The Final Word game review

Virtua Racing -- Sega

The arcade smash hit comes home in Virtua Racing for the Sega Genesis. High speed racing fueled by SVP technology takes players for a ride in this multi-view racing game.

Ferrari Man
Talk about a lousy game... Virtua Racing is everything I hoped it wouldn't be, and nothing I hoped it would be. Well to start with the only resemblance to the arcade version is the name, and maybe the picture on the box. I hated every turn of this game. The arcade version is my all time favorite game, and Sega just dashed my hopes of them ever creating an accurate arcade translation of any of my favorites. And to top it off, Sega has the gall to try and sell this for $90.00!! I'm sorry, rip off someone else, I'm not buying. If you love Virtua Racing, don't buy this title. If you have never played Virtua Racing, play it in the arcade, the only place this title belongs until Sega's technology becomes more advanced. If you really need to have this game, save up a little more money and purchase a used arcade unit.

????
With any luck this is all that we are ever going to see of the new SVP technology. This is one of the most expensive disappointments I have seen for a long time. The graphics were too blocky to really make out much detail. The sound definitely wasn't much to get excited about. VR didn't seem to handle much at all like its arcade counterpart. This game didn't last very long with only a few tracks to race on. This game was as much of a mistake as the Activator.

R.I.P.
Once again "Sega the eternal hype machine" strikes again. This game blows, and it strikes all time lows in the process. If only some aspect of this game had been quality I could have forgiven the hype, delays and ninety dollar price tag. But lets face it, the sound sucks, the 3-D polygon rendering is a joke (ex: the trees are only partially rendered, look at the back of them... they're hollow half-cones. Or, check out the Ferris wheel, NOT 3-D), and play control is non existent! This is not just me being biased; I sat a 3-year old down in front of this game and first off, he competed a whole race by just holding down accelerate (not even steering), and after two plays he refused to play the game again. The only racing game worse than this is T*HQ's Race Driving for the SNES and that's debatable.

Salamander
Like I'm going to pay ninety-bucks for this! Can we say polygon-dropping? Hark! The earth is not round; it is flat and new land simply materializes in front of us! Cheat a little on our math did we...? I saw that Ferris wheel skew! Oh, yeah, that's 3-D. Oh, and the sky showing through the ground in the overhead view. That was creative. But I suppose it is no more creative than passing through solid objects--like cones and street signs. But I suppose Sega needed to save that precious memory for the dithered color palette. Or maybe the sound. Or maybe the play control. Or maybe NOT. The only thing I'm glad of is that the guy in the video store told me I might only want to rent it for one night instead of two. Otherwise I might have been really pissed.

>>>>> 14.5/100 <<<<<		Ferrari Man	????	R.I.P.	Salamander
Graphics		0.5	1.5	1.0	1.0
Sound		0.0	2.0	0.5	0.5
Gameplay/Control		0.5	1.0	0.0	1.0
Longevity/Playability		0.5	1.0	0.5	0.5
Overall		0.5	1.0	0.5	0.5
Total		2.0	6.5	2.5	3.5

Originally appeared Vol 2, Iss 5 (11-12/94)