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ATV Quad Power Racing 2

The all terrain vehicle is a different beast than any other machine. It doesn't have the grandiose of SUV's, the comfort of cars, or the freedom of motorcycles. It is best suited for off-roading in smaller areas in the countryside. Just like there is a difference between the actual vehicles there is a difference between racing cars and racing ATV's. There are no paved tracks and definitely do not expect to make left turns only. Instead, expect to drive over mud, grass, water, and any other surface that isn't paved on tracks that zigzag in and out of forests and ravines. While traditional video game racers have been confined to cars, newer games are taking to other forms of vehicle, mostly of the extreme sports kind. With that in mind, Acclaim has brought ATV Quad Power Racing 2 to the Gamecube.

Gameplay

ATV Quad Power Racing 2 is the sequel to a game that first appeared on the Playstation, and more recently on the Game Boy Advance. It may not have been a great racer, but it was significant as it was the first ATV racer ever produced. With this go-around, Acclaim intends on vastly improving upon their first effort by offering extra modes and expanded gameplay. While the first game offered only time attack, single race, two player and championship, ATV Quad Power Racing 2 offers ATV Academy, Career, Single Race, Freestyle, Arcade, Challenges, Time Trial, Custom, and Multiplayer.

Of all these options, the main mode is the Career, where the main objective is to take a rider and improve his or her riding ability. By choosing the career mode, a rider profile must be made, and then a specific rider chosen. Each of these riders has different attributes with different skill levels in ability, technique, aggression, and strength. Obviously, each rider is not very good in these areas to start with, but as you progress your rider does get better. To improve and get better in your career there are three different championships: Amateur, Professional, and Superstar. To move forward in these championships you must finish at least third overall out of six in the points, with points accumulated for position finished as well as for how many points were scored in comparisons with your opponents. As you finish these races and progress, your attributes will go up as well as your overall skill level.

To increase those attributes and skill levels you have to learn how to control your ATV. An ATV is not a car and you can't handle it like you would a car. These machines were meant for off road, to go where no car has gone before. As such, the machine is built differently and will act accordingly. There is a large amount of grip on the back tires and going through turns can and will lead to wild turns, almost every time, unrealistically. The acceleration is on the A button, or the C-stick up, while braking is done with the B button, or C-stick down. It seems helpful to get over jumps on ATV's by using the pre-load technique. What this will do is allow for the ATV to get air when the pre-load is released at the height of a hill peak. To pre-load you hold down the R button, though if it's held for too long you'll lose it. The weird thing is that on some of the better ATV's they get too much air and it becomes better to not pre-load. The Z button is an attack button that will kick out to the left or right, depending on where the closest opponent is. It adds an interesting element, but there seems to be no strategy other than to kick when you get close to someone, and on harder difficulties the AI will almost always get their kick in before you do. The Y button will give you a quick look back and the X button allows you to use boost gained through the use of tricks.

Tricks are a bit strange to pull off. To actually do a trick you have to wait until you are in the air, then press B and a direction. It sounds simple enough, but getting the timing down will take a little while. It seems that you have to be a foot off the ground before you can pull a trick, and meanwhile you're wondering why it's not working like you want it to. Once you do get the timing down, though, it becomes easy to pull off single tricks or start stringing together multiples. As your rider increases his skill level more tricks are opened up to him with other buttons. These tricks will score more points but also last longer making it harder to do multiple tricks in one jump. One weird thing that happens is that too often the trick won't be recognized until it's too late and your rider will crash because he's mid-animation when he should be finished. This is a major annoyance, especially when it costs you a race. You can also pull a wheelie or a stoppie by pulling back while accelerating or pushing forward and braking, respectively. You can also go up on two wheels by holding down L pushing left or right. Stringing together all these tricks will award you more boost.

The best way to know which tricks to use is to learn the tracks. This can get complicated, as most of the tracks are long, and each one having three variations. Most of the variations, however, are minute, with most of the track being the same across all three versions. This is a real shame as there are only 5 tracks total, but they each have their own tricks to teach. Learning when to pre-load, when to go quickly, and when to brake is essential. One thing that you can't do, though, is go off the track. If you do, it will tell you to return, and will soon place you back on the course. This can get very annoying when you were rammed off road, and kept off road because of the peculiar way two ATV's seem to mate when they touch. Subsequently losing valuable time from this happens somewhat frequently. The AI in the game is not very challenging until the Professional circuit, but they're not non-existent either. It can even get very difficult in the Superstar circuit, until you figure out a good strategy.

If you feel like a change from the Career mode there are other modes to explore. Arcade has you racing with a countdown timer, and the objective is to finish the race before the time runs out. The main problem with this mode is that you can theoretically finish sixth in every race and still beat the mode if you cross the finish line in time. The challenges are fairly interesting as you try to beat specific obstacle courses in quick times, with a new rider unlocked if you break a record. Custom is unlocked once you finish Career and this lets you create your own championship with your choice of tracks. There is also a two-player mode where you can create a custom championship, race head to head, or go at it in a single race. It would have been nice to see a four player mode, but due to the framerate issues that crop up in two player, it is excusable that it was left out.

Visuals

Other than in multiplayer, the framerate is steady. This should be expected since ATV Quad Power Racing 2 isn't pushing the Gamecube too hard. There are some particle effects, which aren't all that impressive, and a lens flare which comes off nicely. Your ATV will leave tracks in certain conditions when in snow or on wood. The textures and amount of polygons used for the riders and the ATVs aren't anything great or horrible on the other end, they're strictly average. The animations for riders performing tricks, however, do look very nice. The tracks are fairly detailed and are pleasant to look at. Some of the plant life in some of the levels are nothing more than 2D images, and some of the ground textures are poor. The mud, a mainstay in offroad racing, also is not very appealing visually, as it is hard to tell apart from regular land. What it truly comes down to is an average looking game with some nice effects.

Audio

The engines of the ATVs all sound nice and loud. You can hear other ATV's approaching from behind, although the game unfortunately, isn't in surround. There aren't really any other ambient noises to be heard. The riders make a few grunts and screams when they fall off the bike, which amuse, but not much else is there. The real bulk of the audio is the licensed soundtracks. I liked the songs, I even found them lurking around in my head at times. They really fit well, and even have a song by a known band, Godsmack. There is one big downside though in that there are only six songs. This seems like nothing to start with, and when you add in the fact that races can range up to seven minutes you may hear half of the songs in one race. There was a definite need for more songs.

This game gets an N-Philes score of B-.

The Gamecube is still lacking in realistic racers, as well as off-road racers. Acclaim had a chance to enter both rings at once, but instead offers a more arcade style off road experience. It is a fairly good racer and is worth checking out if you want to try something different than the usual racing fare. Just do realize that the career is extremely short and can be beaten quickly.

Posted in: Reviews