MOTO TOON GRAND PRIX 2

How it was in 1996?

I would like to start this review out by stating that I never got a chance to play Motor Toon 1. Having said this it becomes obvious that I can't compare it to it's sequel which is unfortunate, but from what I've seen and heard, I didn't miss much. The first thing that I'd like to mention about this game is that it comes with two CD's. This is so you can play two players with the link up cable. One disk holds the main game info, and the other contains only the info you need in the second PSX. A novel idea that I hope continues in forthcoming games. So on to the game and what jumps out at you when you turn on your PSX....Graphics!




GRAPHICS
Color, color and even more COLOR! I've seen a lot of games that I thought took the PSX's palette to the limit (ie. Rayman), but this game throws as much color as the PSX can at you and then moves it at a comfortable 30 frames per sec. Throw into the mix a good deal of gouraud shaded and texture mapped polygons, along with some amazing light source shading, and you are thrown into gamers' heaven. While it doesn't move at the speed of Wipeout or Ridge Racer Revolution, you will still have to pause the game everytime you play it to look at some of the scenery that you missed last time.

GAMEPLAY
After slamming into the sides for awhile because you were looking at the scenery, you find out that you have to learn how to drive again, a task that isn't easily picked up in MTGP2. If you are looking for some greasy slick handling like Ridge Racer, forget it. The cars turn rather sluggishly, a fact that will make itself evident right away. Luckily you can power slide in most of the cars, so you will eventually pick up your times, just be prepared to spend a little time at the back of the pack while you are learning. In addition to just racing around the five tracks in the game, you get to run over coins on the road, and choose weapons to fire at your opponents. Unfortunately, you don't get to pick what weapons you get as it is randomly choosen for you. While some may gripe about this, I think it lends to some on the fly strategy like in Wipeout.

THE GAME
You get five cars and five tracks to start the game with the ability to gain more by winning the grand prix mode on various difficulty settings. These cars range the typical range that you'd expect. An all-around car, a slow but good handling car, a fast but poor handling car, etc. While not much thought was put into that, the cars themselves are a sight. They all have faces on the front of them, like a cartoon (hmmmmm?), and when you turn them around corners they bend and twist like you'd expect a cartoon to do. This lends a lot to the atmosphere of the game. Also adding to this atmosphere is the various tracks. A villiage, a house, and a haunted castle. They are all so well done and so different from each other that you don't quickly tire of racing the different circuits.

SOUND
What can I say about the sound? Other than some cute horn sounds and the standard squeeling of tires, there just isn't much to remember about this game. Of course, I'm not one to really judge these kind of things, as I like to jam to my own tunes while playing games. On the whole, I'd say that the music is fairly standard of a racer. Although, everyone that I've shown the intro to seems to like the theme song. You won't run out to find the soundtrack, but neither will your ears bleed because of it.

GOODIES
As for the secrets, lovingly called goodies in the game, I'm not sayin'! What I will say is that you have to beat the game on each of the 5 difficulty levels to get the 6 goodies. That's right, they give you two for beating it on its hardest difficulty. This is how you access more cars, more tracks, and a secret that moves at a blistering 60 frames per sec. Wow!!

SUMMARY
To sum it up, I'd give this game a must buy status. No, its not Ridge Racer or Wipeout, but it is a highly addictive racing game that is gonna keep you coming back, and that is probably its best quality.

SCORE: 9.0

MOTO TOON GRAND PRIX 2

Rated 4.5/5 based on 15 reviews