Developer: NexTech Publisher: Sega Release: 1995 Genre: Racing
Most long term gamers are aware of Sega’s history with racing games in the arcade, stretching back to the mid-80s. They were pioneers in the genre and it is safe to say they have had the most influence on future generations with the likes of Outrun, Virtua Racing, and especially Daytona USA. Their home console efforts are not as fondly remembered however. In the early days of the Saturn I rented pretty much everything available outside of sports games. Cyber Speedway caught my eye as it looked like the closest thing to Wipeout for the system. While Cyber Speedway is a decent game in its own right it is nowhere near that title’s quality.
In the future most civilizations no longer use war to settle their conflicts. The only two holdouts are Earth and the warlike Kaladasia. The two worlds have been at each other’s throats for years and the galaxy has had enough. They propose the Cyber Speedway tournament, a race in high-speed sleds to avoid bloodshed and hopefully lead to universal peace once and for all.
Cyber Speedway puts a big emphasis on its story in the campaign mode. There are cutscenes detailing the wheeling and dealings going on behind the scenes as well as introducing the competitors for each race. It even has full voice acting as well. Lest I paint a picture of some high budget let me reign in your expectations. This is hilariously low effort at best. The voice acting is bad and the cutscenes are essentially low quality pngs cut and pasted on grainy backgrounds. The game would probably be better off without this nonsense to be completely honest. You do not get an A for effort in this case.
There are two modes in Cyber Speedway. Free Run is the game’s practice mode. Here you can pick a track as well as any sled to learn their layout. You can compete in Time Trials or single races against four CPU drivers. There is also a split screen multiplayer mode, a notable feature as it was missing from Daytona. The only caveat is that there are no AI opponents, more than likely to try and keep a stable framerate. Free Run is the only mode where you get to use the rival sleds from each planet.
Story mode is the meat of the game. You are Clay Shaw, Earth’s last hope for galactic peace in the Cyber Speedway tournament. You exclusively use the Terra sled in each race. However you can adjust aspects of the sled before each race: Engine has three speeds: power (fast acceleration, low top speed), speed (the opposite), and neutral. Steering is self-explanatory. Braking modifies the controls between hard, neutral and soft. Special is a unique category and lets you choose a weapon. These weapons are unlocked as you progress and cover the usual futuristic racing staples. Your mechanic gives advice prior to each race as to what modifications you should make. This information is critical as each planet presents unique challenges.
The track design is not all that complex compared to similar racers in this genre. You will not find many of the wild corners or sharp U-turns of the more ambitious racing games on the market. Cyber Speedway is almost straightforward and gets its complexity from the environmental conditions of each planet. The slippery surface of Glacies makes the already loose controls more of a hazard. Vastitas has few sharp curves but its shifting sand will slow you down. Nubes is mostly straightforward and the longest track, enabling you to build up speed for long stretches. Regardless of how you adjust the parameters of your sled the air brakes are the life blood of the controls as the normal brakes are useless. Master using them and you can easily power slide in to corners and use the default setup and still achieve victory.
For the most part I like Cyber Speedway but there are aspects I wish were better. The biggest culprit is the frame rate. The erratic framerate affects the controls and almost ruins the game. When you are alone it is fine. But any time multiple drone cars appears it drops considerably. This causes input lag and leads to flying in to walls and other sleds uncontrollably and can cause you to drop from first to fourth place in seconds. Considering each race is five laps the feeling that your momentum can be lost at any moment sucks. I wish each race were three laps so it did not feel so grueling.
It sucks as there is plenty to like. There are six tracks with all but one featuring a standard and advanced version that are different. The art direction is exceptional even if the Saturn cannot fully realize it the way it deserves. The other sleds are fun to take for a spin in free run mode which is why it is too bad you cannot use them in the story for obvious reasons. With a little finer tuning, like buttoning up the framerate and making weapons worth a damn they could have had something. As it is this one feels like a missed opportunity for greatness at every turn.
In Closing
Cyber Speedway is an above average racing game that manages to skirt by on novelty. The futuristic racing genre had yet to explode so every new entrant felt new. But as titles like Wipeout and F-Zero X hit the market expectations would grow. With its unstable framerate and slippery controls Cyber Speedway does not measure up to its heavy competition on the market.
