| Rumble Racing EA are proving to be one of the strongest development powers on PS2, with so many brilliant titles coming from their world famous name, one of those titles is Rumble Racing, described by many as SSX for arcade driving fans. Arcade racers are better then the simulation racers in my opinion because they don't require hours up on hours of cornering and braking practice, as on most arcade racing games the cars can practically be thrown round the corners with complete ease, Rumble Racing isn't any different in this aspect but it does offer quite a good slice of Arcade magic. People say it is like SSX because stunts can be pulled off in the sky, these range from corkscrew turns to direct somersaults and flips, making Rumble Racing a brilliant spectacle for the player and the watchers. The stunts can be used to their full advantage on the stunt mode, which requires you to rack up as many points as you can in the set time limit, which is quite fun and makes for a great multiplayer experience due to the fact of how many stunt points each player can gain or even what type of time they can do it in, the stunts are also used to gain a turbo boost, the more death defying stunt you pull off the more boost you get adding in a little bit of strategy and some slightly more careful driving. Tracks range from twisty mountains to country roads and like SSX offer shortcuts and even more like SSX through Rumble Racing track signs or a quick dash to the immediate right or left etc, there is 15 tracks on offer in which the majority of them need to be unlocked in the championship mode, where every single race has to be won to move on to the next track and eventually the next cup, cars are unlocked in the same way, about 30+ on offer and they range from mini type cars to huge rocket powered monsters and a load of attractive normal looking cars. The Championship mode can even be played in two players and can become very competitive. Powerups feature heavily in Rumble Racing with some of the best attack moves ever seen from a car game of this type, the best one has to be the tornado which is found when you are close or at the back of the pack, unleash it and the sky goes black and then appears the huge tornado that will clear the path in front of you of any near opponents and some on track scenery even, another pick up allows you to freeze near opponents in to blocks of ice making them lose control of the steering making them smash in to walls off corners hopefully, one of the best visual pickups is the extra traction which allows for much greater cornering and sends out a beautiful flame effect from the cars back tyres. The AI is very aggressive and sometimes seem to cheat on the last lap, tight driving normally to the end of the race where the cars begin to fly past you for some reason. Rumble Racing is very fast, full of lifespan and the best thing is full of fun.Chris Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |