So, what do we all think?

[fastwinstondoom]

#8707

First of all, it was definitely fun playing it again. That being said, as someone who hadn’t touched the game since maybe late 1997, I found that my memories of the game didn’t quite line up with reality. The characters and the power-ups were just as I remembered but the tracks being so short and, well, simple was abit of a rude awakening…

In fact I distinctly remember liking this more than Mario Kart, which, to my adult brain now seems like pure insanity… or more probably 13-year old me being a snob and automatically liking things more because they were on pc.

The soundtrack though, that is JUST as good as I remember if not even better. Definitely top tier!

[Martli]

#8708

I had a good time playing it, but to be honest I stopped after about a week as it had sort of run its course for me. A fun game, but not enough depth to keep me hooked. Agree the music is good though!

[TigerQuoll]

#8709

Yeah, I was thinking about this last night. I think the word that sums this game up for me is “inoffensive”.
It’s colourful and breezy, and there doesn’t seem to be anything exactly wrong or broken about it (apart from possibly the rubber banding issuer mentioned in another thread), but there just doesn’t seem to be enough depth to keep you interested for long.

[firefyte]

#8711

I had a good time, completed all the cups (not on the hardest, although I’ve done that grind).
There’s a lot of themes that aren’t purely for kids, you have hedgehogs on toilets, with a gun, etc.

There are a lot of fun elements, and considering there weren’t really any good karting games around this time on PC (I also have a stupid amount of time playing Superkarts).
There’s fun modes with VS and 2-player as well as the duck shooting mode, time trials, etc. So there are multiple game modes, and as was usual around that era, you get a game, and you need to play it to death, which actually takes a long time.

I plan on testing 2-player at some point with someone else, so we’ll see if that has the same shine it used to.

[Pix]

#8713

You guys are being way, way kinder than I’m going to be. The presentation and music is decent, I’ll give it that.

The gameplay is so basic though. It almost feels like the whole game is being played on a grid. Nothing is analog, the speed doesn’t smoothly increase, the turns are done in chunks, there is no feeling of skidding or any actual physics. It ends up all but removing the driving element from a racing game when you are glued to the ground like that. The opponents are similarly useless and rely entirely on rubber banding to provide any sort of challenge. There was just nothing here to keep me playing.

I remember trying (and failing) to like this back in the day. I came nearer back then but the PC could have done so much better than this at the time. I’m struggling to think of a DGC game that’s held my attention for so little time. Some games just aren’t for me, like Empire the other month, but I can at least see why other people might potentially like them. I don’t get what anyone sees in this. I spent as long playing Rise Of The Robots and it’s almost on par with that as far as I’m concerned. Nice looking but fundamentally broken.

Maybe the multiplayer is what makes Wacky Wheels worthwhile? I didn’t get to try that out but I can certainly see it being the best aspect of the game, especially back in 94.

[TigerQuoll]

#8723

I feel like the multiplayer shootout might be where the most fun can be found.
As you describe it, pix, without any real physics and being more or less glued to the ground, the mechanics are basically those of a third person run-and-gun shooter.

I tried a 2 player game the other day, and I will say the shootout mode was the most fun.

But even that is a bit hampered by the fact that it can only ever be 1 on 1. If there were a way to get more players on a map, I think a kind of deathmatch might actually be fairly fun.

Edit:
I wonder if there is some way to have up to 4 players using split-screen? I haven’t found any options for it though…

[firefyte]

#8734

I also think Pix mentions one of the key points of the game:
1) it’s for kids
2) it’s casual

It’s not actually hard unless you grind, it has no realism, and basically it’s a hold button and press left/right/handbrake/(shoot), it’s not even trying to be a game that takes itself seriously.

[rnlf]

#8736

I had the same thoughts as Pix, really. The music is cool, the game looks nice but it doesn’t really hold up to Mario Kart. The handbrake is too overpowered. I rarely used anything else in the end. Just go straight, tap tap tap tap go straight, …

You really play on a grid. The tracks are all very samey, the powerups are unimaginative, the rubber banding is extreme.

It was not unfun, I definitely had some fun moments with it, but compared to the Nintendo’s template, there’s not much there.

But when the rubber banding made 4 or 5 opponents pass me just to be bombarded with hedgehogs lap after lap, that was fun for a while.