Upon first seeing Penny Racers pop onto the screen, my first reaction was that this is an obvious Mario Kart wannabe. Well, I was right, at least partially. Penny Racers certainly looks similar to other kart racers a la Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Kart, but what really separates it from the bunch is the seemingly endless amount of upgrades available to the car, and the addition of a track editor is definitely a nice touch. However, Penny Racers comes up short in a couple of other areas that really hurt its chances of being placed in the same league as Mario Kart.
First, let me say that Penny Racers is definitely more fun to play against a friend than as a single-player race. Given the only mediocre gameplay available through the one-player option, human interaction is a must. The game lets you strip parts from the cars that come in the last three positions of the race. This feature lets you upgrade your car while simultaneously downgrading your opponent, and best of all about this creative little addition is that there are over one hundred different features you can add to your car: everything from land mines and nitro boost to different types of tires, brakes and suspensions. You can even make cosmetic changes to your low-poly auto. As if the seemingly endless upgrades weren’t enough, you also have at your disposal a track editor. Even though it’s an editor of the simplest nature, it does add a certain amount of replay value to the game, and even better is the ability to save and send tracks and cars you’ve made to a friend via the DexDrive. The thing that really hampers this game is the sluggish starts you have to deal with. From a complete stop, you’ll spend the better portion of your first lap just trying to get up to speed, and this can become extremely annoying. It isn’t as bad in the upper levels of the game, once you’ve had time to outfit your auto with better engines, but in the earlier tracks you can forget about breaking any 0-60 records. Another real low point is the overall slow feel of the racing. For some reason it never feels as if you’re moving very fast; even with some of the better engines, you never really seem to move. After all, this is a racing game, and the need for speed should be addressed. One should keep in mind, though, that this is a cutesy game aimed at a younger audience, and that emulating F-Zero wasn’t the key focus.
Again, this is a cute-looking game, so don’t expect to see groundbreaking graphical work. The cars look more like boxes with beveled edges than they do actual automobiles, but for this type of game it works. I would have liked to have seen some sort of lighting effects used simply to make the game look a little more 3D; the addition of a reflection or a lens flare would have given the game a more modern look and a slightly higher score. The backgrounds are all very plain and nothing to get excited about, and the lack of scenery makes the game even duller to play, so forget about exploring new territory as you pace along the tracks. Speaking of tracks, expect them to equal the rest of the graphics in their blandness. Not only are they uninteresting to look at, they’re even less interesting to race on.
I’ll keep this short: turn the audio down, or better yet just put the TV on mute and pop in your favorite CD or whatever. If you’re not near your CD player, then bring in a crying baby to provide you with a soundtrack that’s less annoying than what you’d have to endure with this game. Don’t get me wrong, if cheap Casio keyboard samples of a horn being looped into a poorly written score are your thing, then you’re in luck, and Penny Racers may be your calling in life. However, most anyone who owns an N64 should by now have been exposed to a variety of well-written music, and I encourage you to listen to any of it.
The control is probably one of the better functions within the game. Given the overall slow pace of this racing game, the control does feel quite tight. The lack of breakneck speeds won’t cause you to develop any sores on your thumb from excessive handling, but that’s not the point. The controls do their job, and that’s all I can ask. The cars handle the corners pretty naturally and even start doing barrel rolls if you’re hugging a corner too tightly.
Had it not been for the track editor and the ability to upgrade so extensively, this game would have been unplayable. If you’re looking to buy a racing game, look elsewhere; this game is more about building cars than it is racing. I think THQ had a good idea with Penny Racers in concept, but it just doesn’t work for me. Replay value is good, but there’s really never any excitement during the racing portions. Given some faster cars and better track design, this game might have been a lot better, but as of now it’s only going to score a passing grade.
