Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Underappreciated"

Jet Race was originally planned for the Gamecube using the Bongo controller used in the Donkey Konga and Jungle Beat games but Nintendo decided to delay it and release it on the Wii instead presumably to increase the target market size. Jet Race sees the DK crew ride on rocket powered bongos and race each other in tournaments; Mario Kart style. To race, you drum the Wii Remote and Nunchuck up and down to accelerate and turning is done by drumming with one controller only. This would get pretty tiring, but once you achieve max speed, you can stop and your speed remains constant until you hit something that will slow you down. Collecting the bananas that are scattered around the track fills your meter where you can activate a turbo boost. Whilst boosting, if you destroy barrels or charge into opponents, your boost last for longer, so you strategically save your boosts for areas with lots of barrels or when you see opponents just ahead of you. In addition to your basic attack by pressing the A button which can be used to smash opponents or barrels, you can also pick up weapons such as missiles or a swarm of bees to slow the opposition down. Sometimes it can be tiring when you get hit by a few weapon or barrel in a short space of time because you begin to drum really fast to get max speed, then get hit again so you have to drum rapidly again. Given that the tracks take place in the sky and given the control scheme, there isn't really that much that Nintendo could have done in terms of track design. It's not really the sort of game that can have intricate twists and turns or different surfaces to provide a different experience, so the tracks feel simple and don't require great skill to navigate. Overall, Jet Race is an interesting and solid game but it never feels fun enough to be a classic.