Today, London based developer Small Rockets announced it will release the first true 3D racer to the Game Boy Advance, which will also serve as the company’s first project for the new handheld. The game’s working title is "4x4 Off-Roaders" & it is described as an arcade-style off-road racing game with realistic physics and graphics. Voxel technology is used in order to creat fully 3D environments on the GBA.

Players will be able to race on race tracks which dip and curve, and then head off cross-country through valleys and over ridges. 4x4 Off-Roaders will feature a variety of different racing modes including Championship Mode, Time Trial and Capture the Flag, and players will be able to race against 3 AI opponents or 3 human challengers using the link cable.

Here’s what Small Rockets has to say on 4x4 Off-Roaders:

"4x4 Off-Roaders is the first game to provide a true 3D racing experience on the Game Boy Advance," said project leader Marcus Lynn. "Using voxels to render the landscape, we can have realistic physics and allow the player to travel anywhere on the map. With the power of the GBA hardware, all this can be achieved without taking a significant hit in performance - we expect the game to run at a minimum of 20-30 fps, even with several of vehicles on-screen at once."

4x4 Off-Roaders is only the beginning for Small Rockets, though they feel the GBA is a great place to start. "With the announcement of 4x4 Off-Roaders, we are making a decisive move into this expanding area," said development director Shawnee Sequeira. "Our aim has always been to provide games across as many mass market devices as possible and GBA is a perfect fit for us."

The game still lacks a publisher, though it is already looking impressive & shouldn’t have much trouble finding its way to an interested party.

For more information about the game, check out:

http://www.smallrockets.com/gba/offroaders/index.htm

Props also to GB Dojo!