Gameplay

Real Frustrating

Re-Volt is initially a game that will make you want to stomp your racing wheel into the ground and then spit on its grave. A combination of twitchy controls and chaotic gameplay make races extremely unpredictable; it's easy to lose five places in a fraction of a second, and often much harder to gain them back. At any time, you could pick up a bomb, not be able to pass it off, and explode; get zapped and unable to move for seconds; land a drop or jump wrong and end up facing the wrong way, or any other of a number of pitfalls.

After something happens to knock you out, you'll have to count on something equally disasterous happening to the other cars, because simply controlling your car well generally doesn't differentiate you from the pack. None of the cars in the pack seem to have any problem with control, save for one, which seems to have been designated the token idiot. This is the car you'll often see lap after lap, bumping into telephone poles and generally making an ass of itself. On the second level, this car will invariably get stuck in the iced-over room, unable to regain control.

Well-polished floor

Behind the sun

Real Neat

Once you finally get the hang of gameplay, Re-Volt can actually be quite entertaining. It's fun to see RC cars race through some of the environments they're put in, especially since it's from a viewpoint you never got as a kid; right in the heat of the action. Not only is the viewpoint unique, but it's a safe bet that none of us ever got to race at breakneck speeds around the deck of the Titanic. Watch out for that pool!

Whether or not you'll like Re-Volt's gameplay depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for some quick-to-pick-up racing fun, a-la Mario Kart, look somewhere else. You'll spend hours trying to beat the first set of tracks to advance to the next, only to be randomly taken out at the last second for no discernable reason. If you're the type that can take a hit like that and simply grit your teeth harder, AND the type that loves racing and pretty graphics, Re-Volt is probably for you.

If Re-Volt is for you, and you're into tweaking (no, meth-head, that's not what I mean), then you'll be happy to know that Re-Volt includes a built-in track editor. That's right, ladies and germs, you can create your own chaos to plow through at 350 scale mph. Go wild. We didn't bother, because the interface is about as friendly as a monkey with a rusty fork, but the option does exist.

Looks like Star Trek

Warping reality