Developer: Atari Games Publisher: Midway Release: 03/16/99 Genre: Racing
Midway was one of the biggest supporters of the Nintendo 64. They ported a significant number of their arcade games at the time to the system and bolstered its library. For a platform with limited support that is always a plus. Unfortunately a lot of their output was met with mixed reception; none more so than their fighting and racing games. While they eventually get there games like Bio Freaks and California Speed did not help. Their hearts were in the right place but the results were not.
California Speed is a port of the arcade game of the same name. While it is outwardly similar to the Cruis’n series California Speed limits its tracks to its namesake. Although that sounds limiting California is a massive state. In fact the game has more variety in its environments than some series altogether. Where the Cruis’n games play it straight California Speed is not afraid to get a bit wacky. That is its greatest strength, I just wish these tracks and the port overall were much better.
The track design is California Speed’s greatest strength. Each of the fourteen courses is long and covers a lot of ground. You might start a track driving through the Central Valley countryside before finishing by speeding through a shopping mall. A seaside town eventually gives way to an insane run on a roller coaster which is completely awesome. You will drive through a military aircraft carrier, a psychedelic museum and even through Mt. Shasta, lava and all. The tracks have been simplified somewhat as there is less traffic and no pedestrians. But to make up for it there are five tracks exclusive to this version. There is a lot of content but the problem is the lack of desire to see all of it.
The gameplay has been dumbed down significantly to make the game more “accessible”. However it makes the game boring and frustrating instead. The handling is very loose with little resistance which makes sliding in to turns easy. You can crash head on in to incoming cars with little loss of speed. In fact short of straight up bashing in to a wall nothing else affects you much. Normally this would be good. But the overall speed of the game has been cut in half. This means the slightest slipup can lead to most competitors passing you and it is nearly impossible to catch up. The California Speed’s credit there is no rubber-banding. But the AI is so ruthless it is hard to consistently win second or third place, let alone sniff first.
It is a damn shame the gameplay is so bad. I can see the vision. There is a lot of content; at a time when most racing games were content with three or four tracks plus a few cars California Speed offers triple that amount. The single player campaign has multiple series, light, heavy, and sport. Each focuses on a specific set of cars for each race you can choose from which gives plenty of choice. Of course even though heavy might focus on trucks they still throw in offbeat vehicles like convertibles and golf carts. If you don’t feel like competing in weekly races state takes you through the entire state of California which is cool. If the AI, handling and general feel were better this could have been solid. Instead it is a missed opportunity.
California Speed is running on the same engine Midway used for San Francisco Rush and as such suffers from many of the same flaws. This is an offensively ugly game, with excessively blurry textures that often make the tracks hard to follow and aliased edges everywhere. To be fair this was not the prettiest game in the arcade, especially with the likes of Scud Race and Daytona USA 2 on the market. But it certainly looks better than this. The impact of the more out there tracks is lesser as they are a blurry mess, often with pixels so sharp they can cut your eyeballs. The recycle textures so much the tracks start to blend together which hurts the game’s variety. The Nintendo 64 is capable of far better than this.
In Closing
California Speed is an average racing game on a system that has far too many. There are some thrills in its wild tracks but the loose handling, lack of difficulty, and ugly graphics make me want to play a different, better game instead. Nintendo 64 owners are spoiled for choice when it comes to racing games, there is no need to settle for a mediocre one.
