Hot Wheels: Track Attack (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

If you've been with the DS since the early days, it's likely that you've seen a substantial amount of puzzles, mini-game compilations and racers released for the handheld. In fact there's so many racing games it's difficult to decide just which way to go. You may choose the multi-million selling Need for Speed games, the wonderfully sleek Race Driver series or maybe the arcade based Hot Wheels offerings. Which ever one you do select, there's a very good chance that developers Firebrand have had, at least a hand, in the development and it's this studio who have single handedly transformed the racing genre on the DS. Track Attack is yet another game from the racing masters so have they managed to do it yet again?

Gameplay

Track Attack begins like most Firebrand racers with only a tiny amount of tracks being available initially with other locations becoming available only once you have complete a handful of challenges. The challenges themselves do tend to repeat over and over again and you have to wonder why the developers didn't opt for a greater variety of race types or at least alternative scenery. The self-explanatory Race at least contains some secret routes to allow you to gain ground over your opponents. The Hot Lap is a simple time challenge while Elimination knocks out the final racer from each lap. Checkpoint is another race against the clock only here you can at lest gain extra seconds by passing though the Checkered Flag Gates. Token Grab is an odd one really and while this usually takes place in a Stunt Arena, you simply drive around collecting as many tokens as possible before the timer runs out.

This all takes place over four different environments: Beach, Rainforest, Desert and City all of which have the classic Hot Wheels stunt tracks. Sadly, this is not nearly as exciting as you'd imagine mostly due to the dumb AI and most of your opponents are not only easy to pass but, in some cases lap. Success in anything here unlocks new cars and there are plenty of them to collect along the way. You can even customise them and add extra horsepower, which does actually increase your cars performance. There is a Multiplayer option available but if you are a racing fan, there's a very good chance you have a much better DS racer than this and, what's more, your friends will too.

Controls

Couldn't really be simpler and we'd bet you can guess where the accelerate, brake and boost are without the aid of the instruction manual.

Graphics

If you do happen to buy this game it certainly won't be for the way it looks and there are some GBA racers more visually pleasing than this. What really confuses us though is that the developers are famed for their racing titles and both the Race Driver series and Trackmania games are perfect examples of just how good handheld racers can look. We can only assume that time was against them with Track Attack

Sound

The soundtrack here consists of some horribly tinny Rock themes, which are likely to annoy you very quickly indeed. The cars do sound a little better if not a little too similar.

Dual screen

While you wont use the stylus during the actual racing, it's still very useful for a number of other things. Editing the look (and performance) of your chosen car is much easier with the stylus and selecting items with your finger of thumb can be awkward. Its main use though, is during the incredibly intuitive Track Builder and mapping out your new and exciting raceway really couldn't be easier. Better still, you can select to 'test' or 'race' these creations instantly to see if they are worth keeping or simply binning.

Final comments

Firebrand have developed some truly classic handheld racers, for the DS, over the years but sadly, this isn't one of them and Track Attack is clearly aimed at the (very) young gamer. There's little challenge here and the various types of races become repetitive very quickly indeed. It doesn't even look that good which is inexcusable given just how old the DS is now. The only thing saving this latest Hot Wheels titles from a much lower mark is the excellent Track Builder, which is probably worth the entry price alone. Just a shame about the main game really.

Pro: Solid Entry Level Arcade Racing, Great Track Builder.
Con: Very Simple and No Real Challenge.
Final score: 4.6

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