Top Gear Overdrive |
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Top Gear Overdrive |
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Top Gear Overdrive: the fifth game in the Top Gear sequel is back, and judging by the box, it's bigger, badder and meaner than ever. But is it?
Unlike Top Gear Rally, TGO returns to its roots laid on the Super Nintendo. A more fun that serious racer, the idea is to win races, win money, buy parts for your car, and buy new cars. You start at the back of the grid, as in all TG games, and then must work your way into the top 4 to progress to the next race. The cars get faster and faster, and the tracks wilder and wilder. Cars, like the originals, are equipped with nitros, and can also be picked up, as well as other goodies, off the track. This is the championship mode and can be played between 1 or players! Yes, that is right. There are CPU cars in all modes, albeit a smaller number in 4-player. There is also a straight versus mode and that is it. No Time Trial or anything else.
TGO's Championship uses the season-mode from TGR to give the game longevity. Eventually, all five of the "initial" tracks open up, and with some extensions, and they get raced in reverse too. Same with the "initial" 10 cars which are almost "real". They look familiar but do not have tha appropriate labels and tags that an endorsed game would have. From Beetles, Jeeps and Camaros, to Porsches, Ferraris and eventually, an F1 McLaren, there is a good range of cars.
Compared to Rally, the cars are not as responsive, but still handle in a very similar way. The game is responsive (but then what N64 racer is not?), but also seems to be slightly on the sloppy side. Don't know really, but all in all, the handling is quite good; it just seems it could be slightly better. I mean, Rally was criticised for being too responsive and I am sure this will be criticised for the slightly loose feel. Also, like Rally, the control does improve markedly once you start racing with faster cars.
One thing that cannot be disputed is the game's speed. It is awesome. Not insanely fast that you are out of control, but certainly adrenalin rushing. Even the early cars will give you a buzz when playing in first-person view. Like most games, playing in third-person view, makes the speed seem slower.
The thing that can be disputed is the stupid way the manual operation of gears works. Unlike every other game on the planet which uses 2 buttons (essentially a left and a right button for shifting up and down - a feature the very first Top Gear pioneered), Overdrive uses just the "R" button. Hitting it will change up, but to change down, you must also hit it whilst you are not accelerating. To make things worst, the standard "shift-down" in most other games - the "Z" button - has been assigned to activate nitros which causes all manner off confusion. You can change the configuration but there is no option to assign a specific "shift-down" button. Sorry, this is wrong, especially when there are so many other buttons on the N64 controller to use. Sure it is not that difficult to use the gears the way it is, but it is just so very hard to to over-ride the built up instinct of over 8 years of 2-button gear-shifting in video games out of your system. It really does suck the big one.
Overall, the tracks are good. They feature some fast, flowing corners that really let you hang out the rear end; slower corners which require some braking. The courses are not overly technical, as the game is trying to encourage you to put in 3 swift laps in order to catch your rivals. Curiously, if you hit a wall or column at speed, your car explodes, and is re-generated for you near the point of impact for you to continue. Needless to say, more than one crash per lap like this spells doom in terms of making the top 4, let alone winning.
The tracks feature small shortcuts, or alternate routes as some are not that much shorter, usually through caves and such which is good for variety. On the negative side, the game features jumps, which quite simply, are way too big. With the slower cars, they are much in the same vein as in the Rally ones with the fast cars - manageable. But once the speed increases, you get so much air that you actually fly right over the cliffs, or into a wall. You really have to slow down heaps to try and control it, which seems to go against the game's ethos. More than anything, they are just annoying. Jumps in a racing game should be manageable where the ability to land whist drifting sideways in the air is premium, but in this game, the jumps just send you into the stratosphere and it is more luck if you land in a good position.
The only real negative is the lack of a bonnet view which all racing games, including the Grand Daddy of them all - Gran Tursimo - should have. You need the speed of the first-person view but also the knowledge of where your car's physical boundaries extend when trying to cut corners and overtake cars at close range.
These are the best graphics I have seen in an N64 game - period. Fast, smooth, and clean. No fogging, or pop-up, and the weather and lighting effects are well done too. Even in split screen they are still as good, with only minor loss of detail in 4-player. Easily the best spilt-screen experience in an N64 racer to date. The game does make use of the RAM pack, but I was unable to try it out in this mode, although, there is a widescreen hi-res mode to view. But personally, the standard full-screen mode is good enough. It is amazing the game can be so smooth and fast - almost F-Zero like - yet still retain all the roadside objects and backgrounds that Overdrive manages to do.
Yep, that is right, a BIG FAT ZERO. The car effects are your standard affair - engine sounds, tyres screeching, and biffs and bangs - but it is the soundtrack that sucks. The box says the game features 6 full vocal tracks, but to be quite honest, I can't tell you if this is true or not. Because after trying a few out, I just could not take them any more; even with the music volume turned to the lowest notch. The game features someone or something called "Grindstone" but they suck big time. It simply does not fit the game. Yuk. Removing the music would give the game 5 out of 10 for the sound.
In single player, it won't last much longer than 10 hours, but it is the versus mode that this game excels - just like all the SNES TG games.
If anyone read my review of F-Zero would see I am big on options, and as you can obviously tell, this game is incredibly lightweight. I already mentioned the race modes - championship and versus - but there is bugger all else other than being able to race 1,3, or 5 laps in versus mode. There is no bonnet-cam in racing, and no decent manual control setup either. But most crucially, there is only one game save on the cartridge so if you want to play split-screen championship, you have to erase your existing one where you have opened all the tracks and cars. You can't save to controller pak either, and if you play in versus mode, no tally is kept of player wins. What the hell is going on here? C'mon, this is rudimentary stuff that should be in all games. There is no replay either which is standard these days. In fact, the whole game seems to be rushed as there are really no extras at all. The only reason I give it any score is that you can turn the shocking music off.
Another game that leaves you with the feeling that it could have been so much better. While the crux of the game - the control, tracks and racing - is actually quite good, it is just the lack of anything else to keep you interested once you have beaten the Championship, that is not. I know it is more a fun than serious racer, but Grant Turismo has dozens of competitions, whereas this game has one. The game excels in versus mode which really is the only reason to warrant a purchase. Pity, as the bare house is there - it just lacks the furnishings. I think that the developers of this game, in order to complete it, were too mindful of that funny man in red that climbs down chimneys.
Well, how does it hold up? In a word: Shit. I put it up for sale a week after I bought it and am glad I got all but $20 back for it. I mentioned above how the jumps in the tracks were unmanageable. Well, once the faster cars are acquired, the jumps all but ruin the game. Simply, they are way TOO big. Quite often you will see your self launched into the stratosphere. Sorry, whilst they may be spectacular, they are spoil the game and it really is not fun. It is an average game so gets average marks. Simple as that.
Overdrive:
Good handling and racing model
Fast, smooth and beautiful graphics - maybe best ever
Fabulous split screen mode
Good array of cars, and tracks
Reverse:
Only the one season-based championship
One save only on cart; no controller pak saves
Dire music - the worst ever
Jumps are too outrageous
No bonnet-cam; overall light on options
Manual transmission set-up sucks