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"A good reason why the Sega Genesis shouldn't be rendered in 3D."

In 1993 came Star Fox for the SNES, a space shooter that was known for its impressive 3D polygon graphics. The SNES hardware wasn't capable of handing full-fledged 3D graphics, Star Fox relied on a coprocessor known as the Super FX chip. The chip was meant to utilize 3D graphics, like with Star Fox, for other SNES games. With this new improvement of technology, more games were made using this coprocessor, including Doom, Stunt Race FX, Dirt Trax FX, and a couple others. With the SNES displaying impressive 3D graphics, it sure made the Sega Genesis look obsolete. As a response to the FX chip, Sega released Virtua Racing on the Genesis. This game utilized the SVP chip, displaying graphics that were superior to Nintendo's Super FX chip. The only problem: the price. Virtua Racing was a whopping $100 in retail stores, and it's the only Genesis game ever made that uses the SVP chip.

Sorry about the lack of reviews lately. A lot has happened since my last review, including college. Now that it's 11/11/11, it's time to remember this excellent day!

Gameplay

In all modes, you have three race tracks to pick from. The point of the game is to do five laps around the track before the time runs out. Each time you reach a check point, time gets added to counter. If you run out of the time, you lose and have to start the track again. If you've played Pole Position, it's exactly like that, minus the qualification round.

The game provides minimal entertainment. It's fun seeing how fast you can race through the track, but it's extremely repetitive. Five laps around a track is a bit much; three laps would be understandable, but five laps around the same track is boring. There's also other racers too, and it's becomes a major pain in the balls trying to avoid them. To be honest, it's somewhat impressive gameplay because of its 3D capabilities, but it falls short because of its lack of variety. Other racing games like Lotus II can do what Virtua Racing does much better, more levels, more cars, better graphics, non-repetitive gameplay. Even without the 3D part, Lotus II stacks out as a better game.

In most games like Pole Position and Rad Racer, your car can still carry the rest of its momentum when the time runs out, it's not until you make a complete stop do you lose. But not this game. As soon as you run out of time, your racer will immediately stop and you lose, even if you're sitting right next to the finish line. Come on, I was almost there! Not a big deal, but it's annoying because most other games are not like that.

Final verdict: not enough elements that makes this game stand out from other ones, besides the 3D, which isn't all that special.

Graphics

The graphics suck. There's very little texture, sometimes none at all. You can barely see in front of you because the pixels are so large and distorted, and every race track is the same setting. I can tolerate the terrible graphics, but I would have preferred a winter level, a desert level, maybe a forest level, anything but grassy plains across the board. It seems out of place on the Sega Genesis, because I'm not used to seeing something rendered in 3D, therefore either way you look at it, the graphics aren't pleasant.

Final verdict: terrible.

Controls

Simply put, it doesn't feel like a racing game. The lack of analog controls ruin it, because the car barely responds to movement of the d-pad, therefore you always have to step on the breaks every time you make a turn. If you crash into another racer or make too sharp of a turn, you'll spiral out of control, meaning you won't be able to move for a few seconds. This happens so many times, because even if your turn is just a little too sharp, you'll spiral. It takes the fun out of the game when you're constantly wiping out, all it does is slow down the gameplay.

Final verdict: doesn't feels like a racing game.

Sound and Music

The music is decent, but my problem is that there isn't enough music in the game. There's no background music whatsoever during gameplay, you only get a 5 second tune every time you pass a checkpoint. So basically, the game tries to tease you by playing catchy music and then they pull the rug out from under you, what a cruel game.

As for the sound, it's bad, but I wasn't expecting anything special because it's the Genesis we're talking about. There's voice synthesis in the game, and it's really bad. Every time you pass a checkpoint, you hear “TIME DPBVEYGCHF” and I spent many years trying to figure out what the voice was trying to say, that's how awful it sounds. I ended up checking out the sound test, where it told me in the description: time bonus.

Final verdict: decent music, bad sound.

Replay Factor

No wonder the game has you do five laps. I was extremely disappointed, because I was starting to have fun, I was beginning to understand the game better, but then I finished all three tracks. After that, you might as well throw the game in the garbage, because that's all there is. Only three race tracks? Why only put three? All three tracks can be completed within an hour, so unless you have a friend that's willing to play, there's nothing worthwhile left to do in this game. There are other gameplay variations, but they're not worth it and they don't change the game very much.

I think the game would have been better if it were setup differently. Rather than having all three tracks selectable in the beginning, have it set up like other racing games where you advance to the next track if you beat the previous one. Not only that, but more unlockables and better gameplay variations would have increased the value by a good chunk. Another cool feature could have been a mission mode, similar to Mario Kart DS where you complete specific tasks as fast as possible (e.g. finish the race in two minutes, collect all coins, run over ten pedestrians, etc.) With these additions alone, the Virtua Racing probably would have been decent.

I understand that the Genesis hardware compiled with the SVP chip are limited, but that's my point, a game like this should have never been made.

Final Verdict

The 3D factor doesn't make Virtua Racing any better, in fact it arguably makes it worse. In some aspects it's fairly decent, but the lack of gameplay variety kills it. The fact that there are only three race tracks limits this game severely, and that's the main reason I don't like it. I finish one track, move onto the next. I beat another, move onto the last. I beat that one, okay now what? Sure, people often come back to games after they beat it, but there's no reason for me to come back to a mediocre racing game with bad controls, subpar graphics and boring gameplay. Virtua Racing can be easily conquered in an hour, which sums up the whole game.

For the record, I bought this game for about $7.99 with a box, but most copies, despite being sold for $100 when this game first came out, are around $2.50 today. If you see it, buy it for the novelty, but don't go out of your way to find it.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/11/11

Game Release: Virtua Racing (US, 03/14/94)