IHRA 2005 isn't a bad game, it's just that there's really nothing spectacular about it...
Gameplay: 5/10 - IHRA 2005 is a seriously stripped-down drag racing game. Forget about shifting, pedaling from the loss of traction, steering, and actually being challenged by doing a burnout correctly. Yes, you only need two buttons to play this game. The gas, and the handbrake button. Backing up after the burnout is done for you. Yes, I'm not lying. Two buttons...
The actual playing of IHRA 2005 is done very simply. The car rolls forward into the waterbox automatically. After hitting the gas, a burnout meter comes up, and you see your car from an awkward angle. Don't worry, you don't have to steer, so it's up to you to hit the gas for about....oh...five or six seconds until the little meter is filled up. Now the game simply backs up your car for you. After the car is at the start line, you inch your car up with the gas and handbrake, and attempt to illuminate the Pre-Stage and Stage bulbs with your car. Easy? Don't worry! After the lights go green, steering is nonexistent. It's up to you to have full concentration on holding down the R trigger for four to six seconds. Wow! That must be really hard! And without steering!?!?! This is my nominee for the easiest game ever made...
The AI cars are a completely different story. If you thought making a pass down the track was easy, wait until you race the AI cars. Even on the hardest difficulty, these guys will sleep at the starting line. A perfect light in drag racing is a .400. These guys will cut .700's at their best. For the time sheet screen, it's just best to not look at their times. You will laugh....and cry. The game advertises about having close races with the pros. I don't know how these AI cars can be called pros.
IHRA 2005 actually has a career mode. Amazingly, it doesn't do that bad of a job at it. You have a great selection of car bodies, car parts, paint schemes, and sponsors. It would have been nice to see a system where sponsors are earned, but because of the sloppy AI, it would have just been too easy. On to the bulk of career mode, you have three choices. The career starts you out with lisencing runs in all four classes, but they are a pain to keep loading up again due to horrible load times. After those have all been completed, you can either run a match race, a single event, or the entire season to make money. The problem is, you don't NEED to make money. You can tune your car in the garage and still be competitive without buying new and improved parts. The main fault about the tuning, is that it can produce some wacky stats. My cousin runs Top Alcohol Funny Car in real life. I've been going out to the track since I was in kindergarten. I have never seen an Alky Funny Car run over 300 Miles Per Hour. Ever. Back to career mode though, it also includes a trophy room, which displays all of your trophies and posters. However, it doesn't have a guide of when you earn certain things, and stuff like the pinball machine and dartboard aren't actually playable. You can't even see the trophies up close! One of my main annoyances in this game is the lack of licenced drivers in Career mode. There's only about four to seven actual drivers in each of the four classes (Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Funny Car, Top Fuel). You'll find yourself racing more against Bob Joe and Dave Brown than guys like Mike Janis, Clay Millican, and Brian Gahm. Sadly, a lot of the cars featured in the intro movie aren't anywhere in the game. Harold Martin, Glen Kerunsky, and Rick Distefano are just a few names that weren't in the game but were seen in the intro. In all, career mode is pretty short-lived, and you're best to stay away from it after a few passes...
There are a few other modes in IHRA 2005. The arcade mode lets you pick any car that you've unlocked and race it against a random opponent on any track. The game does a good job of letting you set the conditions for the track, but does not let you pick the car you will go against. Kind of sad, as the cars have differen't statistics. You'll sometimes find yourself going against the slowest car. You also can't run full events like you could in career mode, which takes away from the replay value of the game. Of course, this game, like all games at this day and age, feature split-screen multiplayer. If you've got a friend with at least half of a brain (you really don't need one to play this game), the game mode actually produces some exciting races. In fact, you don't actually need anyone else to play with you. If you have another XBOX controller, you can easily race split-screen with two hands. One controller for each hand can produce some exciting rivalries. Left side of the brain versus the right side? Left hand versus right hand? The possibilities are endless! To finish the list, a practice tree is included, but this is entertaining for about.....oh....twenty seconds...
The physics in this game aren't bad. Cars flip and roll accurately, and launch with the wheels up just like the real thing. Other than that, well, the physics are done very well...
So, to round out the gameplay section, there's just really not much to do here...
Graphics: 8/10 - IHRA 2005 has great graphics, and the car models really stand out the most. The cars are shiny, have amazing interiors (from the outside), and have very accurate paint schemes. The world and track also look good, and the menus are very well done. My one main complaint about the graphics would be how many fake advertisements there are around the track. IHRA's title sponsor back when this game was made (it is now TORCO Race Fuels) was Hooters. In every track on the national tour, there is a big Hooters balloon. Well, in this game, they call it "Hotties" (an excellent play on words). None of the advertising on the side of the track is real. In fact, some of the tracks don't even have the correct pit layout. You don't see it while racing, but if you've ever been to a track in this game (like I have), it sticks out like a sore thumb. The graphics in this game are pretty good...
Sound: 4/10 - This game has horrible sound! The music is very generic, and the cars sound nothing like they do in real life. These cars are loud and rumble your bones, they don't sound like grandma's old station wagon. But if you're like me, you have another TV turned up or the mute button turned on...
Final: 5.2/10.0 - IHRA 2005 isn't a bad game, it's just too boring for its own good. It doesn't have the extensive car list, and it doesn't have the engine building like the past games, but it still has good multiplayer, and the Career mode is at least half decent. If you can get through all of the faults, it still isn't that great of a game, but it's not horribly bad either...
Rent or Buy: Rent - All of IHRA 2005 can be seen in a rental period. There's just not enough to hold your attention past a few races in Career mode.
-=Pros=-
- Amazing Car Models
- Multiplayer is half-decent
- Anyone can play it
- Career mode is a great start for a budget game
-=Cons=-
- Stupidest AI in a video game...ever
- Nothing much to do beyond the short Career mode
- Huge lack of real drivers
- Loading times are sometimes longer than the races