Genesis ~ Quad Challenge Review

Overview

Some of us really like racing games. We usually have 2 types of racing games. The most common are ones with cars in them and the other type have something other than cars, usually motorbikes. Eventually we'll get sick of playing car and motorbike racer games. What can we possibly do? Take the best of both worlds and play a hybrid car/motorbike game! And what do you get? Yeah that's right, goofy looking Quads wheelers.

Gameplay

Quad Challenge is a very basic racing game. In both one or two player modes, you race one-on-one with your opponent in these closed dirt racing circuits. You race over a series of laps, trying to complete each lap before the timer runs down. Once it reaches 0, the driver in last place loses and the race is retired. Now lets get into the Quads. How does this game differ from the other typical car racers? It's very similar with some noticeable differences. When the track has a turn, you turn into it. If you go fast enough, you'll powerslide through the corner. It almost seems the only difference is in the graphics, instead of a car, you see a guy on a quad bike. Not quite; if you powerslide too much into the corner, your quad goes more side-on and you'll eventually tip and flip over. Running into road-side objects also flips you over. Sometimes you'll lose control after powersliding out of control or hitting your opponent and spin out. That presents a few problems. It's pretty easy to flip or spin out, and because the tracks are too long, a lot of the time you'll end up have races where you and your opponent are too far apart. So although the beginning of races start off being all close and exciting, a couple of mistakes means pretty much race over, unless you like playing catch-up. One more thing worth mentioning are the amazing speed bumps that make you jump high into the air. Without these, the game would have been more boring.

7 out of 10

Graphics

They get the job done. You get to see dirt spraying around as you turn into the corners. The rotating backdrops are nicely done with famous landmarks put in depending on where you are, like the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore. The animations of your quad racer are cool looking. Watch them flip out, spin out, and jump up the bumps with joy.

3.75 out of 5

Sound and Music

They get the job done too. It's all pretty ordinary: tinky engine sounds, tire screeching, big bang of the quads landing on the ground. If you don't like the ingame sound effects, you can race with one of two tunes. I can't really complain on anything. Just ordinary.

3 out of 5

Playability and Versatility

One of the major problems of this game are those damn roadside objects. When you're going around corners, you can still hit them when its obvious you're still on the track. Really the only that that mars this game from being a pretty good racer are that wretched quads flipping and spinning out. Sure its fair that it does happen, but it shouldn't to the point where you and your opponent become so far apart. It's almost impossible to catch up, seeing the computer opponent rarely messes up. The menu interfaces are all text-based which makes things very simple for you.

2.75 out of 5

Options

There are 4 types of bikes to choose from. A slow auto, a slow manual, a fast auto and a fast manual in order of increasing speed. You can tell them apart of their colours. To get the most out of this game, play with the manual bikes. To make things easier, there are only 2 gears; low or high. The main rational for driving the manual bikes is for extra speed over the auto counterparts.

In 1-player mode, you participate in 16 races otherwise known as the "US Championship". Winning a race will advance you to the next which increases in difficulty and also unlocking the next tracks password.

In 2-player mode, its all predictable. Exactly the same as 1-player mode, except it's 2-player and you can pick which track you want without unlocking them. I assume there are 16 tracks.

3 out of 5

For: slide through the corners, Quad bikes something a bit different to play with, speed bumps.

Against: flipping and spinning out effects you too much, not enough options, roadside objects are a pain in the butt.

At the end of a hard long day of Quad racing, there simply aren't enough options to keep the player satisfied. Fun at first, yawn at the end of the day. And my butt hurts after all those speed bumps.