Speed Racer Overview:

Based on the upcoming Wachowski brothers film of the same name, Speed Racer will be released on the Wii(tm) and Nintendo DS(tm) in May 2008 with the film’s launch.  The PlayStation®2 system version will launch with the DVD in Autumn 2008.

Set in a hyper-realistic world where car culture is the culture, players compete in the World Racing League (WRL) against up to 19 other racers across rollercoaster-like race tracks.  Players will enjoy a combative racing experience like no other when they take control of the T180 race car, achieving amazing speeds and mastering four independently turning wheels that allow drivers to engage in “car fu” to jump, flip, and outmaneuver their opponents.

Speed Racer captures the action, look and feel of the high adrenaline arena racing developed for the movie in an accessible, fun-filled game that allows players to actually get behind the wheel and on incredible tracks straight out of the world of Speed Racer.

Speed Racer started out as a cartoon a few years ago which has turned into somewhat of a cult anime series, now the series is back!  Speed Racer is here for Wii and DS. With 20 cars, extreme speed, Car-Fu action, stunt racing and loads more to boot - voice-overs from the film, including Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch), Racer X (Matthew Fox) and Trixie (Christina Ricci).

The game starts by asking you to choose single player or a two player, split-screen race. In single player mode, there is Championship, Single Race or Time Trial.
If you Select championship, there are three different classes. You start the game in class one, and progress to each further class, which unlock as you win more races, offering increasingly difficult tracks / opponents.
You then choose the driver, of which five out of 20 are available from the outset. Each driver has a series of ratings, including speed, acceleration, handling and speed, with the good all rounder being Speed Racer.

When you start to race you will find it really easy to play, using the Wii Remote, you hold it horitzontally to steer your car around brightly coloured, rollercoaster-like tracks filled with loop-the-loops, corkscrews and jumps at speeds over 350mph, slight turns are sometimes all you need to get round the super fast bends and loops. After playing it for a short time i can see the resemblance to Wipeout and F-Zero and it does seem just as solid.

It took me a while to get used to the “Car - Fu” style of driving where you can quickly move the Wii mote right or left to performa shunt, and then by pressing a directional on the D pad it will perform a “Car - Fu” move which there are a variety, each character seems to have a variation of Fu’s… One thing i must point out is whilst the Car-Fu ‘ ing is fun, it does really slow you down if you get it wrong and the unforgiving opponents do tend to kick your ass, but get it right and you get boosts a plenty!
Dotted around the track are “Speed Ups” to be in with a chance of winning its worth getting to know the track and trying to hit as many of these as possible.

The Speed Racer music compliments the intense racing action. The different characters say things as they pass, get passed, or try to pass. Most of the comments made are kinday cheesy but it all adds to the atmosphere. Its definatley worth experimenting with the different drivers as i found that just using speed Racer got boring quickly,  the other drivers seemed to make up for this with the different feel to the handling of the cars etc.

The cars look fantastic, the racing is fun, Car-Fu lets you bash your opponents of the wonderfully coloured tracks, its like a mind bending acid trip for your eyes….  The Ally/Rival system that lets you team up with other racers and score bonus Boost for smacking your rivals around is fun too, although it can make pulling Car-Fu moves tricky, on that note its definatley worth teaming up with more and more people as it helps you within the race.

All in all the game is fun, the tracks though nicely done seem too few and the longevity of the game will not be that long if you play it all the time, but with a few mates around using the split screen it will have a bit more lasting appeal.

Gameplay - 7/10 - Easy to play, good modes for all ranks of player, best in a crowd.
Graphics - 8/10 - Great Car Designs and Tracks a must see!
Controls - 7/10 - Wii-Mote controls easy to use
Sound - 8/10 - Great voices, fantastic music atmosphere is brilliant
Overall - 7/10 - This is a must for any Wii owner who loves this genre of game, you wont regret the buy esp with all the unlockables.