Karnaaj Rally

[Cheebs]

I just picked this on up on line for $10 at EB. For anybody who hasn't played it yet, buy it now, especially if you liked RC Pro AM or Micromachines at all.

First of all, I don't think there's a better looking game on the GBA. The flat scrolling track is a very well done pre-render. Dirt, snow, sand, ice, grass, rocks, etc all look amazingly realistic. Whenever you near a cliff there's a layer of parallax encouraging you to not drive off it. One of the coolest things about the visuals is the simple but effective pollygons thown all around. Anything that comes "off" the ground is done in 3D. Trees, glaciers, stone towers, bridges, stuff like that. It gives the whole game an amazing sense of depth. There's also all sorts of little details like well animated trackside people who run for cover (and go "splat" if they don't make it) and birds flying overhead. Really a terrific looking game.

As for the game itself, aside from an easily exploitable save feature (not winning the race? Just reset) that sort kills some difficulty, it is really a blast to play. Car physics are just right. You can slide around a turn very nicely on pavement, but you can REALLY slide around a turn on ice. Turbo icons scattered everywhere give you a few seconds of boost and of course you have your standard missles and mines (hence, the "Karnaaj"). Races can get pretty intense and you're always looking over your sholder if you are in the lead or always frantically charging ahead to get someone in missle range if you are behind. One interesting thing I noticed was that there didn't seem to be any "rubber band" AI. If I was dusting the CPU, one little crash didn't make the second place car magically appear behind me and go zipping by. I could actually build a lead. However, the CPU has ungodly aim with its missles making those large leads less comfortable (Hint: drive straightaways with an "S" pattern). The only downside to the gameplay is the slow start and lack of shortcuts. The first "season" of the game features stone age flinstone type cars, and they really crawl by. It might be slow enough that some people will give up and think the game sucks, but the faster cars are just around the corner. Each progressing season gives you faster and more modern cars. Pretty cool one you get out of the stone age.

And as for the box art and name....



Dear God, I don't think this game will sell more than 10 copies because of that box alone. The game even got thrown into EGM's Sean Baby joke reviews section because of it. Anybody who sees this box will never, ever, guess that the game inside is worth anything, let alone amazingly fun. The horrible box art spills over into the drivers' in-game avatars. Really bad Photoshopped "extreeme" looking dudes. Poor Karnaaj Rally (even the name hurts). Killed by its own marketing.

[Mode7]

Originally posted by Chibi Nappa

I will never purchase this game.

[Click_Stick]

I want a collage of all the worst box art on the wall of my room at home. And I'd like that one to be a tad bit larger than all the others.

[cigsthecat]

Yikes.

[Cheebs]

Originally posted by Mode7
I will never purchase this game.

See what I mean?

You'd never guess this was inside.



And that's not even one of the better looking tracks...

[StriderKyo]

that's awesome. Maybe not as funny as TG-16 Bomberman, or that Ganbare!!somethingsomething Japanese olympics game with the crying dude, or NES Megaman, or that weird Japanese scary circus game, but it's up there.

[MonsterMash]

IGN has movies. You're right, it does look nice.

http://pocket.ign.com/articles/382/382784p1.html

[Jeremy]

Holy crap, that looks amazing. Damned shitty boxart.

[Werewolf]

Companies must not really want to sell games when they put up ugly box designs like that, don't they relize that is the first thing most customers see

[johnk_]

i read that seanbaby section in EGM this month..
they completely dismissed the game as terrible because it had terrible boxart...
i would have liked to see a serious review done on it.. that bit really reflected poorly on egm and seanbaby.