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After all this it's time to go racing, you
are treated to a track preview, then you will here a loud
American shout 3..2..1..GO and your off. Flaw the accelerator
and tear arse down the straight heading for the first corner,
hit the brake and sling the car round the corner. Unfortunately
I didn't get round the corner, the car turned very little,
just a few degrees and I ended up in the barriers while all
the rest of the pack went screaming past me. So I sorted myself
out and made chase after the rest of the pack, I was a little
more cautious on the next corner and I made it, then I was
right back in the race, then after being in contention for
maybe fifth place I was first and after that I was out on
my own to the end of the race finishing way ahead of the rest.
So now that I have won I find that I have
managed to complete level 1 even though I haven't even raced
in the other three races. Now I have the required upgrades
and parts required to take part in level 2. After completing
level 2 I get the required upgrades that will let me win level
3, and it goes on until you finish the game. All this is possible
because the upgrades that you win are too good, they make
your car so much faster than all the rest of the cars that
you can cruise to victory.
Within the space of this one race a few
things came to light. The handling of the cars is pretty numb
and ridged, a large amount of the tracks in Auto Modellista
are of the twisty hill climb variety, you can hit a good amount
of the corners on these tracks and still win with the car
fully tuned. On other corners you will be able to glide round
looking like a real professional, one thing worth noting here
is that there are plenty of cars to choose from and from this
there are loads of tune up options and different ways to set
up your car. It is worth experimenting as you will probably
find a good setup that suits you. Secondly it's too easy to
win because the tune-ups awarded are too good. Obviously you
don't have to tune up your car to the max, this will give
you a much more challenging and fun race than if you max out
all the tune up parts. Things get a little more difficult
towards the later stages of the game so it is here where you
can go for it in the tuning section.
The arcade mode is basically what it says,
pick a car and race against other AI cars or you can take
part in time trials and the multi player section is located
in here too. The VJ Mode is a good and original feature that
lets you edit camera positions, text, colours, the music and
place different affects over the top of the replay video.
Capcom used the same system to create the intro to the game
so you can get some wicked effects and repays going on.
Auto Modellista does look fantastic the
cell shading makes the game looks like a real time anime cartoon.
Capcom haven't skimped on the effects either, when you slide
your car around corners the tyres will kick up large jagged
waves to represent smoke, when travelling at high speeds you
will see speed lines appear around your car. The cities and
backgrounds don't look up to the same standard as the rest
of the game unfortunately, but they don't look bad by any
means. One effect that really does look very good is the rain,
it looks extremely good indeed. The presentation of the game
menus can look pretty gaudy at times but these are the lows
of the graphical presentation.
Sound wise everything is good apart from
the terrible American commentator, possibly the most annoying
commentator I have heard. He is loud and the translation is
also bad. He will shout such remarks as "Why are you
so bad" when you are way out in front of the pack. All
it takes is a slight nudge on the barriers for him to open
his big loud mouth. The cars sound decent enough each with
its own unique sound. Sound effects are pretty good on the
whole actually the tyres scream convincingly and the sound
of wind buffeting the cars at high speed is also a nice effect.
When you crash into the barriers you get the obligatory dull
thud. Them music is wide and varied covering rock, techno
and drum and bass style tunes. The music in the menu system
is quite annoying and repetitive; it's mellow yet rubbish
and quite indescribable.
Capcom's first venture into the racing genre
is a very refreshing and original one but it definitely isn't
the GT slayer that everyone though it might be, but if Capcom
have another go at the racing genre in Auto Modellista 2 they
have mistakes to learn from and also a lot to offer from some
of their original ideas. The fun ranking of Auto Modellista
is entirely up to you, you will need to pick a couple of cars
that suit your driving style and then depending on your level
of competence in racing you should tune your car accordingly.
There is no doubt Auto Modellista is a great looking game
and some of the effects are very unique while managing to
look good and not too bizarre at the same time. If you are
a real novice at racing games Auto Modellista will have more
to offer you as it is so easy when you tune you car to the
full. Experts should take heed and go easy on the tune ups
or else you may find that Auto Modellista is far too easy
and a pretty boring game, but at the end of the day it's all
in your own hands and you can choose whether you wish to make
the game easy of hard. If you enjoyed Gran Turismo you will
more than likely enjoy Auto Modellista as it features a similar
a style of handling and game play. This is not a bad effort
for Capcom's first time out behind the wheel by any means.
7 out
of 10
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