Customer Reviews

Wacky Races: Crash and Dash

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

 

 

For those of you that don't know (or at least don't have the Boomerang channel), Wacky Races is a classic Hanna-Barbera series where a bunch of original characters race to the finish in their souped-up vehicles and win the prize in all sorts of amazing locations. It's also the series where the fiendish Dick Dastardly and the fair Penelope Pitstop got their first big break before they each got their own show.

"Crash and Dash" has seemed to capture the amazing feel of this series by putting you in the driver's seat of the Wacky Racers like Peter Perfect, the Slag Brothers, Professor Pat Pending, and the Ant Hill Mob. Even the race courses are also freely based on the show, too ! (i.e. "Oil's Well That Ends Well", "Why Oh Why Wyoming", and "Beat the Clock to Yellow Rock")

In this game, you'll crash, dash, and soar past the competition with special Wacky Widgets that will give you amazing Wacky Powers to use to your advantage. There are three different Wacky Powers for each racer plus a special Way-Out Wacky Power that will be even more useful in the race if you know how to use the DS stylus.

Oops, I almost forgot. Look out for the sinister Dick Dastardly and his sniveling cur Muttley driving past you in their Mean Machine. They'll attempt to sabotage your position in first with a trap or two. Be prepared for those traps because you're gonna need skill to get past them.

All in all, this is one racing game that is real easy to enjoy whether you're a fan of the original cartoon or not. Trust me, it's a real blast - until you get blasted yourself.

I bought this game because I remember the cartoons from my childhood. I did not find this game very exciting and it did not keep my interest.

My son really enjoys playing the racing game and the challenges. He is four and it works great for him.

The ole' Hanna Barbera classic TV cartoon series comes back to life on the Nintendo DS in this... "wacky"... racing game! All the shows characters/vehicles are present, as too is Dick Dastardly and his sidekick, Muttley the "hee hee hee" snickering dog. Your objective is, as you would guess, to race to the finish, but this being "Wacky Racers" expect it to be a little more off the wall then just put the pedal to the metal and cross your fingers. What makes this game different to other racing games is the use of the stylus to race your vehicle. Instead of the usual holding down of a button for the accelerator and use the left and right controls to navigate, instead you are using the stylus pen to touch the side of the screen to accelerate, and the position of the pen on the screen to navigate in which direction to head in.

I myself am always on the look-out for a great DS racing game, and I will say this is not the best racing game you can obtain on the DS, but it is far from being the worst. It's control scheme is unique, and easy to get used to, but sometimes your hand gets in the way and you can't see what you are doing when you are racing in certain directions, but also; it's not for very long and you will soon be heading in a more preferred direction.

Along the coarse you can also pick up some temporary power ups. Much like Mario-Kart allows you to obtain a power-up/item to use, this game has the same kind of concept with simmilar items. There is a couple of boost/nitro's that some depend on the vehicle you are using, as well as projectiles to throw, a flying item to help get you back to the leaders or gain a bit of a lead and a few other things to help you along the way.

Another unique thing about this game, is during the race, you have 3 areas where you cross a line and Dick Dastardly and Muttley have set traps to try and slow you down, in which the screen will turn into a mini game. The mini games are auto selected at random... you might end up in a mini game that says Dick and Muttley have set a trap that has deflated your tires, so you have to play a small game where you follow the air valve around on the tire and it rotates around until you have filled the tire up with air again... others are things like tightening the bolts of the tire, a connect the dots of a bridge to cross, avoid falling rocks, remove bombs in-front of you, clear clouds and a few other things... each little mini game's success will depend on your skill level... some range from very easy difficulty, and a few can be a little tough. Once the mini game is complete (win or lose) you return to the racing action again and resume the race. As I said, the mini game thing happens 2 or 3 times a race, and usually I myself would be bothered by that and want a way to disable it, but it's actually pretty fun and not a bother at all.

Once you are on the 3rd leg of the race, you will cross another line to dash to the finish... this time a message will inform you to start blowing into the DS to dash to the finish. Personally I would have preferred if every single track did not include this way to end the race, but I guess it's another way to make this game unique from other racing games.

The graphics are pretty straight forward from what you see on the cover. If Amazon no longer has a screen shot, just use the internet to find one, and pretty much what you see is what you get with all characters/racers/vehicles in the one racing event in a bit of a combination of both 2D and 3D graphics. Some may dismiss every DS game as not being able to contain the graphics of their precious Xbox or PS3's, but it's decent enough for the DS system, and everything is clear enough to be able to know what you are looking at, and none of that annoying shadowing that can throw people off of the game when they see it.

I must say Eidos have done a really good job in not only keeping Wacky Racers true to itself without trying to involve too much additional and unneeded/unwanted BS, but they have also done a great job in utilizing what the DS can do with the stylus and blow feature, and incorporate into a game that is actually fun to play.

So why only 3 of 5 stars from me after all this positiveness to say about the game? Well, I'm sure those who enjoy the TV show enough to be excited to play a game based on it, plus the kids will get a kick out of this fun little thing, but it's just what comes down to my personal taste. Once I had completed about 3 events, I had just gotten a little tired of the repetitiveness of it, and realizing that once you have completed a race or 2, they are mostly the same thing, but the tracks add a few more obstacles to avoid, and the mini games get a little bit harder each time, and basically, I got a little bored of it. It's not all that challenging when you know what you are doing, which will not take long to work out for yourself... I also went and had a peak at what cheats are available for this game, and there where none, just some information on what you get when you complete all races, and for me, I just was not interested in unlocking it. The replay value just did not appeal to me.... so I deducted 1 star for that, but keep in mind, that is my own rating and opinion, and that I just prefer a little more adult driven action towards the games I like... but it's not to say you will not enjoy it more then I did, and I can definitely see this is a great game for kids that they will enjoy playing, if it appeals to them... if you think it would, then definitely consider purchasing the game.

This was purchased for my four year old, and he is just crazy about this game. He never puts it down. He is addicted. So is my husband.