It's time once again for one of those fun review things.
NASCAR Rumble was an attempt to give a series like NASCAR a 'combat racing' type approach, with power-ups littered about the track, and the end result is just something that has the NASCAR label slapped on it. The game is based off of the 98/99 roster, so if you like the rainbow DuPont car, or Earnhardt's old vehicle, you're in luck. But if you hate NASCAR in general then you're just likely to not even try to pick up this game.
Story (N/A):
What story? There is no story.
Sound (6/10):
So I'll give you a rating for the sound and get what is most likely the majority of my review over with. So you have the generic race car sound, the few menu sounds, and the music. Oh, right,
plus this horrifically bad announcer guy who just absolutely NEEDS to quit even TRYING to get into more video games!. If there is one thing that will be burned into your mind, it is this obnoxious in-race narrator who basically tries to 'keep you in the game' by narrating everything you do. Thankfully, you can turn his volume down to absolutely nothing. But he's the only thing that breaks up the monotonous engine sound, but he's also dreadfully annoying. Every other sound is just taken from some generic sound library, though hearing the sound of a bunch of bowling pins being knocked over when you hit a car with the rammer type weapon IS somewhat amusing.
Control (6/10):
Whohoa. The control in this game ranges from 'suitable' to 'definitely not any kind of racing game'. Your car will always turn at a set rate, just about no matter what speed you're going. Using powerups is quite simple, you just get it and activate it and it'll either help or harm. But enough about control. It's generic, alright?
Gameplay (4/10):
Well well, a NASCAR game that doesn't have tracks from any kind of racing series whatsoever. In fact, the tracks are rather... Original. But this doesn't help the fact they're horribly uninspired as well as very un-NASCAR-ish. Some of 'em do have stuff to knock over, though. There's also the usual shortcuts the CPU will just teach you.
You've got three classes of cars to unlock: Normal, Pro, and Elite. None of them are a true testament to their namesake, as Normal races are easy, Pro races are still easy, and Elite races are as easy as crap. The cars also change appearance as you plow through the game at this insanely easy rate.
There also despirate 'tributes' to the racing legends of old, who don't just drive reskinned 98/99 standard NASCAR vehicles but instead, all of them drive muscle cars that all look like a varation of the Dodge Charger. Last but not least there is the plethora of secret vehicles that are actually original. They range from a jet car to a golf cart.
The racing itself is boring. Your car reachs a set top speed depending on the class you're in and that's effectively it. It never goes above the 'top speed' except if you use Nitro, and sometimes you can end up making a chain of power ups last so long you wonder why they even bothered to make the game to begin with.
Describing the weapons is like trying to describe an oyster. This oyster has nothing special to it, it's just a regular ol' oyster. But as for the actual game weapons, some of them are inspired, and some are uninspired and some are just plain cheap.
The list of weapons are:
- Storm: This causes your car or your opponent's car to have jerky steering, and it also affects your vision a little as well as your car's overall performance.
- Freeze: This causes your or your opponent's car's steering to simply die for a short time. No steering at all.
- Shockwave: This, when used, will blow every opponent around you away from your car, and in some cases off of the track.
- Twister: This travels down the track, sucking up any car that gets in it's way. Makes one complete lap around the track before just... vanishing.
- Knockout: Forms a ramming barrier in front of your car that allows you to knock away opponents.
- Nitro: Speeds your car up for a short amount of time.
- Invincibility: Can negate all harmful weapon effects, grants invincibility from opponents' weapons, as well as increases your chances of getting a helpful weapon.
- Super grip: Your tires hold on to the road far better than before.
- Bad gas: Slows down your car immensely, while having it make a sputtering sound.
- Oil slick: Your car's control becomes incredibly slippery, as if it were driving on ice.
All weapons' effects can be stacked, that means you could have Nitro going for 30 sconds if you're lucky enough. This also means you can have nitro and bad gas at the same time, as well as oil slick and super grip.
Overall, it's just another game ruined by the NASCAR title.