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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Online Leaderboard for Posting your best lap times(uses Passwords)! , August 11, 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
INTRO:
This game is the sequel to the much better Saturday Night Speedway PS2 game(which was the sequel to World of Outlaws:Sprint Cars 2002-also,on PS2).All three games use virtually the SAME game engine.However,Saturday Night Speedway(S.N.S.) has more colorful cars(though fewer cars to choose from),more detailed tracks and slightly better graphics,as well as a Championship mode that lets you save after any race,and has a more even(difficulty-wise) career mode(though they both are set up exactly the same way,and both provide enough overall challenge).
Do NOT buy this game unless you already tried Saturday Night Speedway and enjoyed it,or you like to play the Time Trial mode,(like in Toca Race Driver 2 and 3) and POST your Passwords to an Online Leaderboard(sprintcarsthegame).Just regular dialup is needed to post them.I'm only addicted to the time trial mode because you get a password that you can enter online at (sprintcarsthegame) and compare your times with everyone else.You can't actually race online,though.
Take one look at the online leaderboard,and you'll see why I'm hooked.You can organize it in so many ways,it's amazing.The only thing it's missing is what country everyone's from.All you do is enter in the 10 digit password(and your user name) and it automatically knows what game system you used(PS2 or Pc).
IMPORTANT LEADERBOARD NOTE:Currently(August 24,2006),for some reason,if you want to search for the posted lap times by a specific User Name on this Online Leaderboard,you must put a single apostrophe,both in front of and after the user name you're searching for in the User Name box.For example: 'Poker Face'
If you just type in the user name(Poker Face or whatever),without the apostrophe's,you'll usually get an error message.It wasn't like this when it first appeared online,so maybe someone is trying to hack into the site.That's why sometimes when you post your password,it now shows you a syntax error page,rather than going to a page that shows all your previous posted lap times.The passwords you enter will still be saved to the site's Leaderboard,even if you see the syntax error page(if you enter that same password again it will say don't enter the same password,so that's how you can quickly tell it was accepted previously).However,if you do get sent to the syntax error page(eventually they'll probably fix it), just go back to the previous page and click Leaderboard.Then you can search as usual for various track times,etc.Seems complicated,but this only recently started happening,and everything still works anyway.
If you like arcade style racing games(though both games allow lots of tuning choices), but have NO desire to post your best lap times to the online leaderboard,then you should just buy Saturday Night Speedway(has 19 tracks-only 5 of which are not in the Sprint Car game).Saturday Night Speedway only has Pro Stock,Midget and Late Model car classes,but the cars are more colorful,and all the modes(except for time trial)are better than the Sprint Cars:Road to Knoxville game!It has 5 tracks that Sprint Cars doesn't have and it has all the same 6 fantasy tracks(they only changed the track names) in better color!Sprint Cars:Road to Knoxville has 21 tracks,but only 7 of them(all ovals) are NOT in the Saturday Night Speedway game(most of the track names were changed,so don't be fooled).
Both games have a bumper and OK cockpit view,but the two behind and above the car views are CLOSER and thus better in the S.N.S. game, than those same views in the Sprint Car game.So again,S.N.S. is the winner.The extra 6 vehicles(both TRUCK vehicles are easy to win with,even from last place-so useless) are OK(but no cockpit view is available for them), but if you have an Action Replay cheat device,use the online codes to unlock these bonus vehicles right away, like I did.Otherwise you have to win many careers and a Championship mode that doesn't let you save after you finish any of the 15 races-how Dumb!
So if you haven't played Saturday Night Speedway,get it instead!It's a fun arcade racer and if you enter your name as mudeater (all in lower case) in the career mode,it will unlock eveything in the game.There's no such code for the Sprint Car game as of yet(so just use the Action Replay codes-only the Infinite Cash code DOESN"T seem to work at the moment).
I absolutely LOVE the FAST loading of both games!!!!It takes only about 35 seconds to choose your car and track and start racing.What a pleasure not to have to stare at a loading screen for what seems like several minutes for Ea's Nascar games,etc.
Only in the Sprint Cars game can you smash into the other cars and get them ANGRY(similar to Nascar 2004,but less aggressive).The Modifieds and 3/4 Midgets drive slower,so they're less exciting than the slippery and faster winged Sprint cars,but since all the Cpu cars are soft to bump into,it takes a lot of bumping and banging before you damage your tires or engine etc.(or you could turn Off the damage if you want-though NOT in career mode).The Sprint cars are the hardest to drive(especially in midddle or hardest level of difficulty,so extra tuning will be required to avoid spinouts),and actually frustrate me too often.The Midgets in the S.N.S. game go only a little slower than the other games Winged Sprint cars, but are easier to control, and thus more enjoyable overall.Again Saturday Night Speedway is the better game!
NOTES:
-Only Tony Stewart's Bass Master Sprint CAR is in the game,NOT Tony Stewart himself!
-You CAN'T actually race ONLINE.You can only post your best lap times online,with a password.
-Skip ahead to the SUMMARY at the end of this review if you don't care to read about every little detail this average game has.
PRESENTATION: 5.5/10
-Enough things are unlocked from beginning,though you still need to unlock the 6 bonus fantasy tracks and all the 6 bonus vehicles(Hovercraft-slow but lots of fun flipping and bumping),police car(fast),pickup truck, cab front of truck(that's used to haul long trailers-not in game),dune buggy,golf cart(slow and dull)Win career mode several times and Championship mode to unlock them.
-Not very deep game actually,but it's got the basic modes at least and you can post your best time trial lap times to online leaderboard.
-Has very FAST loading!!!! So,it's great for quick pick up and play racing.This is why budget racers with average graphics can sometimes be more fun than the more elaborate racing games,with the long loading times that come with their better graphics.
-Has effective short Tutorial,explaining drafting and powerslides.
-Arcade single race mode lets you choose whether to race in afternoon,evening or night.Also race format:either brief(no heats and just main race),or full.Also,whether the race length(# laps)is:short(about 4 laps),medium(about 10-20),or long(about 30 laps).Note:I think the # of laps sometimes varies for each class or difficulty level? Not sure yet.
-Has 40 week,multiple season Career mode(you CAN save after each race) where you buy cars then upgrade,repair (use your cash) and tune them.Also can get sponsor offers,etc.
-Has championship mode where you race on 15 tracks,for the most points,in a specific class(but MAJOR FLAW is that you CAN't save in the middle of it,so you must finish all 15 races which makes it basically useless for short term play.
-Has practice mode.Just you on the track.
-Has 2 player horizontal split screen multi-player mode.
-Has 21 tracks(6 have to be unlocked,by winning classes in career mode-but luckily the Knoxville track is
available from the start).The 15 tracks that are unlocked from the beginning are as follows:Super Motoplex (same as Bristol in S.N.S. game);Huset's Speedway;Eldora,Ash Hollows (same as Terre Haute track in S.N.S. game);Dosrada;Pickenback;Turnpike 42;Williams Grove;Knoxville;Brite Peak (same as I-55 in S.N.S.game);Tri State Fairgrounds (same as Lowes Motor Speedway in S.N.S game);Sea-Belle;Dodge City;Steer Plains and Moose Head Speedway.
It's dumb that in the Arcade single race mode you can't enter your name,so if you set a best lap it saves it under the driver's name and not yours.So,you'll probably forget which best laps are yours.However,if you race in the Time Trial,Career or Championship mode,it DOES let you enter your name and still saves your best lap times to the games Hall of Fame records tables.However,in the Time Trial mode,you must remember to manually Save(since the Auto-Save feature isn't activated in Time Trial mode)after you get your best lap password,by going to the Options menu and choosing Save options-then Save.The Saturday Night Speedway game is better because it let's you save all your best lap times under your user name,in all the modes.
GRAPHICS: 5.5/10
Everythings almost identical to Saturday Night Speedway(PS2),so the graphics are good enough(though washed out colors and less backgrond details)for a budget game and the framerate seems fine(no slowdown yet,not even in 2 player multi-player mode).
-It's possible that the framerate may only be 30 frames per second,because Saturday Night Speedway is smoother(so maybe it's 60 frames a second?),but I'm not sure.
-Good that can leave black marks on walls that stay for whole race,as well as skid marks or mud lines on the track.
-Shows some ok blurring effect to represent speed in all views,except for the cockpit view.However,it's basically done so they can blur everything and show you less detail.Rather annoying actually.Saturday Night Speedway has NO blurring effect,and I prefer it that way!
-Though the cars get damaged,you can't really tell. Parts occasionally fly off and you run them over,but not as often as I'd like.When the Sprint car's wing is damaged,you can at least see it's crumpled.The damage is seen usually only on the little car diagram(on right side of screen),that shows car damage;or of course after any race in Career mode,you can see what specific parts are damaged and then repair them.
-Has little arrow like things above Cpu cars that turn green as you draft them,or red if you bump them too much,making them aggressive.Saturday Night Speedway doesn't show these things,though drafting still may be possible anyway.The first place car will also show a number 1 above it,in both games.
Driving views:bumper cam view,average looking in-car view(don't see drivers hands on wheel,but you have a dashboard and roll cage for midgets etc.;two behind the car views from bit above car,so easy to see the track and other cars.No rear-view mirror,but has look behind button and you can look left or right as well.
Note:In 2 player multi-player mode,or for any of the 6 bonus vehicles you CAN'T use the cockpit view.
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It does have an average to bland looking instant replay,nothing special(won't show every lap,and you can't save them-but even if you quit the race early you can still watch the replay),but you can choose which car to watch and all the various regular views(except,not cockpit view) including one that changes it's views(like on Tv-but basic)Plays typical music during replay.
AUDIO: 6/10
-Ok surround stereo.
-Nothing special.Has typical engine noises,but they don't annoy me,like some other racing games do.
-You can also choose to shut off or alter the volume of the vehicle's engine,crowd,race announcer's commentary or menu music..
-the race announcer occasionally says:"what an exciting race"or "Final Lap",etc.,but nothing frequent enough to annoy anyone.Sometimes,during qualifying, he will tell you what position you are currently in,which is a nice touch.
Note:The Saturday Night Raceway game has Ralph Shaheen(Speed Channel) as the track announcer.
-No music during actual race.Only during replays or within menus.
GAMEPLAY: 5.5/10
-Has dynamic car intellegence(or whatever they call it),so at any time, Cpu cars will randomly crash or flip right in front of you.This adds so much to both this game and the Saturday Night Speedway game!The Hovercrafts flip and crash the most,however,at Knife Rapids Speedway(bonus track-or called Route 70 in S.N.S. game)all the cars bump and flip in the long sweeping turn.Wild stuff.
-The split times that appear at the top of screen(in middle)after every lap,show how far ahead or behind the next car you are.If they're in green,than you're leading; if it's in orange,than you're trailing the car one position ahead of you by the amount shown.
In career mode(yes,you CAN save after each race),that lets you hire a driver(of various skills) similar to Gran Turismo 4, and let him/her take over for you and drive your car,even in the middle of a race.So,it's pretty easy to win(only 12-16 cars on track,depending on class)usually,because once you get the lead,you can let your driver take over for you and win the race(unless he's poor driver) while you watch television or eat,but it's still fun.My driver wasn't good enough to get to first while I was in 3rd place,so it's up to you to decide when or for how long you want to let him drive for you.I like the idea now and don't feel like I'm cheating(even though I obviously am).Initially though, hire a cheap driver to save money each race and don't use him because he'll lose.
The oval tracks are similar,but are different enough to require different technique in the varied corners.Also,If you cut too much of a corner,or drive in the infield, it penalizes you 1 full lap('illegal lap' is displayed as you drive).Five of the 6 bonus fantasy tracks are well designed and feature many twisting left and right turns with varied backgrounds(though,nicer to look at in S.N.S game).
-Has auto save capability(except for Time Trial mode),but you still CAN'T save the Arcade- Championship race results,so must race all 15 of them at once.How Dumb is that?Luckily,you CAN save after each career race.
I find the Modifieds and 3/4 Midgets very easy to drive and the Sprint cars more challenging(they go faster-and you can even adjust the wing's downforce WHILE you race-though I don't notice much difference,yet)
-It has 3 difficulty levels,for arcade mode only.Though the career mode has the races divided up by the difficulties(Pro,Semi-Pro,Rookie)so it's harder as you progress through it and buy the tough to drive Sprint car.However,the career mode races are usually either too easy(any 3/4 Midget race), or too hard(Sprint cars),so they often bore me.Even the Semi-Pro Modifieds can be tough to get a top 5 finish on many of the tracks,so the Career mode is still mostly challenging overall.Although driving 10-30 laps with a big lead or way behind(no major catch-up A.I.,so races are rarely close-unless it's close for the entire race) forces me to let my hired driver take over (since I'm bored).Though you can choose not to qualify and start last in any of the races,for more of a challenge.I started last,and then finished in 5th place, in a 25 lap, 3/4 Midgets Career Pro race.
-You can race with or without yellow flags(yes,even in career mode).However,in both games there is a programming BUG that occasionally will put you a lap down due to an illegal lap message,even though you did NOTHING wrong!There are many restarts due to Cpu cars flipping and crashing,so it could take an extra 10 laps over the set amount to finish the race.
-You can race with damage On or Off or Simulation damage(damage must be ON in Career mode.However,in the S.N.S. game you still get to choose).
-You can race with or without tear offs(to remove mud from screen;if tearoffs were set to ON-though must be On in Career mode.However, in the S.N.S. game you still can have no tear offs or mud in Career mode).
The cars will bump you gently and both you and the Cpu cars can sometimes even flip over,but its not because of bad control-just fun and fair bumping.The A.I. cars will even bump and flip each other into rolls from time to time(without you even near them).It's fun,trying to avoid hitting flying cars coming right at you,so even if you find the game too easy at times,it's still fun to drive.
If you bump into the cars just a few too many times, the arrows above their cars will turn red for awhile(eventually you'll see cars with special vengeful A.I. marker above the arrows) and they'll start bumping you(not too aggressively though,so it's more fun,than annoying)just like Nascar 2004.No big deal, though.
Also,if you hit the wall,it slows you down,but usually not too much to be annoying.Still fun to see streaks and sparks when you hit an inside gaurdrail and everything is still smooth enough visually to enjoy.
It also has many unlockable weird and regular vehicles(in addition to the winged sprint cars,midgets and modifieds that come unlocked from the start),like hovercrafts,golf-carts,dune buggies,cab of truck,police cars,pickup trucks.
I tested the 2 player multi-player mode,by driving player 2 with my foot on the X button.I just drove around the wall and finished last,but I only got spun around twice when the Cpu cars hit me.I was driving at the top with player 1 but found it distracting to always see the moving track beneath me( from player 2),just like I always do when playing split screen(horizontal) games.I didn't see any slowdown either.
Note:each player races separately against the 11-15 Cpu cars(in full format race mode).Then,eventually they race against each other and the other 14 Cpu cars in the main race.If you choose 'brief' as your race format,then both player 1 and 2 go right to the main race together,against the other 14 Cpu cars.There is also an option for multi-player catch-up to be On or Off.The player that falls behind will get a speed and handling boost until they approach the first human player.
Even if you beat the game in 1 week or less,you could still spend months trying to be #1 at all the many tracks on the online leaderboard(using Time Trial Mode-Unfortunately,NO ghost car is shown,which makes improving your times a bit tougher to do).
Five of the six fantasy tracks are nicely done!For example,The Wehlburg track(called Desert 8 Raceway in S.N.S. game) is a figure 8 track,with cars frequently whizzing by you just before the finish line,or sometimes hitting you and thus taking away your chance for victory.
CONTROL: 5.5/10
-Watch the Tutorial to learn how to powerslide and draft.
-Has 3 controller configurations to choose from.
Uses PS2 controller(PS1 controller won't work with this game) or Logitech Force Feedback wheel(I don't have one).I use L1 and R1 for gas and brake,but you can use the standard X and Square buttons instead,if you want.The L2 and R2 buttons will let you look left or right,if you use 3rd controller config.Since the box doesn't say anywhere that it's pressure sensitive,I assume that's why I have no trouble maintaining top speed while pressing lightly on the throttle(which is the way I like it,since many racing games,like Toca Race Driver 3, are too pressure sensitive.There is NO powerslide button;you just turn and let off the throttle or brake a little bit in the tough turns-rather simple,but still challenging-especially for the Winged Sprint cars.
-Vibration:lets you choose from strong,weak or Off(strong,seems just right).
-Driving is relaxing and easy,but still challenging in the turns at many tracks.Braking or reducing throttle is necessary for best results,though you can still floor it in many of the turns(with fun sliding) and still usually avoid spinning and hitting the wall.Though it's still fun to slide around corners at full speed without spinning out-and it's rarely frustrating,even if you do happen to spin around(unless you're driving the Sprint cars in the Pro difficulty mode-because they go much faster then).
OVERALL: 5/10
Without the time trial online password posting capability,I'd give it a 4/10, because Saturday Night Speedway is much better and probably deserves a 6.5/10 or maybe even a 7/10 for its great fantasy tracks and random Cpu car crashing and flips.
Time trials can get boring after awhile,but I'm glad they're included,otherwise I'd be ready to sell the game in another week.However,games usually only have time trial leaderboards available for a year at most,so start posting soon,before it's too late.
SUMMARY:
Only buy this game if you love doing time trials(with NO ghost car available),just so you can post your times online with a password.However,I find even the regular racing, both relaxing,exciting and even challenging enough from time to time(just Sprint cars,challenge me,for now).So if you want to try all the different cars and tracks,it's still worth a weekend rental,or even a purchase because it's so cheap.You can always trade it in later and get another game once you tire of it.
It can get boring at times,driving around in circles when no one is spinning,but I still like trying to take the turns well,so I can gain ground and improve my finish.Truly the Sprint cars are more exciting,but they are harder to keep from spinning out and patience is definitely required to drive them.For variety,you can race on 5 of the bonus tracks that feature well done track design,that include many left and right twisting turns with interesting backgrounds!
Sprint Cars:Road to Knoxville loads so FAST that it's hard to stop playing.Each race takes seconds to load after you've chosen race length,car etc.Then you get to slip and slide and spin to your hearts content, driving the fast Sprint cars or slower Modifieds,etc. around the tracks,marvelling at how the Cpu drivers bump each other and sometimes flip and roll right by you.Don't think that every lap is like this.In fact,you can go for three races straight without seeing any wild flips.They usually happen more often in the Hovercraft or Sprint car classes.But,when the Cpu cars do roll and flip,either far away or close to you,it adds so much to the fun factor,that I truly no longer care if I win the race.
I still say Saturday Night Speedway (PS2) is a much better game,since its Championship mode allows you to save after you finish a race(Sprint Car's doesn't) and its career mode is a bit more even and an overall better game than this,with identical heads up display(# of laps,etc.)and more colorful and detailed graphics.However,you can't post any lap times online with it,so that's why I'll still be playing Sprint Cars for probably a year(just for the time trials alone),since I've already posted all my best lap times(also online with passwords)for Toca Race Driver 2 and 3.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
this game is great., January 17, 2009
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
the people bitching about this game are idiots. yeah it's hard to play if you race at the "Pro" level. what's wrong with it being difficult. i just race sprint cars because the midgets and everything else is too easy. there's 3 levels of racing you can choose to pick from. the "rookie" level is easy after a while and you can move up when you think you are ready. the only thing i don't like is that you can't save anything in the "championship" mode. you have to race all 15 events in one sitting to complete the season. that takes about a hour and a half.you don't have to race the whole championship season however. you can just race, race by race, depending on how much you want to play. don't listen to these whiners about the cars aren't realistic. Just because you're not racing Steve Kinser or Sammy Swindell means nothing. the cars you race against look real. it's tough. you really got a drive and concentrate to do well. buy it!
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3.0 out of 5 stars
I HAVE TO GET THE HANG OF THIS GAME.... , January 9, 2008
Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars
I GOT THIS FOR MY BOYFRIEND AND HE FOUND THIS GAME SORT OF TOUGH, HE CAN'T SEEM TO GET THE HANG OF IT. BUT HE'S 44 YEARS OLD & HE NEEDS TO GET HIS 14 YEAR OLD SON TO HELP HIM AND SHOW HIM HOW TO PLAY IT. HE DOES LOVE SPRINT CAR RACING AND HE WILL HOPEFULLY REVIEW IT HIGHER AFTER HE LEARNS HOW TO PLAY IT...
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