Automobili Lamborghini
Reviewed by Scott McCall
Hailing from the halls of Titus, a French video game company, comes
a real road racer for the Nintendo 64. The system has seen the
likes of jet skiing, off-road racing, futuristic racing, formula one
racing, and fantasy racing with weapons, and Automobili Lamborghini
is the latest pure racer that's on pavement. While Automobili
Lamborghini does an admirable job of trying to fill a niche, it just
really doesn't do it as well as one would like.
Automobili Lamborghini presents the player with a wide variety
of options. You have your usual sound and difficulty options. There's
also an option to toggle between full analog and semi-analog if
you find the control too touchy. Nice. But the game also lets you
customize your racing experience. You can change the number of
laps, turn pit stops on or off, put together your own circuit, and
more. In addition, you can enter your name so you can tell whose
top times are whose. Yes, the times are saved if you have a
Controller Pak.
There are several modes of play in the game, too. You have your
basic Practice and Time Trial modes. But Automobili Lamborghini
also includes two racing modes: Arcade and Championship. In the
Arcade mode, you must cross several checkpoints on each track
before time runs out. The goal is to get first on each track. In the
Championship mode, you race through more tracks, accumulating
points along the way. Your goal is to have the most points at the
end. Additionally, you can switch the game between "Normal" and
"Expert" in the options screen. Switching to Expert will give your
car a difficult power-slide technique that will be needed to win.
When it comes to actually racing, Automobili Lamborghini is
decent in the one-player mode and not so good in the other
modes. In the one-player mode, you race against five other cars
(for a total of six) on the tracks. The one-player mode moves at
a very nice, smooth and brisk pace. However, once you go into
the two-player mode, the game becomes noticeably slower and
only includes four cars on a track at once (two human and two
computer). Most racing games get their replay value from
multi-player modes, and those modes are certainly lacking in
Automobili Lamborghini.
Unfortunately, the actual racing in Automobili Lamborghini is
lacking because of other reasons. There's a measly selection of
six tracks, with the courses not being very intuitive; there are too
many zigzags and up-down motions, not enough good shortcuts,
and stale surroundings. Furthermore, there aren't any crashes,
cars take no damage, and the computer opponents seem to be either
too good or not good enough from track-to-track. Finally, the game
is just simplistic in nature and lacks the strategy and finesse of
great racing games.
Automobili Lamborghini is certainly one of the better looking racing
games on the system, though. The tracks are all fairly different,
albeit with sparse detail, which is pretty surprising for a 32 megabit
cartridge. The cars are modeled well, and there aren't any of the
graphical problems pop-up, clipping, fog, etc.) that plague other
N64 racing games. The one odd thing about the game is that everything
seems to have a weird shaded look to it. It's hard to describe.
Sound, on the other hand, isn't so forgiving in the game. The game
contains a bunch of whimpy sound effects, including a few voice
samples during the race. Add in a pretty terrible techno-based
soundtrack, and you've got a game with below average sound.
As a one-player racing game, Automobili Lamborghini is pretty
decent. But the multi-player modes aren't anything to write home
about because of a lack of fun and excitement. Automobili Lamborghini
is not for everyone, but it may appeal to some of the more die-hard
racing fans. Those who want more arcade-like action in their racing
games will definitely want to look elsewhere.
Graphics: 3.9 out of 5
Sound: 2.4 out of 5
Control: 3.7 out of 5
Gameplay: 3.3 out of 5
Lastability: 3.0 out of 5
Overall: 3.3 out of 5