Build ' n Race

by Zoo Games

Product Features

• Wild and Challenging Tracks ? dizzying courses with huge jumps, massive ramps, hairpin turns, stunt blocks, tunnels, and destructible scenery
• Track Construction ? over 1,000 different building blocks & creation tools allow the player to create an infinite number of unique tracks
• Varied Game Modes & Race Events ? game modes include Solo Race, Time Trial, Championship, Race Challenge, and Time Challenge; within each mode, try unique game events such as Speed Lap, Style Race, Lap Knockout, and Tournament
• Unlockable Rewards ? multiple wins, best times, and great style give players access to new tracks, vehicle parts, and trophies

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001PA0FCM
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches ; 3.7 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: August 4, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,916 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #18 in Video Games > Wii > Simulation

Product Description

Rev your engines for a fantastic heart-pounding racing experience exclusively for Wii! Pennzoil’s BUILD’n RACE puts you in the driver’s seat on spectacular courses with insane ramps, death-defying jumps, sharp switchbacks, wild stunts, and more! But there’s more excitement than on your average race track. Players can create an unlimited amount of one-of-a-kind tracks from over 1,000 unique building blocks. Let your imagination run wild! Burn rubber in solo campaigns or against your friends on one of your original courses, or choose one of 80 exciting tracks in a variety of realistic environments. The fun doesn’t end when the checkered flag flies with Pennzoil BUILD’n RACE!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all it should be, October 10, 2010

By 

Doug Pardee - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Build ' n Race (Video Game)

Build'n Race isn't bad, but it should've been better. There are a lot of weaknesses, but it's still playable and I imagine that many will still find it a fun game.

Let's start with a basic shortcoming: there's no Internet access. There's no online play, and no ability to share any tracks that you build. For a number of gamers, that's going to be a deal-killer. You can have up to 4 players connected to your Wii, but nobody else.

Another problem is that there is only one level of play. There's no "beginner's level", and no "expert level". They classify the 60 pre-built tracks into four difficulty levels, but there's really not that much more difficult about the hardest than the easiest ones. Once you start getting control over the driving, it's pretty easy to blast through all 8 championships. In fact, it gets *easier* as you go along because you get new cars that are easier to drive.

The basic (solo) play: there are 8 championship trophies. The first 4 consist of one race on each of 7 tracks, and the last 4 consist of one race on each of 8 tracks. You're awarded points for how you finish in each race. There are 6 AI cars on the track with you, 3 right next to you at the beginning, and another 3 that always have a head-start. The point allocations for the AI cars is inconsistent -- expect the highest-placing AI car to get almost all of the highest point scores even though that particular driver didn't actually earn them.

You start with 7 tracks unlocked for the first championship; placing at least 3rd in that championship unlocks the 7 tracks for the second championship. Oddly, winning the second championship unlocks the 14 tracks for the 3rd and 4th championships. The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th championships each unlock 8 more tracks, and placing at least 3rd in the 8th championship unlocks the Time Challenge mode. The tracks cycle through three environments: city streets, racetracks, and country roads. There's a considerable amount of sameness to the tracks; for example, the racetrack layouts almost always feature extended elevated sections with no guardrails. Almost all of the tracks involve some form of figure-8 layout.

You start with a choice of 2 cars: the GTX and the GTO. Both are prone to oversteer and spinning out, especially if you try to turn while on the gas or the brake; I found the GTO to not be as bad as the GTX. Placing at least third in certain championships unlocks an additional car. *IF* I recall correctly, the 2nd championship unlocks the very useful EVO, the 4th championship unlocks the Z66, the 5th unlocks the taxi cab, and the 7th unlocks the police car. The cars are rated by speed, acceleration, braking, and handling. Speed and braking aren't very important. Handling is best toward the center: high handling levels indicate a tendency to spin out, while low handling levels indicate a tendency to plow off course.

There are 3 control layouts available for driving: sideways controller using the D-pad to steer, sideways controller using tilt to steer (as with the Wii wheel), and nunchuck using the control stick to steer. The menu system seems to always assume a sideways controller unless a nunchuck is connected, and you can't "point" at menu items. Very un-Wii-like.

For some reason they made the tachometer be a big dial with the needle, while the speedometer is a considerably smaller digital readout inside that. Since the cars all have automatic shifting, the tachometer is worthless. I don't like having to stare at the digital readout to make out my speed.

The driving physics aren't particularly realistic. It does help to brake before a bend, to stay off both the gas and brake through most of a bend, and to hit the gas as you start to come out of a bend. But basically, it's arcade-ish. If you find yourself upside-down, just hold the steering to one side and the car will eventually roll itself over in that direction (not that you'd try this if you use the tip below).

Tip: while racing, try to avoid collisions with the other cars until you're better able to control the results. Most collisions will result in spinouts (especially with the GTX and GTO) or off-track excursions -- which means a lot of lost time.

Tip: while racing, always be prepared to hit the "-" button to reset your car on the track. Don't wait for an off-track excursion to finish, or try to get yourself "unhung" from an obstacle or un-spun-out or right-side-up. There seems to be no time penalty for hitting "-". Then use the "turbo" to get yourself back up to speed quickly. There are two tracks which feature a right-angle turn on a pier over a lake -- don't waste your time trying to get slowed down and get around that ridiculously tight corner; just blast full-speed off the end of the pier and quickly hit "-" and "turbo".

Tip: in the city street tracks, the "checkpoint" marker has stairs up the sides. If you accidentally run into the stairs you can power over them by using the turbo, but don't do that. You'll end up a lap behind for missing the checkpoint. Use the "-" key instead.

Tip: in the championships, keep retrying each race until you get a good finish in it. Your points for a track will be based on the last race that you run on the track. Don't settle for less than third on any track, and you're guaranteed at least a third-place finish in the championship. Just run the race over and over and over until you get it right!

Tip: there are three views available: normal, farther away, and in-car. Press the A button to switch views (I'm going to guess that it's the C button when using the Nunchuk control system).

Tip: my favorite car on most courses is the Z66, with the EVO a reasonable second. The taxicab is mostly a "handicap" car when racing against someone with lower skills, but may be useful on the really short and slow tracks. The police car isn't as slow as its numbers indicate, but at about 165 MPH it'll suddenly make an uncommanded sharp turn--fortunately, you'll probably never hit that speed on any of the pre-built tracks.

The track builder is comprehensive but poorly documented and clunky. First you choose one of the three environments (or a copy of a pre-built track); that determines what track pieces you get to work with. The track area is a 30x30 grid, and you can drop in 255 items. The items may be actual track or they may be scenery. Some pieces take more than 1 grid square -- for example, a long curve takes a 3x3 section. You select the category of piece you want to use, and then the specific piece, using the D-pad. You orient it in the right direction with the 1 and 2 buttons, position it with the nunchuck control stick, and press A to place it. Pressing B removes the piece at the current location. Some pieces go below-ground and some are aerial. With some pieces it's very difficult to tell how they're oriented -- the worst are the flat-to-banked transition pieces, where you need to know which end is banked and which way it's banked.

Building underground segments (tunnels) can be quite a challenge. Tunnels are constructed in a different view than ground-level and above-ground track pieces are. In the underground view, vertical positioning is very difficult to determine visually. Fortunately, there's a readout of the cursor's current vertical level. Now you just need to remember the levels of the adjoining pieces.

In the end, track-building isn't something that you can just fuss around with. If you're going to do it, you're going to have to spend a fair amount of time mastering it. And there are no tutorials and no documentation on it beyond the controller/nunchuck control layout diagram.

The manual is wrong in many places; maybe the game was changed after the manual went to press. The box is also wrong in a couple of minor ways: there are 60 prebuilt tracks, not 80, and the "E" ESRB rating says that there's an alcohol reference when there isn't.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not perfect but at the end its a good game., May 2, 2010

By 

Stefano Casagli (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Build ' n Race (Video Game)

This is a good game, however there are a few things that you might not like.
There are only two cars available when you start the game and it will take sometime to unlock the rest. Its way too easy to get stuck somewhere in the track. At that point the race is lost and you have to restart over. A way to avoid this is to limit the use of the nitro/booster. The track editor is not that simple because you have to combine the right pieces. Said that, the game has a lot of built in tracks, different challenges and the editor will increase the longevity of this game.

4.0 out of 5 stars has bugs but is still fun, October 10, 2011

By 

S. Mitchell (Iowa City, IA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Build ' n Race (Video Game)

major bug in the profiles. no created profile list for picking drivers in multiplayer mode. would be nice to have more options in track builder mode like zooming out to see the whole track. needs option to turn off commentary during races.