Gaming Target - Game Boy: GT Advance 3: Pro Concept Racing

Written by Tim McGrew on March 28, 2003

Review: Advance is truly the operative word here.

Around the US launch of the original Game Boy Advance, THQ released a barebones version of GT Advance complete with a password save that hurt the game far more than anyone could imagine. Just picture earning 30 some odd cars in Gran Turismo and earning all your licenses with an S ranking and having to write down this complicated string of code made up of numbers and letters and if you wrote it down wrong, your information would be lost forever on the disc. All that hard work Ц wasted. Suffice it to say, the system was inadequate in just about every way one could conceive. However, THQ learned their lesson with the release of GT Advance 2 where it had a cartridge save, but that particular game was based off of rally racing and just didn't feel like the true sequel to the first GT Advance.

Enter GT Advance 3, the true sequel to the first GT Advance complete with all the trimmings of a cartridge save mode, well over ninety different cars of which most are impossible to come by imports here in the states, forty plus different tracks and a two player link cable mode that is sure to please even the most diehard of racing fans looking for competition. It truly is the Gran Turismo of portable racing games allowing players the ability to customize their cars with tons of upgrades, race with real world cars and paint schemes, and of course enjoy one of the most graphically pleasing games in the GBA's library with a very smooth framerate, tons of cars on screen, and plenty of details on the cars, the environments, and the weather effects making each easily distinguishable from the last.

One area where the game differs from real world driving simulators is with its controls. For starters, the game actually resembles that of Ridge Racer as opposed to Gran Turismo in that the cars gain speed at an incredible rate but is rather lenient with players and the ability to power slide from turn to turn. In fact, the game has a particular race mode dedicated to power sliding and drifting where the goal is to slide from corner to corner without gaining any traction on the tires and earning a great deal of points in the process making this mode alone incredibly fun with two people even if it means trading the GBA, or better yet the GBA SP, back and forth between each other.

Unlocking cars is done in the same fashion as other racers where winning first place in events gains you another car and more parts for your cars. Each part earned has to be applied to each car upon receiving them since leaving them off is pointless and only hinders your cars performance possibilities. There's actually no reason to leave them off at all so the game should just attach them upon receiving them, but alas, that daunting task is left to the player. Still, it's hardly as bad as it seems since earning more cars and racing with them is far more fun than sticking with one and upgrading it constantly as time goes on.

Aside from earning upgrades and cars, players will also definitely enjoy the two player racing mode if they have a friend with a GBA and another copy of GT Advance 3. Not to put too fine a point on it, the racing modes are really basic one on one competitions, but testing your skills with your upgraded Honda Civic and their stock Integra Type-R is quite fun. It really adds quite a bit to the game rather than slamming into the rather simplistic computer AI that follows a set path around the track.

Speaking of racing, the tracks that the game takes place on have been tweaked greatly since the first GT Advance. For starters, invisible barriers that once slowed your car to a crawl once touched are now replaced by realistic walls that are far off the course leaving quite a bit of grass and dirt that merely slows you down a few miles per hour which can easily be picked up in the oncoming seconds with some tight turning and drifting. Even running into other cars doesn't penalize you nearly as much as the first given the increased sensation of speed the game presents with its brisk framerate.

The worst aspect of GT Advance 3 has to be the game's soundtrack which, much like the first and second game, utilizes the stodgy Game Boy Color sound chip which is fine if you never heard any of the other excellent music from other titles on the GBA, but is totally inadequate otherwise. It's actually quite frustrating to listen to given the lack of alternatives so hopefully the next sequel, of which there very well should be, this will be a problem remedied. The sound effects are nothing to brag about honestly as they are fine for the game and don't hurt the presentation or improve it otherwise.