Vanishing Point Review
Vanishing Point is an excellent racing game marred by the developer's attempts to overcomplicate things.
According to the Clockwork Games Web site, Vanishing Point sprang to life as the conversion of an arcade racer that didn't actually exist. The development team wanted to create a "for the home" racing game that retained the level of presentation usually restricted to big-budget arcade rigs. Even the game's title, Vanishing Point, implies a yearning to eliminate the line that separates compromise from extravagance. In a sense, the game succeeds at its goals, provided you don't mind a racer with an identity crisis.
Initially, Vanishing Point feels just like any other arcade-style racer. Of the game's 32 total vehicles and 13 tracks, only two cars and one solitary course are available from the outset. To unlock the rest of the game's vehicles, courses, tune-up options, and game modes, you'll need to achieve first-place finishes in the game's core activity, the tournament mode. In tournament mode, each car is presented with three heats in which to race, with a new secret unlocked after each first-place finish. Each heat is composed of two or three of the game's 12 main courses, with mirrored and reversed tracks cropping up intermittently to break the monotony. Unfortunately, since a poorly handling Ford Explorer and a tail-heavy Ford Mustang Cobra are the only two cars you have to start out with, surmounting the game's slippery handling and devastating crashes in order to achieve the requisite number of first-place finishes is an exercise in perseverance. In an interesting twist, however, success in a race doesn't depend on your ability to overtake opponent vehicles, but on your ability to beat a series of pre-established top times. Indeed, as the game's photo-realistic scenery and true-to-life cityscapes pass by at over 100 miles per hour, commuter traffic is there for one reason and one reason only - to slow you down. They're pretty good at it, too, since they're mostly immune to the same laws of physics that hinder your progress at every turn. If it sounds like a bizarre crossing of 4 Wheel Thunder, Crazy Taxi, and Daytona, that's exactly what Vanishing Point is - in the beginning, at least.
As you overcome the game's hypersensitive controls and achieve a few first-place finishes, the game slowly begins to take on the traits and nuances of high-end arcade racers or elementary driving simulations. The Ford Explorer and Mustang Cobra give way to vehicles better suited to the task at hand, such as the BMW 325i and Toyota Supra, while a series of much needed tune-up options, namely tire pressure, damping, and brake bias, give the game the sense of handling that it initially lacks. In many ways, it's as if the game's designers want you to experience the perils of a cookie-cutter arcade racer before they reward you with a game that ultimately rests somewhere between Sega GT and Test Drive Le Mans in terms of quality. If not for its airy physics, touchy control, and sadistic number of gameplay features that must be unlocked (more than 80), Vanishing Point would be the Dreamcast's finest racing game.
Vanishing Point Quick Links
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- GameSpot Scoregreat
Critic Scores
- IGN 8.6 / 10
- Game Rankings 87 / 100
- Cheat Code Central 4 / 5
- Electric Playground 8.5 / 10
- Game Vortex 9.5 / 10
- Netjak 8.8 / 10
- The Laser
- Gamers Wave 7.5 / 10
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