What could be better than living vicariously through your motorcycle? They're fast, they're glamorous, and they'll cure a midlife crisis faster than you can say "sky-high insurance." Of course, not everyone can afford a killer hawg, so there's a definite market for Mr. Goodliving's Highway Racer too.
You have three characters to choose from, each of which races on two different courses. There are two stages in every course. First you have to qualify by racing against the clock. After that, your race against four AI motorists determines whether or not you can open the next course or character.
The courses are quite varied and get harder as you advance. Although there is no incoming traffic, obstacles on the road add some challenge. Hitting such road debris causes your bike to explode in a ball of flame, but this barely slows you down, as you strangely get to continue straight away. The same goes for road signs, if you are unfortunate enough to drive off the road. You are warned about obstacles and turns beforehand by signs that appear onscreen--a nice feature, as you don't have much time to react when you're going almost 200 miles per hour.
Highway Racer is outfitted with a typical set of racing-game controls. Besides accelerating, braking, and turning, you can bust power turns by hitting the brakes around corners. Each character has his or her own signature bike, and those found on the later courses are much faster. The gameplay could be a lot more responsive, however, as avoiding the various obstacles is quite difficult. Furthermore, when you retake the road after crashing, you very often hit another obstacle before you have any opportunity to do anything. This is incredibly annoying.
On the bright side, Highway Racer has a wider variety of courses to choose from than your average mobile racer--and they really are different, from Germany to Japan to Australia. The graphics are good, with especially favorable mention for the sky, which looks very cool. There are no sound effects, but in-game music is better, and longer, than average. If racing games are your thing, then Highway Racer is definitely worth a try.
