Pocket Racers – PSP – Review

Remember the
good old days? You were 8 years old, and all that mattered was how many
Hot Wheels were in your collection. The towns were bustling with a car wash,
parking garage, race course, and a LEGO-made restaurant. You’d play for hours
and hours … until you got bored and went back to video games.

Pocket
Racers, a new pint-sized racer for PSP, looks back on our youth with tiny cars
and oversized environments. Pop cans, DVDs, and toy blocks are a few of the
real-world items you’ll have to avoid. The vehicles you control are not
officially Hot Wheels but are roughly the same size – so while you could crush
a 24-pack of Pepsi with a Mustang GT, these toy hotrods can’t even drive over
one can.

The story
goes like this: you’re at a party, chillin’ with friends and having a great
time. Everyone is all smiles without a care in the world.

In a turn of
events that could’ve been taken from a Sci-Fi channel special, a mysterious
Soul Stealer shows up and turns everyone into small, Hot Wheels-sized cars.
The Soul Stealer demands that you race him and his crew to restore the human
status of you and your friends. Should you lose, all souls will be lost
forever.

As
confused gamers stare at their computer screens, someone asks, "Did you just
make that up?"

Nope –
that’s the premise.

Race
Around The (Play) Room

Cruise the
inner-home streets of hallways, living rooms, and play areas. Dodge frequent
obstacles like the aforementioned pop cans, as well as spray cans (because you
can’t have enough bug killer lying around the house) and other homey hazards.

The game
consists of three-lap, four-car races. Any of the three single-player
campaigns may be accessed: practice, time trial, and Soul Race. Ignore the
first – it’s unnecessary. Skip the second for the time being, as its options
are dependant on your success in Soul Race. Courses that are unlocked in Soul
Race can be played again in time trial. But as you know, all this mode does is
rank your best times, and will only be exciting to those who couldn’t get
enough of the competition races.

Soul Race
sounds like a unique and uber-cool mode, but is really just another name for
"circuit race." There are three medals to obtain: bronze, silver, and gold. No
point totals are given – each race is individual. Medals are divided into five
races, and first place must be achieved in each to complete each circuit.
Certain competitions can reset some of what you’ve accomplished by taking your
soul, but that’s about as different as this game gets.

Pocket,
But The Same

Pocket
Racers may be portable, but it’s not unpredictable.

Power-ups:
check.

Turbo boost:
check.

Cheesy
graphic effect that accompanies turbo boost: check.

Same-old
layout with shortcuts that are mostly obvious: check.

Controls and
course designs – the two make-or-break elements of a racing game – are not
standout in their quality or lack thereof. Steering is tight but not tight
enough; the courses have a few interesting moments but very rarely demonstrate
anything memorable. Most of the courses are short, which might’ve been Ok by
1995 standards – the era this game seems to have been based on. As a 2006 PSP
racer, they aren’t too fulfilling.

Among the 15
environments are fantasy lands with giant pipes to drive through. I like the
idea of controlling a toy car (even if the game doesn’t call them that), but
none of the courses are noteworthy to that theme. The layout, structure, and
graphical aspects aren’t particularly exciting.

Pocket
Racers isn’t a kiddie game (the Soul Stealer intro is a bit darker than most
with an E-rating), but that’s the market this title is best suited for. Anyone
who was old enough to pick up a controller when the PSone was released is
likely too old for this game. Young kids, on the other hand, have not yet been
exposed to this kind of experience – at least not as many times as the
majority of us have. Kids should drive away with a little satisfaction, but
the rest of you will eject the disc and search for something better.

Review Scoring Details for Pocket Racers

Gameplay: 6.2
A little of this,
a little of that, a little too dated to really impress the player. Pocket
Racers’s decent controls prevent the game from losing playability, but what’s
the use of playing game if it isn’t fun? This is the kind of racer you’ve seen a
million times before during the PSone and PS2 eras.

Graphics: 3.0
Pocket Racers
looks like a low-quality PSone game with a slightly improved resolution. The
backgrounds and car models are crisper than most PSone titles, but all other
visual aspects are seriously lacking in depth, eye candy, and detail.

Sound: 3.0
Repetitive beats
that don’t go anywhere.

Difficulty: Easy
Would be a bit of
a snore if it wasn’t cheap. A statement like that could make its cheapness
sound like a good thing – it’s not. Shortcuts are often the difference between
a win and a loss. Speed boosts also make a difference, but power-ups – which
cause race positions to be changed frequently – do not.

Concept: 6.0
Micro Machines
meets Mario Kart with mixed results. The game isn’t bad, but it’s a
10-year-old experience with analog controls that aren’t very intuitive.

Multiplayer: 6.0
Temporarily
entertaining multiplayer (ad hoc only; up to four can participate).

Overall: 6.0
Not worth much
more than a rental. Kids with no expectations might find it thrilling, but if
they’ve already played a couple of racers for PSP, the likelihood of Pocket
Racers holding their interest has shrunk.