It seems like the designers were looking for a compromise between arcade and sim-style physics and the end result is something that is teetering on unplayable. Most of
Auto Modellista’s problems can be attributed to its controls and awkward physics. Playing
AM is like performing the Icecapades with cars. Vehicles have an enormous tendency to slide all over the track, to the point where maintaining a straight line is the toughest of chores. Most fo the time it doesn’t feel like the cars have four points of contact but instead have one central point on which the vehicle pivots. In most racing games the physics are modeled after the inertia and momentum that is generated by the four tires. Here in
AM it feels like the cars have one wheel in the middle of their chasis for which there is only one point for it to rotate. I understand that the need to make this game accessible for gamers who don’t wish to deal with arcade-style elements but I can’t imagine anyone who would be comfortable with these physics.
The vehicles don’t exhibit a proper sense of weight, especially when they head in to turns. It literally feels like there’s no friction between the vehicle and the road, giving the game that sort of wheels on ice feeling that really detracts from the experience. Getting a proper feel for the car is impossible because the weight and momentum ratios seem to fluctuate at well. This is especially frustrating when trying to head into sharp turns. More often then not you’ll end up spinning out while the rest of the pack takes off in front of you, leaving you in its dust. If you’re like me you’ll dread each and every time you head out to the tarmac because each and every turn is an exercise in frustration.
Adding to the game’s problems is the weak AI that hearkens back to the days of the PSOne. This game gives new meaning to the term rubber-band AI. Creep ahead and your competitors will magically speed up, fall behind and they’ll slow to a crawl. It reminds me of playing games with my older brother when I was a kid, he used to deliberately slow down so that I’d have a chance, well in my mind at least, to win the race. I don’t need to be baby-ed anymore, I want a challenge from the competition, not pity.
In a move that really reminds me of
Mario Kart the competitors run on pre-defined tracks. Just stay in their way and you’ll have no problem winning the races. They won’t try to ram you and they won’t try to go around you, they’ll just drive behind you, baffled as to who would be bastard enough to block their preconceived path. It’s as if there’s no path finding AI to speak of, I literally won a race by going 60 mph the whole time. I just simply blocked the path that I knew the AI would run and drove at my own leisurely pace without fear of being passed. Besides, it was about time that I treated myself to a Sunday drive anyway.
Thankfully the game’s visuals fare much better than the gameplay and as no surprise, serve as the game’s strongest quality. Surprisingly the translation from realism to cel-shading was a smooth one. Each of the tracks doesn’t look too cartoonish and while the street textures are a bit bland, the roadside objects and buildings just look superb. Capcom has done a great job of creating a believable 3D world composed solely of cartoon-style graphics and the end result is nothing short of spectacular.
What water was to 2002, cel-shading is to 2003. No less than a dozen games in the past nine months have featured cel-shading techniques but this is the first time that it has made an appearance in a racing title. This lends the game a very unique feel that makes the game immediately recognizable from the start. Strangely enough this translates into a very attractive visual package that really shows us what the artists at Capcom are capable of. The graphics are cartoon-ish but not in the exaggerated form that appeared in other titles such as
Jet Set Radio Future. Instead, the graphics are much more grounded in reality as they look cartoon-ish yet realistic. Each and every vehicle looks strikingly similar to its real life counterpart. Every curve and distinguishing feature is has been recreated beautifully. Sometimes I cringe when games give me close-up shots of the vehicles because I tend to notice small deficiencies like in accuracies and texture tears. This simply isn’t the case here; all of the vehicles just look superb and will be immediately recognizable from the start.
Keeping in line with the stylized look of the game the artists decided to add “speed lines” to give you a greater sense of speed. Now this works in some situations but in many of them, the lines just look ridiculous. Simply because the lines fly at you with blazing speed while the roadside objects, and the road, approach at a crawl. It’s very disorienting and leads to a very strange sensation of speed that makes you feel like you’re going faster than you really are. Consider the fact that these blazing fast lines come at you even when you’re going 30 mph and you can understand the problem.
When it comes down to it the game looks great but that’s about it. It’s lacking a competent set of physics and the absence of the online aspect makes this an even weaker game than its dated-PS2 counterpart. There’s not much to enjoy about this title and unless you’re a huge fan of cel-shaded visuals you’ll probably want to take a pass on this one.
F
Add a few more cars, clean up the visuals a bit, keep the same horrid gameplay and strip it of the online element and what do you get? Auto Modellista for the GameCube, a rushed port that obviously was released to cash in on a few desperate bucks.
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