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TOCA CHAMPIONSHIP RACING
SLUS 00611
Copyright © 19998
Sony Playstation, 1-2 Players
Racing
Supports Dual Shock Analog, NegCon and compatible
Available now
$24.99
—by Eugene Moon
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The British Touring Car Championship, or BTCC for short, is one of the premier
racing series in the world. Pitting four-door sedans from Volvo, Nissan,
Renault, Honda, Audi, and others against each other, the racing is fast and
rough. Very rarely will a race weekend go by without someone losing their side
mirrors from contact or getting shoved off the track by a passing car.
Codemasters tries to cash in on the popularity with TOCA Championship Racing
(known as TOCA Touring Car Championship elsewhere).
Originally released in England in time for the 1997 Christmas shopping season,
TOCA managed to garner impressive sales. In the US, however, TOCA came out in
September of this year and faced a market that had been exposed to
Gran Turismo for four
months. In comparison with Polyphony Digital Entertainment's (formerly Polys
Entertainment) masterpiece, TOCA finds itself lacking.
The game starts off well, showcasing the Playstation's full-motion video
capabilities with footage from the BTCC providing a glimpse at why this series
is so popular as a spectator sport. After choosing between English and Spanish
text for the menus, the player is given a choice between starting a race,
changing game options, viewing high scores, and loading/saving data to a memory
card.
As far as racing choices go, there are single races, a full championship season,
and time trial practice sessions. The first thing I must take issue with is the
limits Codemasters places on the player's racing career. Only two of the nine
tracks, which are modeled from the tracks the actual series races on, are
initially available for single races and for practice. The only ways to open up
the remainder are to either advance to that track in the Championship mode or to
enter a cheat code which is available on the Internet or in gaming magazine
cheat code listings.
Second, the control is unforgivably hard to come to grips with. I tried three
different controllers with this game and encountered the same quirk with all of
them. It's not quite obvious with the digital pad, but there is a point where
the steering jumps an appreciable amount. This makes it difficult to keep the
car from spinning out in sharp turns whether the controller is a Dual Shock
analog pad or one of several NegCon compatible steering wheels. While the player
can slow the car down to the point where this isn't much of a problem, that
opens the player up to attacks from the aggressive AI.
In an attempt to recreate the full-contact action present in the real series,
Codemasters programs the computer drivers to treat the bodywork on their cars
with utter disdain. A clean pass without any contact is near impossible to pull
off. The fact that the player rarely sees computer cars spinning other computer
drivers off the track creates the notion that everyone is out to get the
player. An improved race replay, instead of the current game's highlights,
would help dispel that.
On the other hand, the sound is nicely done with accurate reproductions of metal
panels getting crunched, rumble strips getting driven over, tires squealing, and
gravel spraying as a race car surfs through a gravel trap. The graphics are also
impressive with appealing weather effects. Players may encounter rain, snow, and
fog in addition to the traditional sunny environment. During the inclement
weather, the race cars run with their lights on with reflections visible on wet
or icy road surfaces. Rainy races also feature cars trailing sprays of water, as
well as an active windshield wiper.
The game physics, however, fail to match the visual excellence. Contact with
other cars and roadside objects is modeled particularly poorly. Walls can be
hit head-on at full speed with minimal damage to the player's car. The body
shell may look dented and glass windows may be shattered, but the car runs as
well as it did at the start of the race. The player might roll their car on its
side or roof, but the car rolls back over so that the player can continue the
race.
TOCA tries to balance being a realistic simulation with being a "fun to play"
arcade-style game and fails to achieve better than mediocrity in both respects.
With GRAN TURISMO as the standard in Playstation racing, TOCA just fails to
measure up.
Rating: * 1/2 out of 4 |
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