FAST Racing League shares the same typical characteristics you'd see in a Wipeout or F-zero game. High speed racers zooming by inches off the ground. Crazy jumps, insane boosts. It really is all very familiar, and it honestly should be. Some charactistics of certain games are genre defining, and those listed above are all nececssary elements of any high speed racer. A platformer wouldn't be a platformer without jumping, after all, and neither would a high speed racer be what it is without it's core elements.
If all you were looking for in FAST Racing League was a WiiWare knock off of some of the most respected high speed arcade racers of all time, you would find that here. Let's face it, the Wii hasn't exactly had a surplus of high speed racers during the course of it's lifetime. Even Nintendo's own F-zero has seemingly passed up on the Wii. So, if that's all you were looking for FAST Racing League would definitely leave you satisfied, but what about everyone else? What about all the other gamers out there that want something a little different than what the tried and true high speed arcade racer offers? What if they want a high speed racer that stays true to the genre's roots, but also isn't afraid to mix things up a little? Well, that gamer would also get his fix with FAST Racing League.
If you want the basic rundown of the game's scenario just read this, taken straight from Shin'en's official site for the game:
"In the year 2112 the masses are fascinated by extreme high speed races. The latest antigrav racing technology introduced phase shifting. Perfect phase matching of track and racing machine is the key to stay alive. Warm up your engines, the future is now... "
At first glance it doesn't sound like something we haven't heard before, but if you pay attention to it you'll see what sets FAST Racing League apart from so many other futuristic high speed racers. The game utilizes boost strips and jump launch pads that are spread out across the track in a rather unique way. You see, all boost strips and launch pads are essentially color coded, with them being either light or dark. Throughout a race you can alter the polarity of your ship from being in either a light or dark phase, à la Ikaruga.
If you wish to reap the benefits of a particular boost strip or launch pad you have to make sure the current phase of your ship corresponds with said boost strip or launch pad. If your ship happens to be in the wrong phase when you pass over a boost strip it'll have the opposite effect and actually slow you down. Consequently, if your ship is in the wrong phase when you pass over a jump pad you'll end up plumeting to your death. At some spots of a course the track will even have a boost strip on the ceiling above you. If your ship's phase polarity matches the above strip, it'll actually pull you upside down and allow you to race on the ceiling. This adds excitement to the gameplay and shows off the game's well crafted track design, which we'll get to later...
Yep, that's a light boost strip...
You wouldn't think this would be a big deal, but when you're in the heat of the moment, darting forward at over 200mph with 7 other racers right on your tail, it's easy to feel the pressure. Not to mention that there's another force at play here. You can't just simply switch your ship's phase as much as you want. Instead you collect these orbs that are scattered throughout the track. For every orb you collect one block of your boost bar is filled. Everytime you switch your ship's phase it costs one block of boost bar. This adds a large deal of strategy to the game, as you have to take the time to build up the blocks in your boost bar just so you can switch phases and hit that upcoming dark jump launch pad in time. In addition to the boost strips and launch pads scattered throughout the tracks your ship also has boost built in. If you ever happen to have enough spare blocks full on your boost bar, you can also use your ship's boost for the price of five blocks of boost.
FAST Racing League consists of three different classes, with each one uping the difficulty and speed just like Mario Kart's different cc classes. Within each class are three different leagues, and every league consists of 4 tracks. That means all together there's 12 tracks in the game. I know that isn't too many, but keeping in mind the size limitation once again it's justifiable. Not to mention this is only a 1,000 point WiiWare game here, not some full retail release. Aside from the main GP like racing mode the game also feature around two dozen challenges to play through as well as some time attack modes. And while you start the game off with two ships there's four more that you unlock throughout the game.
If the game's many different modes aren't enough to keep you coming back for more, its difficulty will. I felt a true, honest, oldschool challenge while playing FAST Racing League, which was something I welcomed. It didn't feel like it was holding my hand at all, and, if anything, at times it seems too unforgiving. Bumping into the wall now and then won't do much more than slow you down a bit, but going off the track or running into the games many obstacles will result in instant death. And although we all enjoy blowing up once in a while, I found that in the game's later stages one small error was the difference between first and last place. I ultimately enjoyed that though, as I feel too many games these days are too easy. I want to have to rise up to meet a challenge, and FAST Racing League made me do just that.
If you wanna take a break from losing on one of the harder levels and take some frustration out by playing against your buddy, you're in luck. While there is no online support, the game does support up to 4 player split screen, allowing you to play through the same GP mode found in single player with a friend. A couple nice touches I enjoyed with multiplayer was that the game allows you to choose whether or not you want the screen to be split vertically or horizontally. Also, due to the Wii's limitations the multiplayer framerate naturally isn't as good as it is in single player, so Shin'en has given us the option to either play multiplayer at a variable frame rate, or at a fixed 30fps.
Now that we have the game's system mechanics out of the way, let's talk about how the game looks. Since most of your time is going to be spent with the game flying by you in a whirlwind of blur you'll be too afraid to blink to even notice much. That doesn't mean the game isn't pretty though. It's amazing how much Shin'en always seems to do so much with so little. Especially taking into consideration the size limitations of WiiWare games, FAST Racing League is one of the best looking games of seen on WiiWare, and the system as a whole. The sound is equally as complementing, with a diverse selection of tracks that always seem to keep the adrenaline going.
For me, though, the game's saving grace was its controls. FAST Racing League supports 3 different control types: motion control using just the Wiimote, Wiimote and Nunchuk, and the Classic Controller. At first I started out just using the Wiimote by itself just like in Mario Kart. And it works really well. However, due to the speed of the game, I found myself have a little precision and control over my ship using the Nunchuk's analog stick. That's not a gripe with the games controls, just a personal preference. I was doing fine with motion controls up until the later stages, then I felt I would do better if I let my thumb take over from there on out.
Overall FAST Racing League is another great game from Shin'en that is sure to have something to satisfy racers of all leagues. While I eagerly await the return of F-zero the talent over at Shin'en has proven once again that they can work around the limitations of WiiWare to deliver an experience that exceeds that found on many actual retail games.
FAST Racing League Gets An 8 Out of 10
5 comments:
Very well-written and insightful. Thank you NintendoKnow!
<3
Good review, tho after playing it for myself i think 8/10 is too low. It needs at least 9/10. It is simply a lot of fun and has superb production values.
Excellent review! A 10 Out of 10 to you!
Good review
Thank you guys for the feedback, it's much appreciated. And as a gamer myself I'd like to thank Shin'en for making such a great game. I had a lot of fun with it.
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