Top 5 Racing Games

#5 - Mario Kart DS: Let's face it, it's kind of hard to make a list like this without bringing up at least one of the Mario Kart games. However, I am only including one of the games from this series on this list due to how critical I tend to be in my approach to each entry in the series. Mario Kart games are great fun all around, but there are some that I don't care for as much as others. I got my start on Mario Kart 64 which, great game as it is, hasn't aged quite as well as some of the more recent releases. Mario Kart Double Dash should be recognized for exploring interesting new territory but, as a whole, I felt the Gamecube one was the weakest of the bunch.

The reason that Mario Kart DS ranks as my favorite in the series is because of the tracks available. Since none of the Mario Kart games have any real story to speak of, the tracks often serve as a make-or-break deal for me. There are some really creative aesthetics coupled with nice variation in the layout of the tracks, with Luigi's Mansion, Delfino Square, Waluigi Pinball, and Tick-Tock Clock being among the most noteworthy mentions. The retro tracks are a solid bunch too, with the likes of Frappe Snowland, Banshee Boardwalk, and Yoshi Circuit rounding out the package. Not to mention that the controls are very smooth - props to Nintendo for sticking to what we already know works and not messing up the controls by trying to implement much from the touch screen.

#4 - F-Zero X: Back in the day, I used to rent as many N64 games as I could from Blockbuster, and F-Zero X was among those. I didn't rent this one as frequently as Pokémon Snap, Ocarina of Time, or even Snowboard Kids, but it stood out to me, even at a young age, for a few key reasons. First off was the over-the-top futuristic racing scenario. As a kid, I simply thought it was a cool concept. Today, I realize how much of a different racing experience it provides, with the potential for sliding around turns, knocking other racers out of your path, or even the unfortunate plummet off the track into the abyss below. Second were the track designs and racer stats. Anyone's who's played this game knows how you have to be ready for whatever the next course is about to throw at you, and this can lead to a lot of trial-and-error approaches early on. The racers proved a solid progression system. You won't have access to anything spectacular to start with, but the default racers are well-balanced and give you a chance to get a good feel for the game before you take that next step up in difficulty.

F-Zero X is a very nontraditional Nintendo game in a lot of respects. It's not gushing with mature content, by any means, but the heavy metal and techno tunes coupled with the ripped t-shirt-clad menu girls implies this is a racing game for the teens on up (both were kind of edgy back in the day). It's a challenging game - there are times when the slightest of screw-ups can send you hurtling to your death, forcing you to restart the race (as I experienced more than a few times on the pipes of Big Blue) - but that's just the way I like it.

#3 - Diddy Kong Racing: This was an easy pick for me, and not just because it was the first video game I ever owned. Diddy Kong Racing is a kart racer, and a darn good one at that. It's not the same as Mario Kart, despite the fact that both games are host to a cast of characters from across various games. Diddy Kong Racing has something of a story to it. It's by no means the greatest storytelling you can find in a video game, but the way Wizpig and adventure mode acted as the core of the experience gave me a reason to want to complete the main game.

The major worlds are host to four tracks and one mini-game each. Each world has a different theme, and the tracks explore different styles in which said themes could be approached. For example, the Renaissance-themed Dragon Forest dishes out a haunted forest, plains riddled with windmills, a castle, and a medieval village. Some tracks proved vehicle-specific, or at least more friendly toward one vehicle over another. They are not frequent, but courses that force players to use the hovercraft or the jet end up as some of the best-designed of the bunch, and can certainly help in learning to master these alternative vehicles.

The items are another highlight. As opposed to Mario Kart's greater variety, Diddy Kong racing takes to a stacking method. By collecting a single red balloon, players can fire a missile. Or, they can choose to wait and grab another red balloon to upgrade to a homing missile. It presents an element of careful strategy not always explored in kart racers. And man, do those items come in mighty handy when you're taking on any of the game's five bosses (because they're all pretty challenging).

#2 - Midnight Club II: This is a game that breathes atmosphere through every nook and cranny of its three overworld cities. From Los Angeles to Paris to Tokyo, the game presents you with a superb variety of race variants. There's the tried-and-true races against multiple AI opponents, there's the series of scattered checkpoints, and there are instances where you have to outrun the police (you are street racing illegally, after all). There's even one mission where you are the unwitting accomplice in a plot to spread bombs through the Parisian catacombs.

What makes this game so memorable is not its selection of excellently rendered automobiles, which range from the classy and sporty to the suped-up and decked out. It's not the controls which are so fluid and perfect for the PS2. All of these certainly help the overall package to reach greater heights, but the soundtrack is the definitive reason to play this game. Whether you are punching the turbo to beat your opponent to the finish line at the last minute or simply free-roaming in cruise mode, the experimental techno and hip-hop tracks from Thomas Bangalter, Felix Da Housecat, patientzero, 8-Off Agallah (to name just a few) act as the soul of the experience.

#1 - Hydro Thunder: "Three!...Two!...One! GO, GO, GO!" If F-Zero was the hyper-futuristic equvialent to a car racing game, then Hydro Thunder is essentially the same to boat racing. I can't say that I've played many boat racing games - I don't think that there are that many around, and I don't imagine there are many noteworthy mentions among the bunch. But Hydro Thunder stands out to me for a lot of reasons. On the more simplistic side of things, the game is gorgeous to look at, regardless of whether you are playing it on the N64, Dreamcast, or Arcade. It's not that the graphics look incredible by today's standards - far from it. But the whole aesthetic appeal of surreal environments of each track combined with space-age boats immediately immerses you in the experience.

Breaking down the particulars, though, Hydro Thunder requires time and patience to master. While each course has its boost locations, figuring out the best time to use them can draw a fine line between first and last place. There's also the matter of shortcuts and jumps to improve your ranking. Despite its age, the game's controls are still surprisingly fluid, and offer an experience that does well to balance the realistic elements of boat racing with the ridiculous angle of strapping rockets to the back of your machine. The different layouts of each track keep you on your toes at all times while also providing enough space for you to maneuver in the water. All in all, the game has a very arcade-style feel about it, whether you're actually playing the arcade version or one of the console releases.

2010 Year in Review: Video Games

In my opinion, 2010 started out as a strong year for hardcore gamers, but fizzled out during the second half of the year with a number of predictable/monotonous mainstream releases. There were, however, a number of titles announced this past year that are slated for 2011 release that I am very much looking forward to playing. Each of the games mentioned in brief here are titles that I both played for the first time and reviewed earlier this year, so you can check out the more full and in-depth reviews at you leisure.

Bioshock 2: The first title was a hard act to follow, but despite my anxiousness for the release of 2K's sequel, it succeeded tremendously in carrying on the story of Rapture and further exploring the city and ideals of Andrew Ryan. Narrating the events through the eyes of Subject Delta, one of the first Big Daddies, the storytelling feels much more fluid even if the plot itself feels slightly less original than in the original Bioshock. A few tweaks here and there to the game mechanics might not have seemed necessary at first glance, but the gameplay benefits greatly from these. Throw in an online multiplayer mode that is as enjoyable as it is strategic and you've got a phenomenal sequel to what is quite possibly the best title released for this generation's consoles. My rating: 9.5

DLC
- Protector Trials: 9.0
- Minerva's Den: 8.0


No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: Working out some kinks in the game mechanics from the first installment, Suda 51 has returned Travis Touchdown to the heat of battle. This time around, Travis isn't in it to win Sylvia - he's climbing the ranks of world-renowned assassins to seek revenge. There's a ton of blood, but it comes across as surprisingly cohesive with the overall art stlye of the game, and the soundtrack is fantastic to boot. Despite a few bumps along the way, Desperate Struggle is a blast to play and one of the best action-adventure titles for the Wii. My rating: 9.25

Dynasty Warriors Gundam: A hack-and-slash fest with Bandai's popular mecha series skinned over everything, this title is surprisingly enjoyable though not particularly deep. The gameplay is incredibly repetitive, but each pilot/Gundam has their own unique attacks, strengths, and weaknesses. The original story is creative, though a bit cheesy, while the classic battles reenacted from various series do a better job of wrapping players up in the experience. Dynasty Warriors Gundam isn't by any means fantastic, but it's one of the better Gundam games released in recent years. My rating: 7.25

Hydro Thunder Hurricane: Not much has changed in the overall feel of Hydro Thunder since the original was released years ago, and that's great news for veteran fans and newcomers alike. The game's controls are intuitive and players can advance through higher difficulty levels. The biggest selling point in terms of replay value, however, are the number of various gameplay modes available, including gauntlets, ring challenges, championship races, and online multiplayer. My rating: 9.0

Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2: While the gameplay is fluid and responsive, the cutscenes in the story mode were cooked up in a quick and lazy manner. The difficulties in the story mode are incredibly unbalance, but nearly perfectly balanced in the duel and tournament modes. As with most fighting games, each character is granted his/her basic set of attacks, but there is enough variation throughout to keep things interesting. My rating: 7.75


Final Fantasy XIII: Easily the single best looking game I've ever seen, FFXIII manages to stack its gameplay and story high as well. The characters are an interesting group thrown together by circumstance, and while each player will have his/her favorite, every one of the characters (of both major and minor roles) plays an important part in the grand scheme of things. The paradigm shift system works flawlessly, though some character roles will be more important earlier in the game, and others more important later on. The game is incredibly long, but if players are patient and put the time into it, I think they'll find FFXIII to be a thoroughly enjoyable gaming experience. My rating: 9.5

Halo: Reach: Bungie's swan song to their most famous series is most full a package out of any of the Halo titles, and easily one of the best FPS games for this generation of consoles. Aside from a decent length campaign that pays homage in each level to it predecessors, gamers are given the online multiplayer that has made Halo so popular over the years, a more complete version of the firefight mode introduced in ODST, and nearly limitless options for creating maps in forge mode. The graphics are phenomenal, the soundtrack epic, and the voice acting top-notch. The level of customization in terms of the in-game SPARTANs and the various thumbstick/button layouts will cater to just about any player's personal preference. My rating: 9.25

XBLA review: Hydro Thunder Hurricane

For those who played Hydro Thunder as either an arcade racer or console game on the Dreamcast and N64, a second entry has been released exclusively for the Xbox Live Arcade. New developer Vector has taken over for Midway and added a bit of their own spin on things while maintaining the overall feel of the original title. Hydro Thunder Hurricane will run players 1200 Microsoft Points to download the full game.

The mechanics of Hurricane are largely the same as those of its predecessor. The default control scheme places the throttle at the right trigger and the boost at the 'A' button, though the controls can be changed to various configurations via the options menu. There are three boats for each class of difficulty, and with three classes of difficulty (novice, pro, and expert) players are granted use of nine total boats, each with its own positive and negative attributes. Certain boats are aimed at players who wish for a more balanced ride, while others put greater emphasis on speed or handling while sacrificing other aspects. The slide effect that the water has on the boats may take a little time for players to get used to and the ocassional big wave can toss boats quite a distance, but these become very minor annoyances once players get the hang of the game.

There are a total of eight tracks to choose from, each with obvious inspirations from the original game. Each track looks phenomenal with a perfect balance of stylized elements and realism - the lighting effects in particular outshine those in many full disc games (no pun intended). Scattered along the track are boost canisters which - as their name implies - grant players a limited amount of boost. The more of these players collect, the longer their boost will last. Players can also use the boost to jump to higher areas of the courses in order to find shortcuts or snag some of the hidden packages hidden on each course. Also found on most courses are switches which, when activated, open secret passageways or ramps to areas otherwise unreachable by a boost jump alone.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane has an incredible amount of replay value. Aside from the standard races, players can take part in gauntlet runs and ring challenges on each individual course. The gauntlet runs are largely the same as the standard race, but test players for individual time instead of placement as they navigate the course, avoiding explosive barrels along the way. The ring challenges also test players on time as they navigate their boat through rings that become smaller with each increased level of difficulty. Missing a ring will add an extra one to three seconds to the player's overall time ranking. Championship challenges stack a number of races, gauntlet runs, and ring challenges in a row and tally up the player's overall ranking (and respective point reward) at the conclusion of the combined races/challenges. Online play is included and players can go head to head with other racers to compete for the top three spots and a subsequent reward in points added to their overall score. Local/splitscreen matches pit four racers against CPU racers in a fairly straightforward multiplayer take on the traditional race mode.

As mentioned earlier, players are awarded points for winning gold, silver, and bronze trophies in the game's various events. Racking up a certain amount of points will unlock different races, challenges, though not in the most straightforward manner. In this way, the game attempts to force players to mix things up a bit by unlocking gauntlet and ring challenges in between each new track. Players can either play through these to earn more points or stick with the traditional races, using the different boats to earn more in rewards. Online play will also merit gamers a nearly limitless amount of point rewards, presuming players can finish in first, second, or third place.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane doesn't change much from the formula laid down years ago by the original Hydro Thunder, but that works almost entirely to the game's advantage. The gameplay is smooth and solid but still poses a decent challenge to players. A variety of play styles were kept in mind with the varying strengths and weaknesses of each boat. Players who wish to go the extra mile and complete each challenge with gold trophies in each event and find all hidden packages to unlock new paint jobs for each boat will find themselves with a tall (though not impossible) order to fill, while more casual gamers will find this title easy enough to jump into and enjoy. I was initially concerned that the price tag might be too steep for the game, but ultimately 1200 Microsoft Points is perfect for Hydro Thunder Hurricane.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)