One of my bargains of the year....... the cheap price made this game great
The graphics have a nice cartoon-like appeal and the surface detoriation though perhaps a bit gimmicky does add to the game.
Gameplay wise the game is actually rather hard and does require skill but is simple enough to keep going back too in small doses. This is a definite keeper for me and I will probably gleen a few odd hours enjoyment from it every now and again when I feel like something different.
It could be accused of being repetitive but in my opinion must games are by nature repetitive. I do feel more could have done to flesh out the structure of the events with all of them appearing to be three races, some variation would have been nice. I found the AI very much in the Ridge Racer style in as much as you knew by your position how far away the leader would be and a race was a question of overtaking them one by one, you weren't presented with any surprises. Still this beats the elastic band style of AI as given to us by the likes of Motorstorm hands down. (Personally it killed Motorstorm for me as it ended up more a game of luck than skill and gave you no incentive to bother on the the first two and a half laps as it made no difference how well you drove until the end)
The sound track could have definately been better, it did give the arcade feel but we don't necessarily want that, now I think about what has happened to customisable soundtracks enabling your own choice of music, have I been not noticing them or have they stopped being used?
More customisation would have been nice or just the ability to change tyre choices between races but then if it did this it would be less an arcade racer and more of a simulation which would totally be missing the point.
In short, especially considering the price, a very decent fun aracde racer which will provide entertainment for years to come. If only in small doses.