Ubi Soft's past efforts in the racing genre have sat on opposite sides of the spectrum. The sophisticated F1 Racing Simulation is a far cry from POD, an arcade racer with a science fiction theme. Now comes Speed Busters: American Highways, a game that falls closer to POD in terms of its simplistic nature but still tries to incorporate some realistic handling and physics issues. The result is a game that has all of the right moves but some design elements that make it an often-frustrating ride.
The premise behind Speed Busters takes inspiration from the golden age of Burt Reynolds films. Think Smokey and the Bandit; think Cannonball Run. A police officer has won the lottery and lost his marbles. He's hosting a series of races in various locales, and the winner gets lots of his money. You also earn money and ranking based on how fast you drive past the radar detectors located on each track.
Speed Busters features seven tracks (one of them hidden) and any number of cars and upgrades. It follows a basic arcade racer formula. In championship mode, you begin with three available tracks and unlock the rest as you proceed. You cannot race on tracks in arcade mode without unlocking them in the championship (though you can access them in multiplayer).
In championship mode, the game takes you through each track, and you use the money you win to buy upgrades, repairs, nitro refills, and even new cars if you so desire. Upgrades include spoilers, faster engines, bigger nitro tanks, and better tires. Other items for sale include road assistance (little arrows will appear onscreen during races to indicate upcoming turns) and car insurance (which makes all repairs free for the next race). You can take these upgraded cars into arcade mode, in which you must hit a series of checkpoints as you race around.
The game itself plays much like most arcade racers. You simply move forward as fast as you can. You have brakes, a handbrake, and nitro to make you go faster and slower where appropriate. The strategy of playing really relies on you mastering the handbrake, and learning where and when to apply a nitro boost is also important. The illusion of speed is pretty impressive, and when you hit the nitro, your car zooms ahead a bit, giving the impression of a massive speed burst.
The track design in Speed Busters is great. Each track is set in a different North American location, ranging from Mexico to Canada. Each track is like a miniversion of its setting. For instance, the California track will take you from the back lot of a movie studio to the winding streets of San Francisco in a matter of moments. Each track has numerous shortcuts and ambient obstacles (such as Mexico's trap-filled temples or the big apes that attack cars in California). The tracks also feature different environmental effects (each can be raced in daytime, dusk, and rain or snow), and you can also race each track in reverse or in mirror mode.
There is one major problem that makes Speed Busters often more frustrating than fun. The tracks are filled with obstacles. Every turn is a potential hazard, as you can get stuck on a tree, house, or what have you. This isn't the problem. The game tries to replicate some realistic handling issues. It's easy to oversteer, spin out, and/or completely lose control of your vehicle. This still isn't the problem. What is the problem is that it's difficult to recover from these situations. You can't go in reverse, so getting around a tree you're caught on can make you lose several seconds of valuable time. Get stuck off the main road, and you may be talking ten or more seconds to get yourself situated again.
Despite this major shortcoming, though, Speed Busters is great fun. The track design is inventive, the illusion of speed is great, and overall the control is good. And with a few tweaks to the controls or some slightly less hazardous track designs, a sequel could provide to be stiff competition for the Need for Speed series.
