The King of Rally
Fixed camera F-Zero with 20 MPH top speedGenre: racing - overhead
Publisher: Meldac
Year: 1992
System: SFC
Gameplay Score: 3
Gameplay Notes:
This is a weird game. It looks like a poor man's F-Zero, but the camera is fixed. Actually, it's like the endgame scene after completing a full circuit in F-Zero where you lose control and the game continues to play as your scores from each track are shown. It looks like that, but moving incredibly slowly and you're in control. Or maybe a better comparison is the racing courses on Blast Corps. The controls work well for the most part, although it has a weird control scheme where you have three gears which are controlled by three different buttons. First gear is X, second is Y, and third is B. It's baffling at first but once you get used to it you'll be fine.
Level Design Score: 2
Level Design Notes:
The track is a big long drive, so there are no laps. It's a winding road with lots of sharp turns which fit the setting of the game. The controls and slow speed work well for this track design so everything works great. There's a bit of variety in the tracks, but after a while you see that it's mostly cosmetic. You drive on dirt and grass and road, but they only look different. Your car doesn't control any differently and there are no jumps or hills to contend with. In fact, there are almost no other racers either, so there's nothing to experience aside from the movement of your vehicle. I played for about 15 minutes before literally running into a wall. The game uses arrows to direct you through the mostly linear track, and it clearly drove me down a road that ended in a dead end. I have no idea how to continue.
Theme Score: 2
Theme Notes:
You're driving from Paris to Beijing on a path that's composed of 10 segments. Or so I'm told since I couldn't complete the first segment. I like the idea and it reminds me of Cruis'n USA.
Art Style Score: 2
Art Style Notes:
It's a decent use of Mode-7 and your car looks great but everything looks flat and ugly. F-Zero at least had speed going for it but this game's pixelated textures don't look good at all.
Audio Score: 1
Audio Notes:
Only bad music and the standard engine noise to keep you company on your drive.
Overall Score: 48
Review ID: 1932
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