View Feedback | Send this Article | Published 4/18/03

Graphic By: Nick Pietron

Gameplay
Capcom wanted to make a game that could rival "Gran Turismo" for realism, but still give it the arcade feel that Capcom is used to. They almost succeeded, and in fact, probably did something a little better. In "Gran Turismo," you get to upgrade your car's internal parts and tweak every setting on the vehicle to make it perform how a real car does. If that is not enough, when you are on the road, you actually have to drive it like a real car, too, which means you can't just whip around corners. You actually have to slow down and take corners the way a real driver would.

"Auto Modellista" tries to imitate this and expand upon it. You can upgrade your car and tweak individual parts to alter the car's performance, but they expanded on the idea by using real manufacturers and real parts in the game to choose from. This means when you choose new tires, you also get to choose the brand of tire.

"Auto Modellista" also supports upgrading of the outer areas of the car, allowing you to put body kits, spoilers, hoods, and mirrors on the car. A lot of these are modeled after real aftermarket parts that truly fit the street cars today, and you will also be choosing brand names for these. Then, you can paint the individual parts of the car and throw a few stickers on it to show your sponsorship. You can even make and edit your own stickers using the built- in editing tools.

Once you get your car tweaked and make it look real pretty, you can go pick form its numerous racetracks (a lot of which are just recycled with the start and finish line swapped, reversed, or a change in weather), and put your car to the test. This is where the unfortunate side arises. All that tweaking you did was almost useless. The game still plays very much like an arcade-racer and it doesn't take more than a few minutes to pull ahead of the pack and leave all the other cars in your dust. It also doesn't do any good to realistically take the turns, since you barely lose any speed on hitting the wall, and you can just drift around the corners using the wall to keep you from spinning out. Turns out the game is not realistic at all, but then it is drawn like a cartoon.

The online play, however, is a little better. It is a great way to show off your car to other drivers, and then hop on the track to race up to seven other players. This is much more challenging than the lousy AI racers, and you will have to actually learn how to drive in order to win any of the races.

In single-player mode, the more you drive and win, the more you unlock. More upgrades, more parts, and more cars become available as you progress in the game, giving it a pretty nice replay value. You can also unlock items to put into your garage, and then decorate the place to look like home. At the menu screen, press the triangle button and go look around your garage, admiring every curve and edge on your vehicle. Put in a dresser and display the trophies you have won. This is the only racing game that lets you customize so much of the playing area.

And speaking of customization, the replay theatre is amazing. With this tool, you can take a saved replay, add music to it, and play with numerous screen effects, camera angles, and filters to make a completely wonderful music video. The editor has a small steep learning curve, but once you figure it out, it turns out to be really fun.

Graphics
It is necessary to enjoy cartoons to play this game. The game is drawn in complete cel-shading, and it actually looks really good. The cars are completely rendered with an animated effect making them look even faster than they are. Unlike previous racers, where you feel like you are just trucking along while your speed limit reads 210 mph, "Auto Modellista" gives players a real sense of how fast they are going, using animated tire skids, sparks, and lines that come from the edge of the screen in toward the car to help you see the world blur past you as the car picks up speed. The environments look a lot less cartoon-like than the cars, but still retain bright colors, so it's almost like putting a cartoon automobile into a halfway-realistic world. Overall, the graphics are top notch and are the game's strongest point.

Sound
The sound in this game is absolutely horrendous. Never has there been such a horrible soundtrack laced with the most annoying announcer ever heard. This guy with a high-pitched voice yells things at random times like, "Cool," and, "Keep rockin' baby." The music is bad, but not the worst ever produced. Its tunes are a little catchy to drive around the track to, but the car sounds are really bad. There is the stupid cracking sound when you hit a wall or another car, and the engines all sound completely the same. It is so cool to have the sound of the car sliding across the track around a turn, but it just sounds like a mouse squeaking before it dies.

Overall
Overall, "Auto Modellista" is a great game. What it lacks in sound and realism, it makes up for with wonderful graphics, the ability to customize anything, and a truly innovative replay editor. The game ends up being an arcade-like hit with a bit of realism thrown in. It works for the beginner as well as the professional. If you hate tweaking cars, or you just aren't good at it, it's no problem. The game has you covered. You can answer a few simple questions about the track and your desired driving style, and it will tweak the car for you. It also offers an email system that delivers messages and tips about tuning, track driving, and general hints throughout the game as you progress. Add a very strong network support to this, and what you get is a game worthy of any race fan's collection. As for the high starting price of Playstation games today, wait a while for this one. It is a great game, but not strong enough to avoid the 20 dollar price drop that happens to games that don't hold the public's attention long enough. Give it a few months, and then try it out.

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Nick Pietron is the Vent Section Manager, and enjoys climbing walls and swinging from webs in his spare time.