MySims Racing
July 5, 2009 by: admin
MySims Racing
Products by : Electronic Arts
Release Date : June 8, 2009
Ranking Score : 68.0% by Metacritic
MySims Racing Reviews
A Very Enjoyable Racing Game for the Wii
I know that all games like this one are understandably compared (usually unfavorably) to Mario Kart. So be it. This is not Mario Kart and as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t have to be. The racing physics are good, the tracks are interesting, varied, and well-designed, and the story mode is entertaining enough and suitable for everyone. You will race on tracks in an arid town, a forest, an icy mountain range, and a theme park with multiple tracks opening up in each setting as you progress. The tracks found in the latter three are particularly enjoyable and challenging (think rapids and wooden bridges, icy caves with watery pitfalls between the route options, and pinball machine/roller coaster amalgamations, to give you some idea.)
I must say that I was hooked after starting the story mode and spent a large part of a weekend finishing it, though I still plan to go back to perfect some of my “challenge” results to unlock some of the rarest performance upgrades. You can use the cars you create in story mode to race arcade style quick races and short 2-5 race cup competitions as well. With a little imagination, you can design some pretty cool cars based on any number of themes (skulls and morbidity, ninjas, flower power, goth, various animals, old fashioned retro rides, royalty, a combination of all of these and more, you name it).
What I like best is that this game is neither too easy nor too hard and is set up well in that the competition and tracks gets tougher as you build up the ability to improve your cars. You have three cars to play with (S, M, and L) with multiple designs initially available or unlockable for each. You also have the opportunity to gradually upgrade each car’s engine, frame, and handling characteristics. Once you unlock and “buy” each upgrade with the crystals you earn for successful races, it’s available for all three cars. This process is well thought out and you will find that different set-ups are desirable depending on racing conditions.
The agile little rocket works well for solo speed challenges while you’ll want something a little heavier for the rough and tumble six or even eight way races where bumping and other shenanigans are the norm. I have found that my suped-up medium sized muscle car offers the best of both worlds and I rarely use either of my other cars. The concept of power-ups is borrowed from Mario Kart, but most of the actual examples here are unique and vary quite a bit in their effectiveness. The UFO ride and unlimited boost are my favorites as they really help you gain ground when you’re trailing in a race. The other power-ups mostly serve to frustrate rival drivers and they are fun and valuable as well. Among other things, you will find yourself: having to race upside down; dealing with bunnies covering your windshield; avoiding beehives, lightning strikes, bubble traps and pumpkin slicks; dodging oak trees that pop up in your path, etc. I’ve yet to try the multiplayer option, so I can’t comment there, though I’m sure it will be fun.
Overall, I am quite impressed with My Sims Racing and in less than a week I have already played it much more than I ever play the majority of my other Wii games. I have a hard time imagining anyone being truly disappointed in this one if they like racing games like Mario Kart. Luckily, one can always use the local video store to give any game a trial run and I wholeheartedly recommend doing at least this much with My Sims Racing. One last thing, this game offers no on-line capability; it seems that this is a question/concern for some so I felt I should clarify that point…
