A Review: AeroGauge, N64 1998

A game that is remarkably similar to the popular Wipeout and Extreme-G games, with play that is nearly identical to that of said games. I found this one after testing out Extreme-G, and I thought that it would be an interesting game at the very least.

AeroGauge is a sci-fi hovercraft racing game that pits the player against a lineup of varied 'aeromachines' in a series of races across different courses for a shot at a championship title. Play is simple and easy to pick up, and the game even featured limited split-screen multiplayer. The main difference between this game, Extreme-G, and Wipeout is that the vehicles in this game fly rather than hover or drive over the various tracks.

I hated this game; it was just crap in my opinion, with very little in the way of redeeming qualities. The tracks were poorly laid out, with some ridiculously harsh turns, drops, and breaks that had my racer smash and wreck almost constantly. It was so bad that I avoided some tracks and despised having to race them to complete the game. There were no pickups or bonuses that could be collected to help the player with the insane difficulty spikes. Objects seemed to just appear out of nowhere and destroy the players 'aeromachine', throwing you to the back of the pack, where you would often stay unless you restarted. The computer players always seemed to be faster, and it was obvious that they drove on perfect rails, rarely ever making a single mistake unless the player rammed into them. Controls were sluggish or far too sharp, and it was mandatory to learn the way that the game wanted you to play, as it would not accept any variation at all. Most of my playthrough was done while grinding my teeth and with a finger constantly twitching to stab the reset button and shut the pain off.

The visuals weren't that much better either, with harsh lines and lots of jagged edges that were meant to be curves. The aeromachines were ugly boxes with very little detail, apart from blurry lines and poorly-skinned paint jobs. Yeah, they were individual to the various racers, but only as far as a box with different squares and rectangles slapped on it could be. The courses were either plain or dark and blurry, with shadows and black patches everywhere. The lighting effects were poor, and you could see the square shapes of light patches, with circles apparently being beyond this game's rendering ability. The interface was horrible, with menu items being shifted to one side or the other where translated text boxes hadn't been resized or moved. At times it was impossible to avoid colliding with things, as far too many times objects were perfectly blended into the environments. Which was incredibly frustrating and irritating, as it meant that no matter what that player did, no matter how good they got, it wouldn't be enough. It drove me mad, as this game had promise, but the finished product was so mind-blowing crap that it shot itself in the face. It was such a shame, as this could have been a really good game with some more effort and polish.


2/10 – What The Hell Did I Just Play! 

Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ