Customer Reviews

California Speed

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This game is surprisingly fun to play because the variety of cars and the strage places the tracks take place in. The tracks range anywhere from a desert, to a roller-coaster, and even to a mall! BUT (and I mean a BIG but) there is one annoying thing that will take a while to get used too! The driving control! It feels like you are driving with your back wheels! At first I didn't think I would like this game because of that but after a while you really get used to it and start to enjoy the game. It even has some awesome cars like a muscle cars, sports cars, trucks, and even the occasional golf-cart! If you are a fan of simulation/sim games stay a long ways away from this game but if you are a fan of fast paced arcade games this is definitly for you!

I bought this about a year ago at EB Games for about $3.00. I was hoping for a good old classic N64 game. Damn was I wrong.

Graphics: 6/10. Bad framerate and the graphics are TRYING to be good but fail which makes for a crash fest into walls because the colors are blurred and it's really hard to tell where you're going.

Sound: 5/10. Vroom...Vroom..SHIFT..Vroom..Vroom..SHIFT. You got the idea. You hear cars shifting gears and annoying wannabe techno like music in the background. So aggrivating it should be put on mute.

Control: 5.5/10. The controls for the most part don't even respond. It is about a half second delay on any button press, and there is not any realism at all in this game.

Fun: 5/10. What the hell were the creators thinking? Bland graphics, horrible gameplay, extremely unrealistic... so on. Even if you like racing games on the not-so-realistic side, this game still shouldn't be bought. This was a horrible game! In every way! You will not have fun! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!

3.7/10

Many years ago, I went to Blockbuster Video to rent out San Francisco Rush. They didn't have any left so I rented this game instead. Not only was I disappointed but I was also shocked at how bad it is compared to the arcade game it's based on. California Speed came out in the late 90's and was fun to play in the arcades. Then it was ported to the Nintendo 64 and quite frankly, this was and still it a shoddy port. In California Speed, you pick a car and then a track to race in or choose to race every stage back to back. Of course, like any decent arcade racer, you could unlock bonus stages and cars. Up to two players can race against each other along with the other A.I. racers.

The PROS: It's an easy game to get into. The controls are spot on, even though driving in this game feels very floaty. When you're done playing by yourself and feeling a little evil, you can invite a friend over to share your disdain for this game.

The CONS: Midway made absolutely little effort in porting this game and it shows. The graphics, animation and frame rate all take a hit so it doesn't look as good as the arcade game. The music is average sounding but the sound effects sound so muffled, you'd swear they recorded it in a underwater studio. You won't break a sweat placing 1st in each race because the A.I. racers are ridiculously easy to beat. Midway decided to censor this game and it was probably because of Nintendo. You were able to run into pedestrians on certain tracks in the arcade version. No big deal since they looked like plastic figurines and bounced around after you hit them. For the N64 port, you can't do that at all since they are just out of reach in case you tried to do it. It's a short game and it doesn't help that they only allow 2 players to race at the same time while some other racing games allowed up to 4 players.

Stay away from this terrible port of an arcade game. Even if you find this for a cheap price, don't be tempted. It's not worth your time and effort as there are better racing games available.

I have no idea how Midway published this game despite the fact it's a ripoff of their other racer San Francisco Rush. While it is an overall okay game, it feels mundane and it needs work. The graphics need to be fixed because of frame rate and texturing problems. The controls need some tweaking because of some issues. The cars need to have crash-modeling and need more detail because they look a little bland and pixelated. What saves this game from being a disaster are the decent tracks, selection of vehicles, and good overall multiplayer. Still you're much better off playing Mario Kart, or if for some reason you don't like it (if you don't there is something very, very wrong with you), go play San Francisco Rush instead.