GT Advance Game by THQ Reviewed by Philip Wesley Size: 32 megabits Save: Password (16 characters. Alphanumeric/Caps Sensitive) Released: 2001 Rated: E for everyone Works with: Game Boy Advance and above **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Hyped as the Gran Turismo for Game Boy Advance, or as the greatest racing game yet for Game Boy Advance, I'm interested in seeing how this turns out to be. Now, I'll be honest. I hate Gran Turismo. Yes, you read that correctly. I hate it. I prefer my handling ala Ridge Racer. If it weren't for the fact that Gran Turismo has tons of liscensed cars and the ability to tune them up realistically, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. However, the real cars, and real tuneing give Gran Turismo the only thing I like about it. The feeling that I'm actually working with a virtual car. I crave customization. I play with the little options, I can spend an hour thinking up names for a new Pokémon I caught and want to keep. That whole "Look what I souped up!" feeling is the best. Because it feels like I have done something worthwhile. However, I hate the way Gran Turismo handles, and I hate the lack of tracks in Gran Turismo. But I don't hate this game. In fact.. it feels different. Let me get into gameplay now. **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: 48 cars! 32 tracks! Oh, my! I already like this more then Gran Turismo. Earn parts, and earn liscenced cars from makers like Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Suzuki, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Daihatsu. Nice! I like that. Hmm.. I can customize the Aerodynamics, engine, suspension, muffler, grips, a "CPU", weight, seat, and filters. Great! I can also change the color of my car. I like that a lot. I like customization. Oh, you have a choice between Manual and Automatic as well. But as much fun as OPTIONS are. They are still options and while it's part of the Game play. You STILL have to race. And here is where I have complaint with this game. So many choices; but less then half the cars are worth it for actually raceing in the game. It's normal racing divided up into three laps, and you must finish third or better. You have to use a cornering style similar to Ridge Racer's Drift Turns to get around corners properly without banging into walls all over the place. Which is hard or easy depending on the car. The physics aren't too bad and the game rewards you nicely when you finish first. (You get extra cars and parts!) The game tracks are varied enough to be interesting. The actual races aren't very hard with the right car. Once you get into first, you will most likely STAY in first. Unlike the brutally cheap artifical intelligence in Mario Kart or F-Zero, the other cars are wusses that never catch up. They also go outside boundries that you can not go outside of, and never slow down when they hit or scrape a wall. I think they are horrendous. They never seem to get smarter, either. I mean, it's not a battle for first. They aren't constantly breathing down your neck or trying to smack you out of the track. I also don't feel like the game conveys speed very well. In fact, at times, it feels like I am going nowhere. I want a sense of speed and that is not here at all. I want to go fast in my shiny new custom-built car! I wanna go FAST! It has a two player mode where if you and a friend have the game, you can link up and race against each other. I tried that at E3. It is fun. Liked: Options good! Liscences good! Control good! Hated: No sense of speed BAD! Dumb opponents with no rage BAD! (C'mon! You gotta WANT IT BADLY!) I also dislike one more thing; but I will leave that for Game Design/Play Control. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: No sense of real speed; but it sure is nice to look at from time to time. The graphics on some of these tracks are purely gorgeous! The cars look like they should. But to be honest, they could DEFINATELY use some improvement. If you look close enough as you turn, they actually split up. The cars are sprites, fair enough. Drab looking; but accurate. I think maybe next time, they should use a polygonal engine? Well, maybe not. When I hit the brake light, the brake lights go on. Damn sweet right there! I would say that there is room to grow and improve. The menus will have Sony's lawyers up in arms as at times, this looks more like Gran Turismo then should be healthy. Liked: Looks nice! Hated: There is definately room to grow. Definately. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: The car sounds are great! However, the music is rather low grade; or shall I say it? Not very good. Some of it is great. Like Track 5 in the Sound Test. I loved that. It was cool. But, the other tracks range from so annoying I flinch to "I can ignore it." Love those sound effects though. Liked: Sound effects, track 5. (Because it sounds like the music that should have been in F-Zero Advance/F-Zero Maximum Velocity.) Hated: The music.. is terrible... really.. turn it off and listen to the sweet purr of your engine instead. It's much nicer that way. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: Play Control and game design are great. But I want to address something here. Passwords. Now, in Metroid you had 24 character alphanumeric case sensitive passwords and that was no big deal; because of the way there are inputed. Here, you scroll up or down to input letters and it's a pain. A real pain. I mean, 16 character passwords that are painfully difficult to input. Yuck. Liked: Good game.. Hated: Passwords. **************************************************************************** Improve: Battery (The import one has this.), better sprite models, sense of speed. Better music. Also, a dashboard view, and a replay mode would be very nice. RIYL: Customizeing cars, liscensed cars, raceing. **************************************************************************** Final Words: Well, I like this game better then Gran Turismo. If you like raceing a lot, and you like sim elements. Hey. Pick it up! Or better yet... IMPORT it. It's all in English and there's no painful passwords. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: **** Graphics: **** Sound/Music: ** Play Control/Game Design: **** Personal Opinion: ** Total: 16/25 Final Score: 52% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: Naw.