Race Days is an official 2 in 1 multicart with 2 original games on it by Gremlin Graphics. It was distributed by Gametek. Both games will be reviewed in this review, so you're getting two reviews for the price of one!
As you flip on the on switch on your Gameboy, you'll be greeted by the Gametek logo and then presented with 2 games to pick from; Dirty Racing and 4 Wheel Drive. We'll get Dirty Racing out of the way first.
Dirty Racing is a flawed top down racer. Upon pressing start, you choose your difficulty, and to be honest, it's unbalanced. Taking it Easy (easy) is way too easy and provides barely any challenge, while Hazardous! (medium) is a tad bit too hard. And you can forget about Totally Dirty (hard), it's way too hard and near impossible to win.
You can enter your name, though this does nothing except for showing up on the race results. You enter your name and then are presented with a map screen similar to Super Mario World of all things, and you progress through the game by coming in 1st overall through 3 races in each stage. This sounds great, but this is a huge game, and there's NO save feature or password system! In a game of this size, it's stupid not to have a way to save your progress, especially since this is a portable game and you won't be playing it for long periods of time.
The racing is average. Your car handles like hell, the turning is super sensitive. You can adjust to this however, and it doesn't ruin gameplay completely. What DOES is the power-up system. In Mario Kart, for example, power-ups are in boxes along the track. In this game? They're hidden in the wall. That's right. You'll occasionally see a part of the wall flash, when you run into it, you're given one of two things: a point bonus (for high scores), and some sort of power-up that stops all other cars for about a tenth of a second. This is the only game I've ever seen that encourages running into a wall and the power-ups are barely worth it.
Dirty Racing has a nice theme song, but that's all that's good here. I give Dirty Racing a 4/10.
Not a great start, but how does 4 Wheel Drive fare? Does it make this game worth owning? Is it the diamond in the rough? We'll see, won't we?
4 Wheel Drive has potential. It is a 2D/3D racing game in a Hard Driving sort of way. It really doesn't give you a good first impression as it's mind-meltingly bad theme song made me grit my teeth in pain. It's that bad. Bad theme aside, this game feels more like a full game. Once again, you get to enter your name, and again, it's just for the results screen, though multiplayer uses this. You get the choice of playing single player OR the cool feature of playing multiplayer with up to 2 players via a link cable. I felt this game so far was looking good! You get the choice of a few lengths of race seasons for single player, as well as a practice mode. Sounds good, right? Sorta. Again, no save function, so your lap times aren't saved, and your name isn't saved. Honestly, I really would like to save my progress, but I suppose this can be overlooked as you do get to choose how long the race season is to fit how much time you have to play the game.
Now for the racing. Well, it's ok. It's much better than Dirty Racing (phew), but it's a bit clunky. Unlike Dirty Racing, the racing in 4 Wheel Drive is more realistic and fun. The cockpit view is a nice touch as well, adding to the realism. It's your average racer, so it's ok, but not great.
4 Wheel Racing has its fair share of flaws, but it's enjoyable if you can look past them. 4 Wheel Racing receives a 6/10.
So there you have it. 2 average racing games on 1 cart. Race Days should have just been 4 Wheel Drive, and Dirty Racing should have been left out. Have a recommendation for a review? Contact me at [email protected] and I'll review the game you'd like.
As you flip on the on switch on your Gameboy, you'll be greeted by the Gametek logo and then presented with 2 games to pick from; Dirty Racing and 4 Wheel Drive. We'll get Dirty Racing out of the way first.
Dirty Racing is a flawed top down racer. Upon pressing start, you choose your difficulty, and to be honest, it's unbalanced. Taking it Easy (easy) is way too easy and provides barely any challenge, while Hazardous! (medium) is a tad bit too hard. And you can forget about Totally Dirty (hard), it's way too hard and near impossible to win.
You can enter your name, though this does nothing except for showing up on the race results. You enter your name and then are presented with a map screen similar to Super Mario World of all things, and you progress through the game by coming in 1st overall through 3 races in each stage. This sounds great, but this is a huge game, and there's NO save feature or password system! In a game of this size, it's stupid not to have a way to save your progress, especially since this is a portable game and you won't be playing it for long periods of time.
The racing is average. Your car handles like hell, the turning is super sensitive. You can adjust to this however, and it doesn't ruin gameplay completely. What DOES is the power-up system. In Mario Kart, for example, power-ups are in boxes along the track. In this game? They're hidden in the wall. That's right. You'll occasionally see a part of the wall flash, when you run into it, you're given one of two things: a point bonus (for high scores), and some sort of power-up that stops all other cars for about a tenth of a second. This is the only game I've ever seen that encourages running into a wall and the power-ups are barely worth it.
Dirty Racing has a nice theme song, but that's all that's good here. I give Dirty Racing a 4/10.
Not a great start, but how does 4 Wheel Drive fare? Does it make this game worth owning? Is it the diamond in the rough? We'll see, won't we?
4 Wheel Drive has potential. It is a 2D/3D racing game in a Hard Driving sort of way. It really doesn't give you a good first impression as it's mind-meltingly bad theme song made me grit my teeth in pain. It's that bad. Bad theme aside, this game feels more like a full game. Once again, you get to enter your name, and again, it's just for the results screen, though multiplayer uses this. You get the choice of playing single player OR the cool feature of playing multiplayer with up to 2 players via a link cable. I felt this game so far was looking good! You get the choice of a few lengths of race seasons for single player, as well as a practice mode. Sounds good, right? Sorta. Again, no save function, so your lap times aren't saved, and your name isn't saved. Honestly, I really would like to save my progress, but I suppose this can be overlooked as you do get to choose how long the race season is to fit how much time you have to play the game.
Now for the racing. Well, it's ok. It's much better than Dirty Racing (phew), but it's a bit clunky. Unlike Dirty Racing, the racing in 4 Wheel Drive is more realistic and fun. The cockpit view is a nice touch as well, adding to the realism. It's your average racer, so it's ok, but not great.
4 Wheel Racing has its fair share of flaws, but it's enjoyable if you can look past them. 4 Wheel Racing receives a 6/10.
So there you have it. 2 average racing games on 1 cart. Race Days should have just been 4 Wheel Drive, and Dirty Racing should have been left out. Have a recommendation for a review? Contact me at [email protected] and I'll review the game you'd like.