Gaming Target - Game Boy: ATV: Quad Power Racing

Written by Matt Swider on September 15, 2002

Review: It almost feels belittling after experiencing ATV Off-Road Fury 2 for PS2, but then again belittling is what Game Boy Advance is all about.

Ever since the Game Boy Advance released more than a year ago, the handheld system has housed a number of racing games that never seem to cease production. To vary a player's experience, developers have sought out options such as creating racers with a slightly altered premise just like they have seen done on the home consoles in order to compensate for similar over produced genres. From this, we receive an assortment of racing types including motorbike, rally, kart, and now ATV. Acclaim is leading the way with ATV Quad Power Racing and because of that, has somewhat of an edge on the four-wheel off-road racing action. Despite this fact and the impressive appearance the game's screenshots initially give, ATV falls short of anything remarkable, only to end up falling in with so many others.

By far, the most impressive aspect of ATV has to be the game's fantastic 3D engine and visual design. Each track contains a series of hills and dips at varying degrees with smooth transitions throughout. Players will be able to catch some big air following the steeper inclines and can use power-ups to enhance both their speed and air distance. ATV also provides an overall flowing experience with a steady 30 frames per second. The only time it displays choppy animation is when the vehicle crashes and its rider takes a dive. Other than that, the rest of ATV's graphical package is a speedy joyride.

To open up new tracks and acquire additional quads, players are required to complete a race within a certain position, just as found in almost all Challenge modes these days. Yet for this game, doing so doesn't prove to be any sort of feat since opponents are easy to overtake. In most cases, first place can be somewhat of a breeze to achieve. In addition to moving onto tracks with off-road and street terrain, a second round of challenges puts a little more pressure on gamers, but not much. Chances are, most players won't even lose a race until the final round of tracks are available and even then it's all about knowing where the power-ups lie and never missing the vital ones. Avoiding obstacles and swerving from debris would have made this game more like a thrill ride rather than the joyride that it is. While the challenges aren't challenging, it's very pleasing to know that each circuit only lasts two laps instead of the repetitive three that we usually see.

With a lack of difficulty on the track, much of the game is taking a few tight turns and utilizing power-ups well. Crashes won't happen too frequently and opponents usually remain so distant that it feels more like a time trial than anything else. Sadly, there aren't any multiplayer functions present on ATV. Those seeking unpredictable player rivals or some good action with their buddies will be disappointed in being confined to a single player arena of competition. To make matters worse, the password save system disliked by all who regularly play the handheld is the prominent save method in ATV. On the light side though, it uses symbols instead of random letters and numbers. While it's still a drag to memorize, things could be a whole lot worse as we saw in the original GT Advance.

At least weather conditions vary the appearance of each track with snow-covered levels, dirt and muddy pathways, and closed roadways. With each difference visually, the handle of the controls varies slightly. Unfortunately, the overall experience seems very much like the same mindless racing to attain first place and move onto the next round to do the same thing over again. The gimmick to the music is that it doesn't really play during in-game play. It can be heard following each win and anytime during the menus, but the droning of the ATVs is more prominent during races. Whenever players catch air, the pitch changes with a great effect. There isn't much going on in the sound department besides this, though it fits the mediocre pattern of everything else.