Watch out! Inexperienced driver TYP is in the fast lane, so either get off the road or strap yourself in!
Racing games have been around in some form for two decades. At first the graphics were laughable and the control shoddy, but both steadily improved over time. Eventually, arcade and console games popped up that featured real cars and realistic surroundings at a semi-first person view. Unfortunately, the portable world was stuck in the dark ages, where overhead racers ruled.... until now.
GT Advance Championship Racing, or GTA, is a first generation GBA game that shows it can compete with the big boys. Featuring 48 Japanese cars (initially 14) that go by their true names and companies, this realistic racer sets a high standard for those that follow on the GBA. Each car looks like its real-life counterpart, and comes in its own set of colors. Although the cars look stunning in display mode, they tend to look less impressive while turning or being scaled, but this is a small complaint indeed, as aesthetics aren't everything: drivers will need to choose the right car for the track at hand. More slothful cars handle better, while the speed demons require much care around turns. There is also the option of automatic or manual, though (as in most racers) choosing manual is asking for trouble. The cars are definitely a high point in this game, especially for the car fans out there.
The cars are only half of the game, though. Tracks come in a variety of flavors, with 40 tracks in all. Some are normal circuit courses, while others are off-road. Some are located in cities, where 90 degree turns will haunt any driver. The tracks have detail on them, but they can be quite distracting at times, especially since these details are actually quite pixelated. White lines on the street can ruin a race quite easily. In Championship mode, the single player experience, winning a race is often quite a challenge. But persistence pays off: good drivers will win car part upgrades as well as shiny new cars. The gameplay starts off quite difficult, but after getting used to the game, players will improve with the computer at a perfect rate. Later tracks involve plenty of nasty turns to master as well as improved AI. Although multiplayer has all of the same features as the single player mode, including the cars unlocked, it only supports two players--both of which must own a copy of the game.
With current and future racers supporting 4 players and 1-cart mode, this is definitely a single player game. But GTA sends the driving simulation game off in the right direction, and should make any gear-head happy.
Advance GTA
