We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
GC

North America

R: Racing Evolution

by Ty Shughart - December 9, 2003, 12:01 am EST

8

Girls gone wild! In a, um, racing sim!

R: Racing Evolution has, at long last, created the long-anticipated fusion of a racing sim and girl-drama. Okay, maybe not that anticipated, but it all works out in the end if it's a good game.

The word innovative is all-too-often just tossed about at any old game, but R has some genuinely clever new features. As the player tails opponents, a meter appears above their car, displaying how much pressure they are feeling. Their radio messages become increasingly agitated and their driving sloppier as it progresses; keep it up, and they can be reduced to a blathering panic and then probably spin off the next turn. Radio messages are also received from the pit, giving advice of varying usefulness.

'Generic' drivers have voices that sound suspiciously like the generic bad guys in Time Crisis 3. They sound like ones to be easily agitated, and have great lines, like "You dirty bastard!" when rear-ended into the dirt. There are about a half dozen special rivals in the game with their own personalities, some of them delicious stereotypes. Among them, there's a guy that talks in ebonics, another with a thick German accent ("I vas hopingk you vould give me a challenge!"), a rude American jerk, and an insidious sounding top prototype driver. Throughout the Racing Life mode, there will be numerous races against the snide rival girl, Gina.

The amount of brake and gas being applied is also visualized on little meters at the bottom of the screen. This is useful for gaging your turns and reviewing them in a replay. The GC controller is extremely well suited for this game, since it has nice analog triggers that also click down, which may very well make it the choice version over the PS2 and XBox releases.

Story mode and Event mode are the obviously the bulk of the game, but there's Arcade, Versus, and Time Attack modes as well. There's nothing special about these, but it would sure suck to not have them. The story mode (Racing Life) is a cool idea, but it falls a little short in R. It's just a sequence of racing events with video in between, and it really doesn't effect what happens on the track, except maybe minorly in one race. It becomes just a series of racing events, just like Event mode. Big whoop. And the final chapter just doesn't have the needed drama or difficulty compared to the other races. What R needs is a sequel to build on this idea. It's a fun mode to show friends, though, especially with the sudden and extremely gratuitous cleavage shots in the video segments.

Event mode is perfectly constructed, though, simple as it is. Players pay their credits to unlock events, cars, and upgrades. There's a whole variety of events, too, like whole racing tournaments, rival challenges, "stop and go" time trials, and lots, lots more. There are different rankings for beating each challenge, too. Sure, you could use the fastest car in the game to beat everything, but you won't get the 'Gold' rank (and big fat reward) unless you use a car from an equal class. That's quite a welcome feature, because just cruisin' on through every race after you pick up the best car is spectacularly boring. That was a problem with Gran Turismo 3, but Namco found a good pre-emptive fix for R.

The car selection is pretty good, especially with a huge variety in car classes. There are three classes of GT cars, two rally classes, and prototype, drag, and privateer classes. Having a nice selection of classic cars is very nice - who wouldn't want to drag race a Dodge Charger? Upgrading and tweaking cars is extremely simple and not even necessary, usually, so you don't need to know what a camber angle is or what a gear ratio does. Each setting comes with a full explanation of generally how it will affect the car.

Each course is very nicely modeled, and the real-life courses seem accurate in every respect. The fictional courses look nice, too, and seem to borrow a little from real-life courses not actually in the game. Each course is pretty unique, especially the rally courses, some of which have small cliffs and other drops that can send cars into horrible rolling accidents. Licensed cars, of course, have magic powers of invincibility and everlasting shininess; because the licensers would doubtlessly not have their cars appear any other way.

R is a solid racing sim with true innovative features, to boot. It's fun to play, and Event mode has enough to keep one busy for quite a while.

Score

Graphics Sound Control Gameplay Lastability Final
8 8.5 10 9 8 8
Graphics
8

For the most part, the graphics pretty nice, but a couple of spots look weird and grainy. Courses like Monaco look beautiful, and there are nice little touches like balloons in the air, flocks of birds, and some cool replay camera effects.

Sound
8.5

The music isn't bad, but it pales in comparison to most other racing games. The voice work, however, is awesome. Opponents deliver threats, taunts and almost-in-tears-can't-take-the-pressure babbling in a number of wonderful voices.

Control
10

The control is superb and innovative. The gas and brakes are handled with the analog triggers, and the amount pressed is also visualized on screen, which is useful for replays or perfecting your cornering. TCS and ABS are adjustable, plenty of car configurations are available, and the game also includes configuration options for steering wheels.

Gameplay
9

Good racing physics and lots of real-life cars and courses are, of course, the foundation of a good racing sim. R goes a step beyond with the pressuring-opponents system.

Lastability
8

Clearing everything doesn't take an absurdly long time to do (compared to that certain other racing game), but it's pretty close. Story mode feels a little short, but the individual events are varied and definitely plentiful. Trying to finish all of Event mode is really fun.

Final
8

It's a very solid racing sim that actually introduces cool new ideas. It’s a pretty decent buy.

Summary

Pros
  • Awesome and sometimes hilarious radio chatter
  • Clever 'pressure' feature
  • Excellent control
  • Lots of cars
Cons
  • Mostly dull music
  • Only 2-player split screen, no 4-player or LAN.
  • Thin story mode
Review Page 2: Conclusion

Share + Bookmark





Genre Racing
Developer Namco
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: R: Racing Evolution
Release Dec 09, 2003
PublisherNamco
RatingTeen
jpn: R: Racing Evolution
Release Nov 27, 2003
PublisherNamco
Rating12+
eu: R: Racing
Release Apr 02, 2004
PublisherElectronic Arts
Rating12+

Related Content

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement