Not many (if any) will be interested here, but I’d like to pay a chunky tribute and briefly shine the spotlight on a game I have a ton of respect for, which came out 10 years ago on the Wii. A game I consider a real diamond in the rough, which happens to contain the strangest kart racing mechanics I have ever encountered....
Wacky Races: Crash & Dash
Despite a world-wide release, this game led a very lonely shelf life - mainly because its target demographic never existed on the Wii or DS.
While it's true
Wacky Races is a beloved classic, this game arrived shortly after
Mario Kart Wii, and chances are, most youngsters in 2008 didn't have the foggiest idea about 1960's Hanna-Barbera cartoons (that aren't
The Flintstones or
Yogi Bear).
The game was quickly dismissed amid a sea of shovel-ware, despite featuring world-class professional voice actors like Gregg Berger, Jim Cummings, and Billy West.
Putting aside any flaws, it has the most rebellious and inventive concept I've ever seen in the genre, thumbing its nose at the countless Mario Kart clones by trying to reinvent the kart racer from the ground up. It's by no means a polished game, but by gum... it's certainly a daring and defiant little rule-breaker!
Basically, it simulates the classic cartoon in every way possible. The action is viewed from the side at various angles, and all the racers travel together on screen, in a close-knit pack, with the screen constantly scrolling. Yes, race fans… A side-scrolling 3D racer with an auto-scrolling camera. I told you it was kooky, didn't I?
It looks vaguely like
Micro Machines, but don't be fooled... Just like the show, it's a cross-country race - so there's not a lick of laps or circuits to be found, making each race all the more adventurous. Since the racers all stick together, you have to stay on screen, avoiding attacks while dishing out your own (all 10 racers have 4 unique powers each).
The ultimate goal in each race is to build up your "Mad Dash"cog meter, which is basically your turbo boost - the more cogs you have in your meter, the faster you can turbo. You'll need to nab as many cogs as possible for the "Mad Dash" to the finish line (but you can use your cogs to turbo any old time). The further you get in the game, the more cogs you need to stand a chance at winning.
You earn your cogs in lots of ways... Stay ahead of the pack and hold the leader crown, survive Dick Dastardly's diabolical traps, smash up all the other racers and clear the screen, among other methods. Losing cogs is very easy, so this is a very strategic and technical racer.
The landscape is your most treacherous foe, constantly trying to wipe you off the scrolling screen. The tracks are also very deceptive and serpentine - forever twisting, turning, and branching off into high roads and low roads. Some paths are safe routes, while others may spell your doom...
The graphical presentation is delightfully faithful to the old TV show. Simple, abstract, and, dare I say, quite breathtaking in some areas; with sunset forests, surreal landscapes, and rolling fields as far as the eye can see. All of the backgrounds are interactive, and can help or hinder you depending on how you tackle them.
There's also droves of charming details that dot the countryside, like farms, towns, paddock fences, and power lines that can be broken down or crashed into.
Some of the backgrounds do look rather ugly and lazily done, but with 24 cross-country tracks, you're pretty spoiled for choice. It's by no means an "AAA" title, but you can tell they definitely tried to capture the visual essence of the old show.
The last thing worth mentioning is the nifty little animations peppered throughout the game. Whenever you get a trap alert, the devious Dick Dastardly will zoom by in his double-zero auto, the Mean Machine. If you don't escape his booby-traps, you'll lose some vital bonuses and cogs (sadly, though, the traps themselves are just mundane little mini-games with shonky motion controls - like refilling the air in your tyres...)
All in all, the game is a flawed, experimental, and very inventive beast. It can be rather slow on the easy modes, and may look very boring to some (though it gets much faster on the harder difficulty modes, once unlocked).
Naturally it's rather confusing at first due to its oddness, with a bit of a learning curve. It's a bit like playing Smash Bros' multiplayer for the first time; you feel kinda lost amid all the chaos and characters. Once you learn the nuts and bolts, though, there's miles of manic fun to be had with friends (provided they know what they’re doing).
I will just say, it's certainly not the kind of game you’d want to play in huge marathons. It's an arcade-styled game with a sprinkling of strategy and mastery required.
The minigames can get tiresome quickly (two per race), and the commentator will get annoying, as he rarely shuts up long enough to take a breath. His banter ranges from cringe-worthy, to delightfully witty and charming. I love it though, as it’s all in the spirit of the show, and you can turn him off if you wish (although the game feels a bit empty without him yammering away). It's also worth noting, this game uses original sfx from the Hanna-Barbera sound archive.
This video contains two races. The second race in the video starts at
3:55, and is a decent depiction of just how chaotic this game can get (and this is only using 2 players)...
Final note: The DS port of this game is another kettle of fish, entirely. It is the epitome of shoddy DS ports. Stripped down, changed for worse, and totally unrefined in its execution. It does have a few nifty changes and exclusive touches, but unlike the Wii game, it really is the definition of shovelware. Steer clear, racing fans!
