Go Speed Racer, go!!
From the main menu of Speed Racer you have four options. The first option is called "Single Player", consisting of three sub-options. The first sub-option is "Championship", the main story mode of the game. This is where you go to complete series' of races and win a whole bunch of various championships. When you first select this sub-option you will see there are three classes to race in, Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 (the competition gets harder as the classes get higher, and also more competitors are allowed on the track during a race the higher the class you go). You must start at Class 1 and work your way through all of the championship circuits within it, in order, before you unlock Class 2. Rinse and repeat. After you complete Class 3 you will unlock one last class called Class 4 (Mirror Championship). As for the different championship circuits contained within these classes, they break down as follows: Class 1 – 3 championship events, Class 2 – 7 championship events, Class 3 – 10 championship events, and Class 4 – 9 championship events. For the events themselves, they can consist of anywhere between 2-5 individual races, in total there are 98 races spread throughout these four classes of racing events. The racer with the highest point total at the end of all races in any given championship event is the winner. If you win the championship event you will then unlock the next event for play.
Earning points during a race is based on a few things. The main way to earn them is to win the race or at least finish near the top of the heap. The higher you finish the more points you'll earn. Also, if you set the fastest lap during the race you'll earn a bonus point. Last is the points you can earn by performing Car-Fu on your opponents. The T-180 stunt cars featured in this game are capable of performing all sorts of damaging moves on enemy racers, referred to in this game as Car-Fu. The more Car-Fu you perform during a race the more bonus points you'll add to the total you get for your finishing position. As you work your way through this mode of the game you will unlock additional racers and race tracks. In total there are 25 racers in the game, but just 4 available at the start. There are only 6 race tracks in the game (including Thunderhead, Aurora, Onuris, Fuji, Skorost and Grand Prix) but there are many different versions of each track, depending on the direction and the length specified before each race (in total there are 6 different variations for each track). So it actually seems like there are more than just 6 tracks, the racing is definitely kept interesting in this game. Anyhoo, once you select the class and then the specific championship event you want to race in, you'll then have to pick your racer. After selecting him or her you'll be taken away to start the race. Before you start it though you can confirm who your allies and rivals are by accepting alliance requests and breaking old ones. Allies are good because they won't perform any Car-Fu on you during a race, but if you accidentally hit them you'll take a time and points penalty. Rivals on the other hand will try and cause you damage at every opportunity . . . the good part is that you can give it right back!
The second sub-option under Single Player is called "Single Race", where you go to simply take part in a one-off race, nothing that contributes to the completion of Speed Racer's story mode. When you select this sub-option you will then have to set up your race. You must first select the class you want to race in (1-4), then the specific track you want to race at, then one of the 6 variations of the track in question, and finally you must choose the racer you want to utilize. After confirming these choices you'll be taken to the track of your choosing for an intense 2 lap race.
The third and final sub-option is "Time Trial". You set this mode up in the exact same fashion as the previous Single Race mode, but when you hit the track instead of competing against other racers you'll be traveling solo, trying to set the fastest lap time possible. This mode goes for an unlimited amount of laps, so just quit when you feel you've raced enough.
Getting back to the main menu the second option is called "Multiplayer" and consists of two sub-options. The first sub-option is "Championship" and is basically the exact same mode as Championship under Single Player, but instead you can bring a buddy along for the ride and work together to unlock everything the game has to offer! To set it up just pick your class, then the specific championship event, player 1 then chooses his racer followed by player 2, and you're off to the races. The second sub-option is "Single Race" and works in the exact same fashion as the Single Race mode under Single Player, it's just a one-off race but for two players instead of one. To set this mode up first select your class, then your race track, then one of the six track variations, finally player 1 picks his racer followed by player 2, and once again you are off to the races.
Third on the main menu we come to the "Options" option, which is made up of four sub-options, the first of which is "Settings". Under Settings you can adjust some of the game's features including the Audio (adjust Sound FX, Music and Speech volumes) and Game Options (toggle the HUD and Character Portraits on/off, switch speed units between kph/mph, and also toggle the vibration and autosave features on/off). The second sub-option is called "Enter Code" and is where you go to enable any of the various codes you unlock during your trek through Championship mode. Third is the "Movies" sub-option, where you can view four movies based on the Speed Racer movie and video game (some of these movies are unlocked during Championship mode). The fourth and final sub-option is "Credits", choose this to view the names of the people who created this wonderful title for us.
The fourth and final option on the main menu is "Tutorial" and is divided up in to two sub-options. The first is "Basic". Choose this and you'll be able to run through up to 8 tutorials that focus on the more basic elements of racing in this game. The other sub-option is "Advanced", where you can run through up to 6 tutorials that focus on the harder aspects of racing in this game. Note that the 8 Basic and 6 Advanced tutorials are just the tutorial headings, within these headings are contained dozens and dozens of tutorial tasks.
Once out on the track and in the game there are just a couple things you need to keep your eyes on . . . besides all the maniacs intent on your flaming destruction! First are speed up squares. These are multicoloured squares that say "Speed Up" in them and are randomly spread around each track. When you hit them you'll temporarily gain a big boost of speed. The other thing you need to watch out for are the bombs/land mines that are spread around a number of the tracks. They are not as prevalent early in the game but become more so later on in Championship mode. When you hit them your speed will be drastically reduced and you'll lose health. Hit enough of them and you'll blow up!
There is a fair amount of information available on Speed Racer's game screen (just how much can be adjusted under Options from the main menu, as discussed above). In the top left corner of the screen is a graphic showing your current position in the race, just underneath this is a number representing the total amount of Car-Fu points you've earned in the current race. In the bottom left corner of the screen is an up to date list of race positioning information on the four vehicles most important to you in the race, including yourself. If you are in the lead you will be in the top slot and the three racers immediately behind you will fill out the last three slots. If you are not in the lead the first slot will be filled out by the current race leader, the next two slots will be filled out by the two racers immediately ahead of you, and you will fill out the final slot. In the top right corner of the screen is the lap counter. Surrounding the lap counter is a meter that fills with green as each lap unfolds, giving you a quick glance idea of how much of the lap has already been run and how much there is left to go. Very handy. Finally, in the bottom right corner is a display that contains all the information you need to know about your vehicle. In the middle of this display the main graphic states your rpms, current speed, and current gear. On the left side of this graphic is your boost bar, which fills with blue as you proceed through the race. There are many ways to fill your boost bar including performing jumps and tricks, executing Car-Fu moves, hitting speed up squares, and staying on course, away from the damaging sides of the track. When the bar fills you earn a blue boost square. These squares show up immediately underneath the rpm/speed/gear graphic, there are spaces for four of them in total that you can fill and stockpile at any given time. And finally, to the right of the main graphic is your health bar, which is filled with green to start. As you take damage during a race your health bar will deplete and turn yellow, then eventually red when you get close to destruction. Deplete the entire bar and you'll blow up.
As for the controls for Speed Racer, there sure are a lot of them! Most of them you should get on to pretty quickly but the more advanced Car-Fu moves I'm sure will take a lot of practice. Anyhoo, the left analog stick is what you use to steer your stunt car around the race track. The right analog stick is used to perform tricks. For a frontflip press up, for a backflip press down, and for a side jump/barrel roll press right or left (depending on which direction you want). Pressing down the right analog stick (otherwise known as the R3 button) will make your vehicle jump. The R2 button is used to accelerate, whereas the R1 button is used to brake/reverse. When you fill your boost bar and gain the blue boost squares you can use this energy in two different ways. You can use it to give your car a temporary boost in speed, or you can use it to help refill your health bar if you've taken damage. To use it for health press the L1 button and to use it for speed press the L2 button (burn three boost squares in a row on speed and you'll enter "the zone", a psychedelic state where you'll speed up to an insane level yet steering around the track is super easy, the graphics go all trippy during a trip to "the zone"). As for the X button, tap it to do a 180 degree spin and turn around backwards, or hold it down to do a continuous 360 spin (known as a roundhouse), which is good for dealing out Car-Fu damage. The Square and Circle buttons are used to shunt left or right, to attack and do damage to any cars immediately beside you. The Triangle button is used to look behind you whereas Select toggles the camera angles. Finally, the Start button is used to pause the game (from the pause menu your three options are Resume Game, Restart Race and Quit Game, all pretty self-explanatory).
Like I said above there are more advanced Car-Fu controls available in this game, they are as follows. To perform a "Tail Toss" drive close behind an enemy racer and execute a backflip. For the "Boost Bash" simply initiate a boost before slamming in to an opponent at a higher rate of speed. The "Smack Down" is performed when you are in a grind (traveling up against the side of the track) and jump from your grinding position to land on top of another racer. The "Hyper Spin" is executed when you perform the roundhouse move (hold down the X button) while boosting. And the "Torpedo" move is performed by using a boost and then pressing right or left on the right analog stick, depending on the direction you want. Also note that when facing backwards crashing in to other racers with the rear end of your car will earn you double points for any damage inflicted.
The presentation of Speed Racer is absolutely fantastic! It's like they finished the movie and just kept on working, continuing through to make just as good of a video game. The look and overall vibe of this game is so eerily similar to the movie it's scary. From the wacky look of the crazy stunt tracks, down to the detail in both the look and sound of the cars and the characters that drive them, the graphics are superbly done and nicely polished. Just as in the movie the environments during the races are very colourful, almost overly colourful in a way, it's really quite a sight to see. Matching the intense vibe of the racing in this game is the equally intense soundtrack that comes along with it. The songs included are all a loud and intense type of electronic music mixed with rock n' roll. This music selection helps set the tone and capture the mood of the Speed Racer universe just as effectively as the stunning visuals do. As for gameplay, the controls respond perfectly. You'd think steering a car going in excess of 400 miles per hour around a topsy turvy track might be a bit difficult, but they did a very good job of building a control system that makes it quite simple and intuitive. I'm not saying you won't get frustrated at points along the way, but that's more because of what the other racers are doing to you more so than any control issues.
As for pros and cons, they are mostly pros for Speed Racer! The main pro is the look and feel of this game, like I said it's just so eerily similar to the movie it's crazy. Full marks for the team that made this game, they sure did their homework when building it. Consistency is a massive pro in this case. I also really like the main story mode of the game, it's quite extensive and involves a ton of different races at various skill levels. This mode will keep you going for quite some time on this game, it's got a great length to it. On a similar vein I love how they made the main story mode of the game, Championship, available for two players as well as just one. Most games have two player modes of some sort but they are usually alternative modes that don't really contain much substance. The fact that you can choose to blaze through the main mode of this game with 1 or 2 players is a very rare pro. The last pro is the plethora of bonus material you can unlock along the way. A total of 21 characters, a couple of movies, all of the cheat codes . . . there really is a lot to shoot for and it keeps you motivated as you race through this title. The only con I can think of is that it is a bit monotonous at times, even despite the great variety of races they instituted in Championship mode. With four classes of racing and 98 total races I sometimes got that "been there, done that" feeling from time to time. Not a lot, but it definitely surfaced at points. I found I could only run a few championships at a time because it was always the same, just racing. Another substantial yet significantly different game mode might have helped. Not a big deal but definitely something to consider.
In terms of tips and tricks I can offer for smoothing through this game, I do have a couple. First of all, early in the game when the races are still really easy, experiment with the various types of Car-Fu moves you can perform. Figure out what works for you and what doesn't, and get practiced at them. They will come in handy later on down the line when the races get a lot harder, to be able to deal out as much punishment as you possibly can and ensure you stay near the front of the pack. My second tip is to perform Car-Fu moves as often as possible, constantly. Whenever you get the chance, lay a beating on someone. Even if you don't win the race, the bonus points you can accumulate by racking up a good Car-Fu score can put you over the top in a series of races where the standings may be a little tighter than you wish. Also, as you unlock the various racers in the game try them all out and find out which one suits your skills best. I find people either tend to like the heavier vehicles that are more damage resistant, or they go to the opposite end of the spectrum, for the faster vehicles that aren't nearly as damage resistant. This game features 25 racers and their vehicles all have attributes of varying abilities, find who you like best and stick with them. Lastly, use your boost bar to it's fullest advantage. Learn when to use boost for health and when to use it for speed. Entering "the zone" by using a few boost squares in one shot is a good way to secure a win as the race is nearing completion, because when in the zone you can't get hit and you are super fast. It's always nice to have some surplus boost. Boost management is a key factor in winning this game.
To summarize, although Speed Racer's main disadvantage is that it has only one really viable game mode, the length of this mode along with the well executed and intense audio/visuals contained within more than make up for it. This game is built around a classic racing formula but with a bit of a tweak, taking place in the wacky and colourful world of Speed Racer. This is a very good game, when I think back and remember that I picked it up for a meager $6, I'm laughing!