The track has a few twists and turns in it, with some minor obstacles dropped
around bends. Navigating through the hazards is not that difficult. The real
task lays in blowing your opponents away, while keeping your own vehicle moving
rapidly and avoiding their fire.
The name of the game is Hover Ace Combat Racing Zone, a release from Big City
Games and Strategy First for the PC. The game is pretty much a straightforward
combat/race title. You get a vehicle, compete against other drivers and if you
are successful you are given rewards that allow you to improve your racer.
However, when you start, you are the new guy on the block and subject to
getting banged all over the place. This is like being a game of bumper cars in
which you are the one getting bumped and not able to dish it out. What
determines who gets banged? Well, it doesn’t seem to be based on a lead car. On
several occasions, the host racer was in the lead by half a car and nudged
sideways. Thinking two can play at that game, the same tactic was tried against
an opponent. However, the results were pretty much the same. Instead of nudging,
the host car was nudged.
Hmm . . . well, maybe more armor is needed. And a gun or two can’t hurt. Ah,
just stumbled onto one of the essential elements of the game. This isn’t about
propelling a craft that bears some similarities to Star Wars racing machines at
breakneck speeds around a track; this is about propelling that craft around that
track and relegating your opposition to the status of burning wreck on the
roadside.
Some of the game features include four difficulty levels, ranging from easy
to impossible; 16 tracks which progress with the gamer (you need to complete one
track to unlock the next); six racing modes (including championship, quick race,
time limit checkpoint race, energy cell – like a game of keep-away, last man
standing, and time limit); 15 hover crafts, 10 types of weapons; nine computer
opponents; 19 types of equipment; and open game tracks. You can move basically
anywhere you wish. The drawback being that you do have to make the checkpoints
which relegate the freewheeling useless in the majority of the events.
The game is a mixed back graphically. As you wheel around the track, not
literally, you can turn into the sun, which does some nice flares in your view
of the game. The shadows are also well down, and the smoothness of the rendering
is very nice. However, get off the track, either by trying to take a shortcut,
or through getting bumped, and you might hit a boulder. These are some of the
obstacles and will slow your progress down. However, the rendering looks out of
place with the rest of the game. The rest of the elements have a lifelike
quality but the boulders look very two-dimensional is a richly three-dimensional
world.
The game’s sound does nothing to enhance the gameplay.
This is a joystick driven game. A wheel could not be configured to work with
the title. But as the steering and combat elements are somewhat simplistic, the
effect might have been akin to using a sledgehammer to drive a picture frame
nail. It is simply too much weapon or an inappropriate tool for the job.
The game promotes nine computer-controlled opponents with consistent
characteristics – well, that means they are predictable. They do the same thing
over and over again. The game has increasing difficulty levels, not necessarily
evolving enemy AI.
Hover Ace Combat Racing Zone is somewhat simplistic in nature. You drive, you
do well enough, you get new items to improve your racer. The game does have
track variety and challenge. It is not, however, the type of game that will have
you glued to your computer hour after hour. It is a slightly above-average title
that will provide some entertainment value. Just do not expect the visual racing
impact of titles like EA’s NASCAR series. This game is a little skimpy on the
aspect of fast machines, and the style of combat takes time to get used to, as
well.
This game is rated Teen for mild violence.
Gameplay: 7.4
The game has load times, and moves seamlessly once in a race. The unfortunate
part is that the gameplay doesn’t seem to move at the pace that the vehicles are
moving. These vehicles are blazing around the track, but the game seems to move
slowly.
Graphics: 8.1
The graphical elements are very well rendered. Lighting and shadow effects are
outstanding, and the game moves well. The environments have some ups and downs.
Some elements are very well done, and then others – like boulder obstacles – are
sharp-edged cardboard cutout-looking things that seem out of place.
Sound: 6.9
The sound of vehicles hitting one another sounds like someone banging away from
the cargo hold of a very large ship. Add to that, the repetitive cry of
‘checkpoint’ and a few insults if you fail to win the race and you have a sound
track that is barely average.
Difficulty: Medium
This game is quite routine. The challenge lays in lining up a target, and in
bumping your opponents off course. There are four difficulty levels to challenge
almost any skill level.
Concept: 7
Hover Ace has a simplistic interface and is a basic joystick game. If you do not
have the right program, you will not see the movies. Unfortunately, the game
does not allow you to load the codec program from the game disk because that
program does not come with the game. One nice aspect, though, once the game is
installed, it does run without the CD in a drive.
Overall: 7.3
The game with some well-done aspects contending with some that are not as well
done. The AI seems simplistic and locked into certain trends. The graphics are,
for the most part, well done, but the sound track needs something to really stir
the blood (a better musical score might have helped). This is slightly above
average title.
