History truly does have a way of repeating itself. Personally I never expected bellbottoms and lava lamps to return, but there are those out there who dig those sort of things. Videogaming is no different, as trends tend to come and go. The mid 90's was utterly booming with shooters, fighters (namely the endless sequels of Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat come to mind), racing games and RPGs certainly have had their spotlight, and the most recent craze is dance rhythm action games and console online gaming.

Honestly, my passion for racing games fell from grace long since the dawn of the "next generation" systems. While it's easy to become swept up with the sheer beauty of textured graphics or the endorsed license of a celebrity, one's enjoyment can quickly get whisked away by an abundance of bland gameplay. Then of course, there's the trap many publishers fall into - sequalitus. Sorry, but no version of Road Rash has yet to top the excellence on the 3DO.

In any case, over the past few months, a storm of racing titles have come onto the scene - each vying for gamers interest and a valued purchase. Tailored upon the aspects of simulation and arcade, I found myself intrigued with only a few that have been recently released. Test Drive V Rally, while being exceptionally impressive over the lot of titles of its type still lacked replay value and an appealing "wow" factor.

The biggest problem with developing racing titles for next-generation platforms as of late is that they're either missing the neccessary dynamics which make the game realistic (in respects to simulations), or lack a variety of features, visual appeal, or in essence - the gameplay blows chunks and was best left at the pit for further tweaking. Based upon the screen shots and product information that I analyzed, a substantial degree of anticipation for Infogrames latest racing sensation, Test Drive Le Mans developed. Retaining the goal to rise above from the lackluster lot of racing titles, Le Mans drives out onto the racing realm and comes away as one of the sleekest, challenging and most exciting racing game on the Dreamcast to date!

Test Drive Le Mans represents the legendary 24 Heures de Mans. To win, you must successfully complete more laps than the competing racers within a 24hour period (heh, realistically I would fall asleep after 10 hours or so on the circuit). Le Mans features five modes of play:

Time Trial: Race against the best lap time on any of the open tracks

Quick Race: Select any car and a track and go for broke

Championship: A series of races varied by course seleciton and choice of racing vehicles.

Le Mans: The main event - race for 24hours on the Le Mans circuit

Multiplayer: Race against your friends (everyone does have these, right?)

Variety of course is never a bad thing, and Infogrames extends its hand to allow gamers to customize the game in a number of ways as you see fit. By jumping over to the options screen, players can make additional modification of the Le Mans' game settings by adjusting the speedometer, camera views and rumble back vibration settings. Other option settings allow players to configure controller configurations, various audio settings, language, and race settings.

In contrast to fighting games, the Dreamcast pad fits like a glove. The analog pad is used to control the steering of your vehicle left and right, while the triggers (respectively left and right) operate the brake and accelerator. When using Manual Transmission, using the A button advances a gear, B button downshifts; Y toggles between four selectrable views to see the action onscreen and the X button acts provides a rear view of what's behind you. As addressed in the options description, you can choose to adjust the controller configurations or utilize a compatible Dreamcast racing wheel.

Le Mans is packed with enough features and detail to keep casual and avid racing fans entertained. Championship and Le Mans modes notably will be the most selected modes used and surely will offer the highest degree of challenge. Selecting Le Mans mode features a Race Time option in which you'll race in a virtual 24hour period (I think it's important to stress this aspect, there may be a few out there that may actually think they're required to play the game all day.) Based on the settings selected, the 24hour period will be sped up. In addition, the fuel consumption of your vehicle will also be affected in proportion to the rate of time selected to represent the 24hour race. Be sure that you periodically make pit stops to refuel and change your tires.

Graphically, Le Mans is packed with a solid 3D graphic engine, rich in detail and realism that truly puts players in a realistic racing enviroment. Each car is painstainkly detailed right down to the hubs and racing logos, it's almost easy to mistake its vividness for the real thing. It really does look that good and is easily one of the best looking racing titles to be seen on the Dreamcast platform to date. After all, how many other games can feature 24 cars on screen and have them all gracefully moving at 30fps? Can you think of any? I can't. Sega GT featured six, and while Gran Turismo 1/2 have definitely got the nod as being extensively detailed, neither has come close, until now. Le Mans manages to feature 24 cars all running in unison, with shadows, brake glows, skid marks, the whole shebang with no slowdown! Surely that gets the nod for excellence in the graphics department, don't you think?

But that's just for starters, as Le Mans of course allows you to adjust your camera view of the action, and when you stop to look at the tracks (all officially licensed circuits at that), along with cockpit, you really do have to admire Melboure House's degree of integrity. While most racers feature a bland LOD, Le Mans really goes into overdrive. As for the tracks themselves, there's plenty to choose from including Le Mans, Catalunya, Donington and Suzuka. Being I am not too knowledgeable of the real-life circuits themselves, I can't personally comment as to how well they've all been authentically translated, but I can certainly relay that they've all pack lots of detail, realism and distinction that every race track is simply a marvel to behold. Almost makes me wish that I really knew how to drive a hot rod and go out there and engage the road right now! Once again, the level of detail simply can't be stressed enough as Le Mans includes skid marks (which remain on the track, they won't disappear after you've completed a lap), clouds move across the sky, transitions from night and day occur, even the state of the weather will adjust, shifting to small droplets that hit the ground, asphalt that reflects your brake lights, and even when the sun sets, you'll note that the length of the shadows casts the entire enviroment in a mild orange glow setting. Without a doubt, Le Mans is the only game of its kind to incorporate this level of detail, and of course, feature awesome gameplay to boot.

Of course, graphics and gameplay exist as the vital elements that enrich a game, but can easily become overlooked with horrid sound effects, and thankfully, Le Mans is just the opposite. The developers ensured to deliver a full racing experience and if you've ever personally been on a actual race track would be able to relate to Le Mans' degreee of realism. Many racing games only simulate the effect through special programs and ingenious methods, but Le Mansactually does sounds like you're at the raceway. It became evident to me right away just by the sound of my car's engine that Le Mans sounds were quite authentic. You won't here that synthesized hum as so many racers have featured in the past, you'll only hear that rough roar that will make various transitions as you gearshift and brake throughout the circuit. As you begin to approach other vehicles onscreen (or the ones approaching from the rear), the sounds will increase in decible levels and eventually ring in your ears. Engage hairpin curves, and note how the sounds of cars on the opposite side of the track...with a Doppler Effect (does your current racing game do this?) Of course, we can't forget to spectators, sure they're here too...and quite lively I might add. Each time your vehicle zips by the stadium and the announcer booth, you'll note that the entire racetrack gives the impression that you are there. Isn't this what a racing game should truly deliver? Le Mans does it all.

Musically, Le Mans features a bunch of guitar tunes (not really my taste unfortunately, especially for a racing game like this). Thankfully one only needs to head over to the options screen and have the music turned down (highly recommended in my opinion). In addition, Melboure House opted not to include any commentary during the race, which actually is a good move on their part since races generally last up to 10 mins. minimum). Although V-Rally's commentary only consisted of your co-pilot dictating upcoming turns and such, it personally grew very annoying and you can only imagine how redudant and tiresome it would get if you actually had full commentary going on in the background as you're trying to win a race. But perhaps a bit of commentary in some areas may have been enjoyable.

Overall, I found Test Drive Le Mans to simply be the most enjoyable game I've ever played on a console for quite awhile. There's hardly anything that I can find a complaint with as the entire package is pretty darn impressive. After all, being a Le Mans racing title, geared to emulate the real thing, there's only but so much that this game could've included and honestly, it actually does more than many would expect it to. I believe that the only thing that could've extended the game's enjoyment was to increase the number of available tracks that can be selected, that always seems to be a factor racing games fall short on. The psychics are dead-on, and you'll find evidence of this by the crashes that are some of the most spectacular bang-ups I've ever witnessed in a racing game with credits to Need for Speed on 3DO. Plus, the multi-player option is very smooth, playable, and features a neglible loss in frame rate...its ashame though that this game couldn't have been featured on SegaNet, as the network could truly benefit from such an awesome racer. Though these are hardly kinks in Le Mans armor, the entire package is quite solid and its a recommended edition for any racing mogul looking for a new game to get behind the wheel.

· · · Bahn