This is another under the radar gem and another good, licensed game entry. When it comes to adaptations of the "Speed Racer" franchise their either up to speed or not. My favorite is the "Speed Racer" arcade game from the 90's which is also another under the radar gem and a story for another time. This one is a video game based on the live action film and it's really good as it pretty much focuses on the best thing about both the movie and TV series which is racing.
The graphical presentation is solid, I really like the designs of the tracks which are reminiscent of the futuristic racing games "F-Zero" and "Wipeout"; like with the live action film really love the amount of color. Both the backgrounds and the tracks are just lively and colorful enough to eat your eyes whole. Really like the designs of the cars which all look like the ones from the movie, surprised there wasn't a "Hot Wheels" toy line for them. Really like the music which is solid and fits like a glove as it's similar to the excited Michael Giamino score from the film.
Really like the characters and cars you get to play. Each of them are unique and have their strengths and weaknesses. As you win and progress though the tracks you roster of character to play grows.
One of the characters I like playing are Trixie, it's awesome she has race car of her own though shame it was never in the movie, though makes me wonder if we would have seen it had the film had a sequel; anyway it's just cool to play her, let alone one of my favorite characters in the movie/TV show. But of course, my favorite is Speed and the Mach 5 which is always one of my favorite fictional cars and is a little more balanced in the game, so it handles right.
There are some features like speed up surface pads on the road to ride over giving your car a temporary boost, along with the boost you have but use them when you need to as you have a limited amount and takes a while to refill. You even have another feature which is the repair function, when your car is damaged as it's about to be on fire you can press the repair and the car will be as good as new. However, be careful as there is sort of double jeopardy as you might repair your car, you could also lose your chance to get ahead, depending on how much you use the repair button it will deplete energy from the boast gauge, so use both the boast and repair when needed and wisely.
You can also bump car as both offence and defense, if you bump your opponent just right and with the right amount of force, you get to earn some points which helps in your chances in ranking high, as it's not just about being in first place but also the quality of your racing. Also, there is this thing called alliances, as you progress you can actually form alliances with more racers whom will act as your bodyguards in covering you, so you can zip past the competition more easily. But you can lose those alliances if you accidently bump or do too much damage to their cars, so avoid hitting them at all costs.
Though the only disappointment in the game is you never get to use any of the buttons that bring out the defensive capabilities of the car, which to me is one weak point of the game. It's too bad there weren't any off road races where we could use them as the off-road races in both the movie and TV show anything goes. Or let alone for the game to have a story where we could not just have an ongoing story but action and chase sequences like one could have been like the arcade game "Chase H.Q." where the Mach 5 or any other player you play could chase down the mobster van from the movie. But I guess that would have made the game a bit too complicated and since this is a game that's focused on the sports aspect of the movie and TV series, so I can't complain much.
I even like the voice acting in the game which are just comments and quotation bubbles but fun to listen to giving the race a livelier feel almost like you are not just racing but involved in a manga in motion. But also getting a good feel for all the driver who are all colorful characters. Even like the voice cast which consists of a few familiar voices like Phil Lamarr as Snake Oiler. However, I really like that you have Emile Hirsch, Christina Richi, and Mathew Fox from the film to lend their voices, I always like it whenever people involved with a movie or certain other projects from the visual medium lend their voices which helps in giving you the feel of playing as the characters in the movie.
Overall, it's a solid licensed and racing game. Yeah, for the racing genre and subgenre of futuristic racing it's not one of the best in my book as it doesn't bring much or anything totally new in both; it's a B list game for both but still a like any car it's worth a test drive.
Rating: 3 stars
