Watch out for that dog!

The game's controls are pretty simple - you're racing RC cars after all.  There are keys to control forward and backward movement and steering, plus the aforementioned turbo and jump buttons.  The turbo works to give you a temporary boost of speed drawn from turbo meter.  Once the meter is out of turbo the boost button has no effect, but the meter refills automatically when not in use.  The jump button makes your car do a little hop and is most useful when you end up on your side or top, a common occurrence in the game.  The game implements a realistic physics engine, so when a very light car traveling at high speed bumps a stationary object the result is that the car goes bouncing around.  This may be the game's most realistic feature, but it can also be its most frustrating.  Getting your car righted, pointed in the right direction, and back on track takes enough precious time that it can drop you from first to last place.  Bumping into objects will occur more often than you'd expect because these little cars have large turning radiuses and if you're not careful you'll come out of a turn a lot farther over than you expected.

You can race against three to five other computer-controlled opponents in the game's regular race mode, but to unlock all of the tracks you'll need to play the game in championship mode.  Championship mode pits you against computer-controlled opponents and pays out prize money to the top finishers.  This prize money can be used to upgrade the tires, turbo, or engine of your car, and also serves to pay your entry fees in the next race in the series.  The entry fee system doesn't work too well, though, because if you fail to place in the race you lose your money and may have to retry a less expensive race to re-earn the entry fee.  Your opponents are all apparently punks and heavy metal heads as indicated by the portraits shown before each race, but beyond the portraits they're pretty much devoid of personality.  The developers missed an opportunity to make the races more personal, but in reality the oversight is not that big of a deal because I always felt that I was competing more with the track itself than the other racers.  This is especially true since the championships run for five laps, which makes for long races and many opportunities for error.  The game also supports multiplayer play, but there is no player-matching mechanism so you'll have to know the IP address of someone hosting a game if you want to compete online.

Graphically the game is pretty standard - the cars are detailed and look good but the environment textures are a bit blocky.  The sound is annoying at best, with very repetitive techno loops that play over and over and over continually during races.

Overall RC Cars definitely has its fun moments, and it is certainly different than other racing games available for the PC.  However, some frustrating design decisions take their toll on the enjoyment factor.  It can be a fun diversion for those looking for a racing change of pace, but the game's ability to hold your long term interest is questionable.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 69%.  An interesting change of pace in PC racing, but not without its share of frustrations that hurt its longevity once the novelty wears off.

System Requirements:  Pentium II 400; 64 MB RAM;  16 MB Video RAM; 4x CD-ROM;  300 MB Hard Drive Space;  Mouse.

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