cash. But who wouldn't want a Charger?
You can use your new money to purchase a car. The game sports cars from 21 different companies, including Toyota, Ford, Lexus, Subaru and the prestigious Mercedes-Benz. Once you have your car, you can go into the New Parts shop to purchase all the racing equipment you can need. And you don't actually need to know anything about cars to upgrade it, all thanks to a handy menu that you can access by pushing the right trigger, as well as a scrolling bar that tells the different functions of the parts. If you are a little short on cash, you can go into the Used Parts Shop and purchase previously used parts for a little bit less money. So if your brakes are really bad and you can't earn enough cash to buy a brand new set, you can use a cheaper version that will work just as well as a new. A racing game wouldn't be complete without serious tweaking options, and through the in-game garage, you can tweak your vehicle and run it through an obstacle course to test out your modifications. The only thing I don't care for with the obstacle course is that it isn't long enough to see the max speed on the vehicle. Oh well.
A weak point plagues the menus: load times. I dislike load times, and I want them abolished. Since we have hard-drives and menus, they should have just stored the menu on the hard-drive and loaded it off there for faster load times, similar to what they did with the levels in Halo. The load times are only a few seconds, but after a while they are noticeable and annoying.
Multiplayer in the game is very simple, yet surprisingly fun. The options are fairly limited, the emphasis on the game is mainly the tight single player game, but multiplayer is pretty satisfying. The multiplayer mode consists of only 2 player split screen in order to keep the graphics looking pretty. Four player would have rocked, or maybe system link. I am sure they considered such options and found them impractical. Sadly though, Sega chose to only have 4 actual courses and a drag race mode in multiplayer. It wasn't their best effort in the multiplayer department. The drag racing is cool, especially if you alternate the cars frequently. The courses themselves do however get old pretty fast. The multiplayer is definitely the games weakest point.
Graphically, Sega GT 2002 is a very pretty game. The cars reflect light and objects very nicely, and the courses are well detailed. There are two views in multiplayer and three in the single player mode. Sprites enjoy your racing in the stands, which is kind of ghetto, but it's better than 20 minute load times and massive slowdown. The cars themselves are all accurately modeled, as I have actually played the game and recognized cars that I have seen on the road and knew them by name, which caused family bonding between my father and me. My favorite cars would have to be the Charger and the 1970 Corvette.
The music in the game is cheesy. The sound in the game is composed of guitars and stuff that bores the crud out of you in seconds. Fortunately, you can use the soundtracks you've got saved on your system in the game during the races. Which is really nice and one of my favorite features, not only in the game but on the system in general. As for the sound effects, the cars all rev up accurately. You can listen to the cars in manual transmission just like you would in a real car and know exactly when to change gears.
In the races, the control is astounding; absolutely one hundred percent perfect. Once you change the default control that is. The Xbox controller has analog triggers, triggers which should be defaulted for acceleration and braking in racing games. However, Sega GT 2002 defaults to control on the face buttons, which isn't bad, it's just not good. After you fix that, the controls are dead on. The rumble effects are stellar, the controller rumbles with every acceleration and terrain change. The vehicles fight you in turns and demand precision driving. The physics are very well tuned.
Finally we come to the last game mode, Chronicle Mode, in which you choose a vehicle from the past, such as a 1975 Savanna RX-3 and 1970 Corvette Sting Ray. Then you go through a series of very challenging races, each complete with a little screen telling you about the automobile industry during the time. Once you finish a race, depending on your position, you get points to use to upgrade your vehicle, meaning the better you are the better your car gets.
I have typically found racing games mundane and repetitive, however the sheer number of single player options in the game make this a title that anyone can find enjoyment in. The vast number of cars, the great track design, the easy customization features and the overwhelming amount of stuff to do makes this a worth purchase by anyone seeking a good single player experience.
The only real problems with the game are the limited multiplayer modes and the menu load times. If the game is going to become a franchise produced every single year, then Sega should definitely put some more effort into the multiplayer. And if they do release the extra disc that I have heard about that will add Xbox Live support, then I really hope they add more tracks to the game. The menu load times are a small problem, but a problem none the less, one that manages to irritate the heck out of me. Still though, with these flaws, the game is still rocking, and I recommend that everyone at least rent the game and give it a shot. Who knows, you might even like it.
|
