Original Release: Interplay, 2000, PlayStation 2
A near-launch title and the first offroad/buggy racer for PS2
Wild Wild Racing (PS2, Interplay, 2000)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: PlayStation 2 Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Offroad racers were barely a thing until the PS1 era and didn’t really get compelling until the PS2/Xbox, when the horsepower allowed for graphics and physics to really differentiate from other categories of racing title. Wild Wild Racing was among the first wave of these for the PS2 and really focused on the “graphics” end, at least to some degree.
What I mean by that is, the environments are none too impressive. You basically get drab forest, drab snowy mountain or drab construction site to choose from (though they do adequately capture the general feel of an actual offroad racing environment, which is usually way off the beaten path away from places where tearing up pretty nature with your quad is frowned upon by the locals and tourist industry). But the focus seemed to be on vehicle detail over everything else, and those look very good and their assorted bouncings on their suspensions are very well-animated, especially when you consider this was a near-launch release.
I think it was otherwise kinda hurried along to be the system’s first offroad racer, though. The handling is respectable overall, but not intuitive. Everything is centered on doing handbrake turns to keep up around corners (defaults to the O button, really feels better if assigned to a shoulder) but the timing is a bit fussy, I think they were going for the Ridge Racer style of “overdrifting” from even doing it a little bit but it doesn’t autocorrect like it does in that game. I got it well enough to start winning races with a couple of practice runs, however, so it’s not too bad, just one of those things you have to feel out for a bit before it makes sense.
There’s also a little strategy you don’t see in standard types of racing games, for example you’ll lose momentum on hill climbs and have to sort of plan ahead for them in terms of both acceleration and positioning to not bump other racers. Sometimes a short hill climb can also be used as a shortcut if you’ve built enough speed and angle it just right. There are also long patches of mud and snow/ice to contend with similarly.
So I got all that just fine, the thing that kills the game is wild spin-outs and sudden total dead stops from even glancing contact with the side of track barriers or other racers. It’s basically fatal even in the easier races, and to make matters (much) worse the CPU basically drives as a team where the racers behind the leader specifically target you for collisions. The 2nd place guy will slow down and try to lock you up bumper-to-bumper, and anyone behind you can be counted on to just shoot themselves into you like a missile when the opportunity presents itself.
So I found all that way too frustrating and it ran me off from the game pretty quickly. Big time offroad/ATV race fans may be able to squeeze some fun from this, as it does have its good qualities and aside from the CPU’s “team driving” the racing is solid. It’s also one of the smaller PS2 games, jamming its variety of good vehicle models and mediocre techno music into a package under 1 GB (and running quite smoothly on emulators on more underpowered devices). Though I suppose there only being five tracks (three to start with, two to unlock) contributes there.
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