash, but no chance!

Another aspect of the game that was troubling was the throwing of that race I mentioned, your manager ordering you to let the other guy win. It wasn't so much that you had to throw the race, as that could have developed into an interesting side plot with your ambition and drive to succeed being affected by qualms about the management and what they were making you do. No, my problem with it was that nothing came of the situation. You obey the order (because you have no choice, otherwise you can't progress), but it's never mentioned again, and it never happens again. Being given specific instructions on what to do mid-race is an exciting concept and could have been extended - perhaps you need to do the next lap in a certain time to settle an argument, or a car's in trouble and you have to reach a certain point to help it, or maybe even ram off the road a dangerous driver who's ruining the race. There are many possibilities, but for there to never be any real consequences to your actions undermined it and showed that the moral side wasn't even considered.

After initial play I would have called the game a fairly average racer, but playing it over and over in Event or replaying the story, I came to like it about as much as 'Need For Speed Underground,' which had a similar mix of racing styles. It didn't look as good as that game, with many tracks having a slightly bland visual style, when it could easily have been vibrant (look at 'Burnout 2' as an example), but I did come to appreciate it more. The music was, as with all racing games, a mere annoyance to be shut off, but the selection screens were nice enough. The game helped me realise what type of racing I like best, thanks to its varied race and car types, from road racing, to drag racing, to rallying, to F1-type courses, it covers a range of disciplines. I'd never really realised how much I prefer the slip and scramble of rallying to the precise, corner-hugging of road racing, and although there are a good number of tracks, I could have done with a few more. Leaving aside the flaw in completion and my own lack of understanding in certain areas, where I could accuse the game of not being clearer, I would say it's a worthwhile racer for the GameCube. Maybe a bit repetitive (I never bothered to try out the 'Time Trial,' 'Arcade' or 'Vs' modes, as playing it without the satisfaction of completion didn't inspire me), when you have to replay and replay the same tracks or scenarios, but a few Events gave satisfying challenge (such as some of the Time Trials, which were tough), and the drive for completion got me through the easier bits, making it, overall, a good experience.

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