Diddy Kong Racing

Summary

Genre: Racing
Number of players: 1-4
Rumble Pak: Yes
Controller Pak: Yes
Expansion Pak: Not used

Review

Released quite a while ago, Diddy Kong Racing is basically Rare's answer to Mario Kart 64. It features the eponymous Diddy Kong and seven of his friends, as they race through a number of courses in their quest for supremacy. However, this is a racing game with a difference, as it is structured more like an adventure than as a racing championship. An interesting premise - but is the game any good?


Gameplay: The 'adventure' theme of the single-player game is actually a huge strong point for the game. Instead of just a series of races, you can actually do something meaningful when playing alone. One of the biggest faults in Mario Kart was that it was really quite pathetic in single-player mode; whereas here it's probably as much, if not more, fun to play by yourself.

The single-player adventure is set up as follows. You control one of eight characters, and it's your task to save the island from the evil clutches of intergalactic tyrant Wizpig. Wizpig is a large pig, but he's no fool, and has blocked off the entrance to his lair with a stone statue of himself. In order to get at the porcine bully, you need to obtain four pieces of a strange amulet - one from each of the four worlds you can reach from the island hub. Each world consists of four race tracks. Once you've managed to beat the other 7 competitors on each track in one of the worlds, you then go up against a boss. You don't actually fight the boss, but rather you are challenged to a race over a special circuit. If you beat the boss, you then get to re-race all four tracks in the world, but this time you need to collect each of eight silver coins placed in difficult locations across the course - and win the race! It can get pretty tricky, but succeeding on all four tracks merely opens up a second race against the boss, who this time throws the rulebook out the window and cheats like crazy. This isn't 'cheating' in a Mario Kart way, though, but rather it means that the boss will throw various traps in your path, knock over tree stumps, barge you out of the way, and so on. Beat the boss again, and this time you get your piece of amulet.

Another rather nice innovation is that you don't just race in a kart. There are three totally different vehicles to use - a kart, a hovercraft, and even a miniature aeroplane. As you'd expect, each has its own advantages and disadvantages - the hovercraft can cross water without losing speed, but turns very sluggishly; the plane has freedom of movement, but can be tricky to control; and the kart is easy to control but is basically confined to the path. Each track has a default vehicle which you must use when racing in the main game, but for other modes you can usually use any of the three vehicles, which makes for some good variety.

In addition, you can pick up and use a number of different weapons by collecting the balloons floating around each track. Unlike Mario Kart, there's no luck involved, nor any bias against the leaders, as the type of weapon you collect depends solely on the colour of balloon you grab. Red balloons give you rockets, blue balloons provide a speed boost, yellow ones grant you an invincibility shield, and rainbow balloons give you a magnet, which works like a tractor beam. Pick up a second balloon of the same colour, and you get a 'powered up' version of the weapon - for instance, two red balloons gets you a homing missile, and two yellow balloons makes your shield last much longer. A third balloon powers your weapon up once more. However, if you collect another coloured balloon you lose your current weapon, no matter how powered up, in favour of the new weapon - which can be a bit frustrating.

The game is really fun to play, although to be fair the combat isn't as manic as in Mario Kart. The different vehicles are a great idea, but perhaps make the game a little less focused than MK. But the enjoyment to be had from the Adventure mode far outweighs the rather staid efforts of Mario and friends, and DKR is admittedly the more fun game.


Challenge: The difference between DKR and Mario Kart is nowhere clearer than in the question of challenge. Mario Kart was, frankly, very easy. True, the computer players cheated by magically accelerating past you if they fell behind, but they seldom used a weapon against you properly, and it was no great challenge to win each race, even on the highest speed setting. Diddy Kong Racing is very different. As far as I could tell, there was no cheating going on, but instead the computer opponents were actually worthy opponents, who were able to respond to your attacks and tactics and to fight you back. What's more, the boss races and the Silver Coin challenges were very, very hard, but never unfair, and always made you want to keep trying - to say nothing of the final boss, whom it took me a very long time to beat. There are quite a lot of tracks - 24 in all, plus four special battle games which can be unlocked by finding a key on one track in each world - and this will keep you going for quite a while. Overall, a very tough, but fair, game, and no pushover to complete.


Graphics: The graphics are solid and attractive, and there are a number of nice touches, such as gigantic dinosaurs lumbering around the track in the Dino Domain world, and large whales circling the track in the Whale Bay course. The characters themselves are nicely animated, and certainly seem more 'alive' than Mario Kart's drivers. The game looks very 'realistic', albeit clearly in a cartoony style.


Sounds: As is typical of Rare, the game's music is excellent. Each track has its own music, and each tune is highly catchy, and spot on for its particular track. The theme music too is great fun, and a very nice aural touch on the character select screen is how the theme's instrumentation changes dramatically as you move your cursor from character to character. Sound effects are also well-done, and each character has their own voice and personal sound effects. There's little you can fault in the sound department, and it all adds to the solidness of the game.


Multiplayer: Multiplayer mode is another of the game's strong points, and is highly enjoyable. You can race against up to three friends on any of the game's tracks, as long as you have unlocked them in single-player mode. You can also add computer racers if you have less than four humans. Each player can choose their own vehicle, and it adds a lot of interest if everyone picks a different craft. There's less manic combat than in Mario Kart, but it's 'fairer', in that there is no bias against the leaders. In addition to the standard races, you can also play on the four special battle arenas, and they're also great fun. In short, a fine multiplayer mode with plenty of depth.


Summing up: Sure, it's like Mario Kart, but it's a better game. With a great single-player mode, varied tracks, solid graphics and excellent music, it's a fine package and one which will keep you going for ages.


Gamesmark: 85%


Reviewer: Maverik