TNN Motorsports: Hardcore Heat

by Dreamcast

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001ZUI3
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 25, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,598 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Tired of office politics? Unleash the inner off-road racer inside your brain. TNN Motorsports: Hardcore Heat goes where few Dreamcast racers have gone before: straight into the driver's seat of a high-powered off-road racing machine.

The game feels like a lost episode of The Dukes of Hazzard; no brains required. It's a simple game with one goal: dominate your competitors on the circuit of the most "hardcore, mud-slinging, air-catching, out-of-bounds racing league ever created!" Except for a few annoying yet minor problems, this Dreamcast off-road racer fires on nearly all cylinders.

As expected, the graphics are incredible--we're talking Dreamcast after all--and the game maintains an arcade feel that's surprisingly free of carnage and fiery explosions. Players choose from eight vehicles and drivers but, unfortunately, drivers and vehicles cannot be interchanged. The main problem with Hardcore Heat is the sense of speed--it feels slow. Even when the speedometer reads 100-plus, you feel like you're navigating your rig through a deep vat of cold molasses. --Lance Judd

Pros:

• Fantastic graphics--check out the dust particles when your car or truck spins out
• Auto-pilot feature--the computer learns your driving style while you practice, and then plays for you while you grab a cold one

Cons:

• Cars and drivers are not interchangeable
• Cars do not show any damage
• The game feels very slow, even when you've got your "hardcore" pedal to the metal

GameSpot Review

With the delay of Sega Rally 2, ASC Games has the honor of being the first off-road racing game to hit the States. However, with the exception of a couple interesting options, TNN Motorsports HardCore Heat lacks any real punch and comes off as one of the few throwaway titles available at launch.

In the features department, HardCore Heat is pretty standard. All your basic modes are present, including championship mode, time attack, and practice mode. You can modify your car's brakes and suspension, as well as modify the decals that appear on the car. Four tracks are available at the start of the game, and there are two more to unlock as you progress through the game's three championships. The track design is split between short stretches of pavement and long areas filled with sand, snow, dirt, mud, or some other slippery substance. The vehicles fall into two categories: dune-buggy-style rally vehicles and trucks.

The game's most interesting feature is the AI mode, where you build up a car that drives similarly to the way you take the turns. Basically, you just pick a car and enter the time-attack mode. The more laps you complete, the more the machine learns. An AI check section grades your AI and lets you know which tracks your car can't quite handle yet. The AI starts out incredibly stupid, getting caught on all sorts of obstacles and taking upward of five minutes to complete a lap that any novice could finish in two minutes. Once it's learned enough to be competitive, you can race against your AI driver.

The analog control is good enough, but the game's physics model makes the game feel like one big powerslide - you never feel truly in control of your car, no matter how good you get at countersteering and working the handbrake. The computer cars in the championship mode don't seem too bright on any of the three difficulty settings, and it shouldn't take anyone more than a day or two to win the final championship. Building up a good AI vehicle will take a bit longer, due to the sheer number of laps you must complete to teach the game how to drive. It would have been a neat idea to include championship-mode races in the AI calculations, so the drivers would learn how to compete against other's cars rather than just how to navigate the tracks. The game's music is an exercise in generic guitar rock. With the Nashville Network license, it might have been nice to see some licensed music in this department. The sound effects are OK, but the whole game has an echo to it, making it sound as though each race is taking place in a parking garage. Also on the annoying audio front are the weak little platitudes that drivers spit out when passing each other or crashing into a stationary object.

HardCore Heat does a good job in the graphics department, but it doesn't really go out of its way to impress. There's not much pop-up, and you can see drivers inside their cars. One of the camera views puts an inset shot of the interior of the cockpit in the corner of your screen so you can watch your driver shift and steer. It takes up far too much of the screen to be interesting for long, though. Little effects like the spraying up of gravel, dirt, and mud look pretty bad, and the car shadows are a bit on the odd side, as well. The two-player split screen doesn't add much pop-up to the equation, and the frame rate remains pretty solid.

You can sum up TNN Motorsports HardCore Heat with one simple phrase: Wait for Sega Rally 2. HH may be the first on the block, but it can be completed within one rental period, and it doesn't have the replay value to warrant more than a three-day rental. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Looks good, plays terrible, November 16, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: TNN Motorsports: Hardcore Heat (Video Game)

It sure looks good, and yeah the idea sounds fun, but believe me...it isn't. This was the second game I bought for my dreamcast and I was extremely dissapointed. The controls are terrible. Sure you could spend an hour tweaking it in garage mode, but even after that it's still not near satisfactory, and nobody wants to have to go through that. The games graphics are pretty nice, and freestyle mode is fun...for the first 15 mins. The tracks are too demanding for the games controls...the last track in the game I found my self going about 10 mph...no joke...just so I wouldn't slide or spin out. If you're looking for a real game buy Soul Calibur...that game alone could sell the dreamcast.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why doesn't anyone like this game?, December 29, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: TNN Motorsports: Hardcore Heat (Video Game)

This is a real fun game. Some people say the controls are bad,ya, if you don't practice them and get the hang of 'em. If you arelooking for a bad DC racing game buy Monaco Grand Prix or Flag to Flag. But not this one!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst Game DONT BUY, January 20, 2002

By 

Andy (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TNN Motorsports: Hardcore Heat (Video Game)

This game is horrible the graphics "stink" and the abilities of the cars are unrealistic. The Game is not worth it. The only good thing is some of the cheats. Otherwise the game ...[stinks]!!!