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When I heard that Teque was working on a polygon racing game
for the JagCD, I immediately placed my order with Telegames.
After all, I'm a huge racing fan and Checkered Flag had left
a sour taste in my mind (as it did with others I'm sure). Is
World Tour Racing finally the racing game that redeems the
Jaguar as a viable racing platform and challenges Virtual
Racing in a way that Checkered Flag was supposed to? Ummm..
no and no.
The first thing that is bound to catch your attention is the
terrible control. The poor framerate probably is the culprit
of the jerky control and will remind you of Checkered
Flag. If that wasn't bad enough, there's slowdown galore even
when the track is littered with opposing vehicles. And don't
even think about the two player mode: I would suspect that at
times the framerate dropped as low as 10-15 fps when playing
head-to-head.
There really is no point in continuing with this review but
for the sake of completeness so let's take a look at several
of the better qualities of World Tour Racing.
First of all, the full motion video introduction is terrific
and shows off the Jaguar CD's video ability. FMV is also
scattered about in other areas as well, such as when you pit
for tires or have body repairs done on your car.
Although World Tour Racing is more of an arcade-style racer
than a true simulation, there are several options available
before you begin the race. Variables such as tires, brakes,
wings and transmission are all customizable. I found, however,
that the even drastic changes to the car's settings made little
or no difference to its handling or lap times. The fact that
crashes are of little consequence is further evidence of
this game's objective of being an arcade racer. Making contact
with other cars or crashing into billboards do nothing more
than return your car to the center of the track with hardly
any loss in pace or your place. Don't get too out of control,
however, as excessive damage to your car will force you to
pit and replace the damaged body part (most often it will be
the front or rear spoiler.)
Twelve different tracks and single season, championship and
two player modes ensure decent replay value for those who
aren't as frustrated by the poor framerate and control.
Billboards featuring advertisement for other Atari games
is reminiscent of the coin-op version of Pole Position and
adds a whimsical touch to a game with an otherwise serious
theme. The save game feature harkens back to the NES days,
as you are required to enter a password to continue from
where you left off. While other games that allow save
(such as Battlemorph) take advantage of the Memory Track
cartridge, WTR offers no such luxury. Be sure to have
a pen and paper by your side if you plan on having a marathon
session with this racer.
World Tour Racing fails to remedy many of the problems that
plagued its spiritual ancestor and cannot be recommended for
even the die hard racing fanatic. Hideous flaws that would be
inexcusable even for first generation games are in abundance here
and will test the patience of even the die hard Jaguar/racing
fan. The only reason to purchase this game is to convince
Telegames to continue and support the Jaguar by releasing other
promising titles.
Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
-- Keita Iida
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