Drome Racers – GC – Review

There are many building
blocks of life.  There’s the physical building block, which allows humans,
animals and other living organisms to continue living as a species.  There’s the
mental building block, which enables humans and animals to learn to do new
things and grow as a species.  Then there are the LEGO building blocks, which
give our kids a reason to be creative, have lots of fun and learn something
without even knowing it.

Like an Eggo waffle fresh
from the toaster, a new video game based on the world’s greatest building block
is just too good to lego.  That’s why the LEGO corporation has branched
out into the gaming industry.  Although many adults are closet LEGO collectors
(some even still "play" with them!), the primary audience is kids.  For that
reason it seems logical that the LEGO video games would be geared at children.

The latest in their
series of releases is a racing game titled Drome Racers.  Drome Racers is based
on the new LEGO Racers construction toy range.  They’re high-tech, have a more
realistic design, and, after being built, some of them can be driven using a
radio controlled remote!  I may not be a kid anymore, but those Drome cars sure
are tempting…

Drome Racers starts
things off with some cool (but somewhat choppy) CG movie clips.  Then it’s off
to the car and racer selection screen, where you’ll be forced to endure several
stories explaining why you should fear the competition.  You can skip most of
them, and most players – especially kids, who sometimes have less patience than
adults – will do so without thinking twice.  It’s up to the in-game racers to
strike fear in you on the track.  Threats and counter-pep talks do no such
thing.

The load times are a tad
too long, but within a minute or two you’ll be on the track and ready to race. 
Three, two, one…GO!  Uhh, wait a minute.  Where did all of my opponents go? 
(Checks rear-view mirror.)  Oh, they’re behind me.  That makes sense though,
because I can’t think of a racing game that could defeat my hardcore skills in
the first race.  Certainly the second race will be more challenging.

Or maybe the sixth race
will be.  Yes, definitely the sixth!

The tenth?  The
twentieth?

What you inevitably
discover in Drome Racers is that the challenge never takes off.  The computer
constantly tells you why you should always be on your toes, and why you should
fear the competition, which will crush you like a bug.  But do you ever lose? 
Maybe you will – maybe someone who has never played a video game before in their
life will.  But I didn’t.

With the game’s
difficulty clarified, that leaves one important aspect: the gameplay.  It’s
easy, but as we all know, a lack of challenge does not have to equal a lack of
fun.  The opposite is true as well.  The thing is, Drome Racers would have come
up short regardless of the difficulty.  The developers could’ve made it tougher,
but that would have made the experience last longer, and as much as I hate to
say this, that’s not something that anyone would want to do.

Every course has a rather
generic layout.  There is one cool tunnel with some spinning lights, but my
appreciation for it is only because it reminded me of Delta Dream Flight, a
classic (but no longer running) ride at Walt Disney World.  There are canyons
and cities and a few other familiar settings that do nothing to excite the
player.

Giving the developers the
benefit of the doubt, it is true that a game doesn’t have to be fresh to be
fun.  But it’s not just the basic courses that hinder the game.  You also have
to consider the controls, which, depending on how you look at it, may come
across as being sluggish.  At the very least you won’t be able to remove the
thought from your mind that there is definitely something wrong with the
controls.  It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what the problem is; personally
I wouldn’t call them sluggish, but smooth, precise, and accurate – words used to
describe the controls of other racing games – cannot be used here.

Drome Racers is geared at kids, but as
any hardcore gamer will tell you, everyone wants the same thing: quality.  Age
has no bearing on that.  Drome Racers fails to live up to LEGO’s high-quality
standards.  The wonderful blocks still hold a special place in my heart, so I
can understand if you want everything you own to bear the LEGO brand name.  But
get your racing game fix elsewhere.  This is a bearable rental for the most
extreme LEGO fanatics, but it is not at all worth buying.

Gameplay: 5.8
Drome Racers
isn’t exactly a "dud" racer, but it fails to live up to expectations.  It’s
overflowing with familiar racing game elements, and none of them are executed in
a way that gives the game long-lasting appeal.  The controls aren’t right, the
tracks lack excitement, and the difficulty is nearly nonexistent.

Graphics: 6
Drome Racers’
graphics will make you think of someone who eats at an old diner and always
orders "the usual."  Dated fire effects, bland colors and washed out
backgrounds, etc., are the only thing you’re going to get.

Sound: 6

Difficulty: Easy
Computer advice:
"You’re gonna lose!  You’ll never win!"  That’s not an actual quote, but should
give you an idea of what to expect.  Then the race begins and you go and kick
the computer’s butt.  Is there are a part of that that makes sense?

Kids
are better at games than developers give them credit for.  Game developers
should always remember that a game does not have to be childish or geared at a
younger audience to entertain children.  But if a game is geared at children it
is less likely to entertain adults.

Concept: 3.9
A collection of
typical racing game-isms: city courses, force field power-ups, and computer
opponents who think they’re the greatest racers in the world.  Oh, and the cars
are made of LEGO.

Multiplayer: 5
If a game isn’t
much fun to play by yourself, that doesn’t give the multiplayer a good outlook. 
Upon further inspection (an actual play test) you’ll see that the outlook was
correct.

Overall: 5.5
LEGO has had some cool games over the years.  This isn’t one of them.  Drome
Racers does little to encourage the player to return.  It’s not a total failure
or anything along those lines, but if that’s the only compliment the game can
get, that should give you an idea of what you’re in for if you choose to buy
it.  However, I can recommend a lot of different kinds of games to a lot of
different kinds of people.  Drome Racers is fairly cheap at some retailers, but
that doesn’t make it any less disappointing.  If you rarely play them or have
never played a game before in your life, then it’s worth looking into.  But
believe me, there are much better ways to start your video game collection.