Remember the best things about the home console versions of Sega’s arcade hits “Crazy Taxi” and “Virtua Tennis”? They were, I believe, the mini-game collections. DennisMac was paying attention, because “Figure 8 Racing” has taken a page out of that book and put some creative mini-games into what would otherwise have been a fun, but short-lived, gaming experience.
First of all, Figure 8 racing is apparently an actual thing that people do, you know, in real life. Crazy as that sounds, there are people who are apparently willing to race around a figure 8, risking being t-boned repeatedly each race. So much for me assuming it was solely a crazy gaming concept of a sadistic game developer.
“Figure 8 Racing” the game looks like it was a mid-generation original Playstation game, which gives it a sort of charm if you remember playing the early Gran Turismos (or “Daytona” on the Sega Saturn if you prefer, or maybe even one of the “Cruis’n” games on the Nintendo 64). Graphics are competent enough, especially for those who’ll have them tickling their nostalgia bone.
The idea of racing around a figure 8 is cool at first, but would wear out its welcome if that’s all there was. Thankfully, there are a series of minigames that introduce a lot of different and unique challenges that are much more enjoyable (and provide some replay value as you try to best previous efforts). While the list is nowhere near as extensive as Xbox car crash hit “FlatOut”, or the Virtua Tennis and Crazy Taxi sequels who pushed the minigame list to their limit, it was enough for me to get my 80 Microsoft Points out of it.
Here’s what the developer (DennisMac) has to say about the game:
“Figure 8 Racing (F8R) is a casual racing experience which encourages vehicle contact in order to gain the advantage. With up to 4-player split screen, multiple tracks, customisable options and mini-games F8R offers something for everyone.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 