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Review  Speed Kings
- By Daniel Maraglio
[Senior Editor]
When I first put Speed Kings into my Gamecube for review, I was skeptical. Arcade racers have flooded the markets and a good portion of those have always been sub-par titles, with action and fun that quickly turns into boredom. After spending quite a bit of time with this game and despite a few small flaws, I am still enjoying it.
Gameplay:
The game itself borrows some of its gameplay from the arcade car racer, Burnout and changes the vehicles into motorcycles. Players race through crowded streets on their bikes (22 total), dodging traffic and performing stunts, trying to get the first place position and earn respect points. To help the player succeed, stunts, hitting other riders and other actions fill up a turbo meter, and when it is maxed out, a press of a button sends your bike flying with blurred graphical effects that give a great sense of speed. Each race has secondary objectives to complete, like holding a wheelie for 1000 feet, or knocking out other racers six times. Accomplishing these gives you the respect points and with these points, new bikes are unlocked. The variety of stunts is welcomed and their commands are easy to remember. My only problem is that certain stunts like standing on your bike and doing a handstand make the driver slightly block the view of whats directly ahead, but it never caused any major problems. Another nice feature is the "power down" button. Sometimes during a race, a big rig or other obstacle will get into your path. Pushing the power down button makes your rider turn his bike on its side and slide right under these low obstacles. Another selling point is real time crashes. During a race it isnt uncommon to crash about three or four times. The crashes arent as spectacular as Burnout's, but they still look pretty gritty since you see your driver fly off the bike and roll down the pavement and finally writhe in pain. Bikes usually just lose the front tire and a few random pieces scatter about. The penalty for crashing is minimal, considering you were just under a truck. The driver is placed a short distance ahead of their wreck, which gives a few extra seconds to stay ahead of the pack. If another racer is giving you problems, the attack button allows you to kick or push an opponent down with ease. While this is fun to do, its not anything like Road Rash. If your playing alone, there are single race, meet, time attack, trick attack, head to head and Grand prix modes. You and up to three friends can play all of those modes except time attack. Tag and pursuit modes have also been added for mutliplayer fun.
Aesthetics:
One of the games lower points. The graphics are decent while a bit on the simple side, but with a framerate that seems to go from 60 to 30 fps at any time. While it was annoying at first, I did get accustomed to it. When a speed boost is performed, a blurring effect is used to give the feel of speed, but it also makes seeing up ahead pretty difficult and crashing could result. Four player mode ran a little more slowly than single player but its still not a problem besides the smaller viewing area making it harder to see obstacles in the distance.
Sound:
The music and sound effects are fitting to an arcade racer, with rock music being the main theme and some other genres thrown in for variety. Sound effects ranging from revving bike engines to crashes are all good, but I always founding myself wishing that crashing made a loud "THUD!" sound. It just would have added some humour into the game.
Control:
A tight control system really helps this game stay enjoyable. With plenty of buttons and stunts to remember, players may feel overwhelmed for an arcade style racer. Fortunately, the control lay-out is quickly mastered and stunts are easy and fun to perform. Steering feels responsive and powerslides are effective on tight turns.
Multiplayer:
The four player modes are a good time in small doses. Its fun to knock friends off their bikes and the extra tag and pursuit modes are a great deviation to the other straight racing modes. Its a good party game or to kill some time with some buddies.
OVERALL:
Speed Kings is a fun arcade racer with enough features and fun to put it a step ahead from the rest of the arcade racing genre. While not without its graphical flaws, the stunts system and control scheme help to make up for any shortcomings. The unlockables and various single and multi player modes will keep you coming back for more.
The Lowdown on  Speed Kings
| Aesthetics: Below Average |
Control: Very Good |
| Gameplay: Above Average |
Multiplayer: Very Good |
| Sound: Average |
Innovation: 4/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 3/6 |
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Overall: Above Average!
"A Quality Game"
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This game is:
Above Average
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INFO |
Developer: Climax UK
Publisher: Acclaim
Number of Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E
Release Date:
05.27.2003
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IN A
NUTSHELL: |
| A great arcade racer that is worth checking out. |
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