World Racing 2 review

The first game had a ski jump you could drive to on the Alpine course. That's my abiding memory of the first game in the series. I think I must have played the Xbox game more than anything else that I've played on the Microsoft console. It was one of those games you either loved or hated, and you were more likely to hate it if you played the PlayStation 2 or GameCube versions.

But for a game that was little hyped and much understood by the mainstream gaming press, Mercedes Benz World Racing was a game that garnered quite a few fans on PC and Xbox thanks to its scaleable realism and gorgeous expansive worlds. World Racing featured large maps full of interesting scenery, with hundreds of routes possible around the miles and miles of roads.

Broader Appeal

The most obvious change for World Racing 2 is the dropping of Mercedes Benz from the title. This change reflects the broadening of the car selection in the game, though the bulk of the game still centres around cars from the home of the Silver Arrows. However this time around you'll get to drive cars from the VW and Audi stable and more.

The car selection is hardly noteworthy in a Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport sense, but there's enough variety in there that the major car types - GT, sports, convertible, 4x4 etc. are covered. So while not a comprehensive list, you should at least be able to drive any of your favourite car types, if not manufacturers. And World Racing features Caterham's, which is always welcome.

Call this a Menu?

On of the aspects that caused confusion and annoyance even among fans of the first World Racing game was the strange menu system. Understanding the menu was a real puzzle, it was a nested menu that once understood, allowed you to alter all manner of aspect of the events that you were about to undertake. But boy was it clunky.

For World Racing 2 things have been streamlined somewhat. But the menu system is still not very good at all, it's far from intuitive. It's all part of a front end that gives you little confidence. The menu screens are the first part of a game a player sees and if they are poorly laid out and unpolished it gives the impression the rest of the game is too.

I found it much harder to accomplish things such as go for a free ride on the open maps because the menus, although in theory simpler than in World Racing, just aren't at all player friendly.

Choices Choices

It actually seems that the player has less choice in World Racing 2. Though this is more the fault of the way the menus are laid out than the actual game content. However I never felt as home in the career mode in WR2 than I did in WR. It took me quite a while to complete the first mission - a one lap time trial and I wondered if I'd lost all my ability as a gamer.

It's hard to put my finger on exactly why the missions such as races, time trials etc. didn't feel as satisfying this time around. I just didn't feel as engaged in the events. The career progression system in World Racing felt more involving and on the whole the game itself

There are fewer controls to change the realism now, no controls for the AI. It seems choice has been stripped away in many areas and it almost feels like the first game was the sequel and this was the first one.

Running Free

But out on the open road that's largely forgotten, because the real joy of the World Racing series is the ability to mess around on massive road systems, going where you want and exploring. This time around there's even traffic to contend with. Alas there's no Nurburgring as was hoped, instead there's the rather dull Hockenheimring, but the expansive Test Track returns - with multiple sections, a banked oval etc.

Then there are a more open country areas, this time around we have Italy, Egypt, Miami and Hawaii. The view distances are long and there's plenty of environmental animation such as planes and boats to keep the interest. However I actually found the Alpine and Nevada courses from the first game much more interesting.

In Control

The handling is still good, if you turn the driver aids off you're in for something of a driving simulation. Yet I found it a much harder game to control and play than World Racing thanks to the poor choice of views on offer.

The only first-person views available to the player are a bumper cam which is way too low to enable you to see anything ahead and a bonnet cam which just doesn't feel right. The bonnet cam should show you a view similar to that of really sitting in the car but due to the view-angle it doesn't work at all, on cars with long hoods it feels like you're miles from the road and is far from convincing.

More unforgivable is that the in-car views, with the dashboard, wheel etc, of the first game have now disappeared. Bizarre Creations is going to the effort of putting these into PGR3 and what is Synetic doing with WR2? Taking them out. Gone too is the option to use the right-stick to look around, meaning there's plenty of scenery you'll never see.

Final Words

It's been a long time coming and a game that I've really been looking forward to but I can't help being very disappointed with World Racing 2 on Xbox. The scenery, though beautiful isn't quite as interesting as the first game, and the lack of a decent in-car view means that I never felt at home in the game, meaning it was harder to play and ultimately left me feeling cold. New features such as cops chasing you or customizing the cars just seem half-hearted and poorly implemented.

It is a great looking game despite some frame rate problems and there's a lot of fun to be had just exploring while listening to custom soundtracks. But when it comes to the actual racing the lack of good views makes it hard to recommend to everyone. The AI doesn't totally convince me either, which means I'm more likely to use the Joyride feature than engage in races.

World Racing 2 should have been fantastic, all it needed to do was take everything from the first game and build on it. Yet in some ways, particularly the issue of views and the environments, it doesn't seem as good as the original. Xbox Live should provide some long term interest however, but at the time of writing - before the game's release - I couldn't find anyone online to race against. Fingers crossed the multiplayer will improve matters.

As it stands, colour me disappointed with World Racing 2. It's good, but it's not great.