NASCAR Rumble
NASCAR + Mario Kart- style racing = A very beautiful thing.
O.K. I’m back! Sorry for the wait guys, Rosenhacker and I had a nice, long talk and came to a compromise. He won’t make me review bad games on a constant basis, and I won’t knock him out with a Stone Cold Stunner (LOL). So today, let’s look at a happier memory from the days of the “PS1 era” known as NASCAR Rumble. Ah, NASCAR Rumble…what could be said about this unique take on a racing organization that involves constant left turns. Well for starters, you can now take right turns in this game (shocking isn’t it?) Now you may be asking, what could possibly make a NASCAR game one of my favorite Playstation games of all time? Especially seeing as there usually wasn’t much involved with making a NASCAR game back then besides making three modes of play and milking the license for everything that it had (drivers, tracks, commentary etc). Well, let’s take a more detailed look at this anomaly in the NASCAR franchise…
This game was released in 2000 for the Playstation by Electronic Arts/EA Sports and is one game in a long running series of NASCAR games by the same company. What separated this from the pack (besides being able to turn right) was how you could actually race as your favorite NASCAR drivers (or other wacky vehicles) on actual race tracks instead of the usual NASCAR-sanctioned oval (or whatever shape you consider Watkins Glen) tracks. On top of that, you also got to take out your opponents Mario Kart-style with a various assortment of power-ups (some of which also would hurt you in the process, more on that later). The game also had a hilarious commentary track provided by none other than Wakko Warner (and various other characters) himself, Jess Harnell. Before we discuss that, let’s see how the game looked and controlled shall we?
The graphics for this game, unlike that last atrocity I reviewed, actually look like a Playstation game released in the year 2000 [Conan O’ Brien reference not intended]. The frame rate moves very smoothly with no real pixilation (or other issue) and the cars look as detailed as they could for a PS1 game. The racetracks also look very detailed and add more color to the NASCAR environment other than your standard white walls, green grass and black pavement. The game menu is very nice-looking and organized so that you can easily see what each option offers. There’s not really much else to note about the graphics for a game like this besides the fact that the environments that you race in which include the beach area, “the south”, the mountains, and even New Orleans all add more variety to the game than your standard NASCAR game would! The controls are what you would expect from a racing game: very responsive and functional (X button for gas, D-pad steers, Circle brakes, the 2 L and R buttons shoot power ups), nothing really special here.
Finally we get to the gameplay! Holy smokes, this game is a lot of fun to play for a NASCAR game! (*have I drilled that into your head yet? XD*) It should be noted that at its bare basics, this game does play just like every other racing game out there (finish in top three to win or move on to the next track) as this is how you will unlock new car classes (i.e. modifications to your car), new vehicles, and new tracks. There are also three modes of play for this game:
-Single/Multi Player: Where you can do a single race, a practice race, a time trial, or a team race (pick a CPU controlled partner or another human player to race with) (you know, the usual garden variety of modes).
-Championship: Where you will do Cup races to unlock the aforementioned features.
-Showdown: Where you will races against the NASCAR Legends (racers from NASCAR’s early days, as the current NASCAR drivers are available at the game’s startup) in order to also be able to use their cars in any race mode.
However the twist for this game is that instead of knocking your opponent around by bumping into him (like you would in a realistic racing game), you can also knock him off course with various power ups that you pick up from various “sparks” (or whatever they are) on the track. Examples of these power ups are a freeze shot, which will freeze up a car and not make it able to turn temporarily. Other power ups you can use are a “ramming front bumper” which will send anyone that hits you flying (much like how the shockwave and tornado power ups will send opponents flying as well). The other power ups are your standard power ups, such as an oil can that makes any car that runs over it go slower temporarily or an invincibility shield. There’s also a thunderstorm powerup, which I guess works like Mario Kart DS’s Squid power up but in my opinion doesn’t really affect anything at all. The only thing I don’t like about this game is the “Joker” powerup, which is a random power up that reveals itself when you use it. The issue with this is sometimes it gives you a helpful power up like the ones you would regularly get… and sometimes it hurts you by giving you a power up that slows your car down.
Lastly, we’ll look at the music and voicework. The music (some of which are songs by The Derek Trucks Band…whoever they are) is very good and definitely fits the game’s atmosphere very well. It also should also be noted that I have found some of these songs to be very memorable as well as I sometimes have the songs stuck in my head after playing the game. XD! Now we finally get to Jess Harnell’s hilarious commentary! What can I say about it, he takes the script that EA gave him…has a bunch of fun with it…and the results are glorious! He pops into the race somewhat randomly to tell you how you are doing with situation-related quotes such as:
-Moving slow? “What’s running your engine? A hamster on a wheel?”
-Opponent too fast for you? “Is his hamster better motivated than yours?”
-Just passed an opponent? “THAT’S RIGHT! YOU GOTTA TAKE WHAT’S YOURS!”
-In last or not doing well? “He’s losing just as quick as he can!”
-etc.
The commentary also pops in when you use power ups or are on the receiving end of one (frozen? “BRRR! Turn up the heat!”). I’ve read some reviews that think he’s annoying and advise you to disable the commentary track in the options, I disagree. I advise you to keep him on if you want a good laugh while you are racing.
So with all of that in mind, what are my final thoughts on this game? I love it. Sure, it doesn’t seem original or like anything really particularly special or different from your standard arcade racer. Yet, somehow I think this game is almost as much fun to play as EA’s other PS1 sports racer, Sled Storm. The graphics are great and move very fluidly, the controls are functional, the gameplay is awesome and has to be played to be believed (because I don’t think you still believe that a NASCAR game can be this much fun), the music is actually pretty good and the commentary is hilarious! Bottom line is this is another quality product from EA that you need to have in your PS1 library if you like NASCAR or racing games in general. Until next time! Laters! –MegaDaffy
Recap:
Pros:
-Graphics are great
-Music is good (and actually memorable)
-Hilarious commentary from voice actor Jess Harnell
-For a NASCAR game, this is a lot of fun.
Cons:
-Joker powerup may end up harming you rather than helping you. What’s up with that EA?
RT Gomer Productions 