Drome Racers – PS2 – Review

There are three main modes for the game: Quick Race, Arcade, and Career. In
quick race, players will be able to play alone or with a friend, and immediately
jump into a game; all of the cars and racetracks are randomly chosen. Arcade is
another game where players can play by themselves or with a friend. This time
players get more choices before each game such as: how many laps, routes, time
limits, car select, and many more.

Career mode is the meat and potatoes of the game. Players take on the role of
Max Axel, who has just joined with Team Nitro. The goal of the game is to take
Team Nitro from the Novice Championship and to win the Drome Championship. There
are many things to do in this mode such as visit the Pits, talk with Rocket, or
save your game. In the Pits players will be able to: change cars, upgrade the
cars, or build a new car from scratch. Rocket is the driving guru of the team;
he will give you pointers on how to be the best racer on the team.

During the course of the game players can upgrade their cars or build a new. The
parts that can be upgraded are: the engine, turbo, aerodynamics, tires, and
armor. The engine will increase your top speed and turbo will give the cars a
great boost of acceleration. The Aerodynamics will cut out wind resistance, and
give the cars better handling. The better tires player’s purchase, the easier it
will be when they are cornering. The armor will help reduce the damage they
receive from collisions and missile attacks. Building a new car, gives the
players a few more options. This procedure for upgrading is tremendously basic
in comparison to other racing games such as Grand Turismo and Tokyo Xtreme
Racer.

There are many power-ups spread across each race. These include missiles, mines,
force files, flares, and other things. They are hidden in green and red orbs, so
players will not know what they are getting until they actually pick it up.

The graphics for the game are decent but not great. What makes the graphics
engine shine is it ability to show off many special effects, such as bellowing
smoke from the cars, dust on the tires from the road, and fires on the cars.
Drome Racer has a good drawn-in distance, which results in very little popup. An
interesting thing about the game is the when players are hit with a power-up, or
collide with an object; the car will take damage, making it harder to control.

Drome Racers feel sluggish while trying to drive the cars. It will take players
some time to master the controls, as everything seems to float. The track design
is well done, with plenty of curves and inclines, but it is not too hard to
overcome. The hardest part will be mastering the art of cornering. What is nice
is that every so often, to prevent Drome Racers from becoming monotonous; there
are drag racing segments, which are fun to take part in.