S.C.A.R.S.

Just when you thought there were enough PC racing games on the shelf, Ubi Soft Entertainment rolls out one more, and at least this one has a hook. In S.C.A.R.S. you are one of nine super-computers that rule a future Earth, and your idea of entertainment is racing a computer-generated car shaped like an animal against your fellow machines across a stack of simulated Earth environments. To raise the stakes, every course is littered with weapons you can grab and fire to muscle your way to the line first. As cheesy as that sounds, S.C.A.R.S. does serve up some genuinely entertaining moments. Like a lot of racers, though, it also leaves a little to be desired.

Plan on using a controller, because a keyboard just won’t cut it here. You’re not only racing but firing weapons, so there are a few more buttons to juggle than gas and brake, and you’ll occasionally need to jump to dodge an incoming weapon, which isn’t something most racing games ask of you. The trouble is the handling: the cars are skittish and maneuverability is limited, so losing control isn’t a rare event, and on the tighter courses that tips over from challenging into flat-out frustrating.

What S.C.A.R.S. has going for it is the way it looks. The racing is smooth, the courses are nicely detailed in both the terrain and the backdrops, and there’s a real splash of color from one circuit to the next that keeps things lively. The sound does the job and not much more, engine notes, the thud of trading paint, the bang of a weapon going off, and a generic techno/dance soundtrack that gives you a beat to race to without ever being memorable. The techno-Western number on the Canyon level, on the other hand, is worth a laugh or two.

Where it wears thin is quantity. There are only nine tracks, and rather than build more, the game recycles them by flipping the weather over to night or rain. The courses are long and branch in every feasible direction, which helps, but a four-lap minimum can push a single race to nearly six minutes, and the novelty starts to sag. The multiple routes, some quick, some slow, are the saving grace, so no two laps play out quite the same. Multiplayer, meanwhile, tops out at two and is awkward in practice, since one of you is stuck on the keyboard.

When I first loaded S.C.A.R.S. the graphics, the elaborate courses and those weapon-fuelled grudge matches against my rivals had me hooked. The more I played, the more the thin track list and slightly sub-par handling dragged it back down. It may not be the best racing game ever released, but the action streak and the weapons give it a personality most of its rivals lack, and that counts for something.