Battle Grand Prix for SNES

Image: MobyGames

Battle Grand Prix

Micromanaging the flight path of a rocket on a slalom course

Genre: racing - overhead

Publisher: Hudson Soft

Year: 1993

System: SNES

Gameplay Score: 1

Gameplay Notes:

All these games play the same way. You drive upward and turn left or right to navigate turns that are indicated by a hug flashing arrow that looks like a traffic sign. All of these turns are 45 degree angles but your car turns in increments of 11.25 degrees (yes I did the math) so you have to move 4 clicks over in order to make a nice clean turn. Even with the relatively slow speed of this game, turning is easier said than done since the track itself turns on a dime. The result is a constant balancing act of tapping left and right to get your car to drive straight just long enough for the track to turn again and start the process all over again. It feels like micromanaging the flight path of a rocket on a slalom course. Screen is split in half whether or not you're playing two player. Oh and the game is utterly impossible. I can't even complete the pole position placement race. Everyone else is far faster than I am. No depth in the gameplay either - just hold B to go and turn. No powerups or customization of any sort.

Level Design Score: 1

Level Design Notes:

The only track I got to race was just a series of 45 degree turns. there were way too many laps to complete as well. One interesting thing is the inclusion of a "Slot" mode where you just hold the B button and watch the game play itself, essentially. You can let go to navigate really tight turns or avoid spinning out due to the rain but there's no real point. This lets you see the tracks I suppose but there is no fun to be had in doing this. You might as well just watch the demo.

Theme Score: 1

Theme Notes:

I generally don't like top-down driving games because you don't have time to react. Spy Hunter and even A.P.B. were interesting at the time but have aged horribly. This one has all the problems that those had but without any interesting gimmicks.

Art Style Score: 0

Art Style Notes:

Extremely basic and boring graphics. NES+ quality Only having half the screen is so obnoxious

Audio Score: 1

Audio Notes:

One very short, repetitive song

Overall Score: 18