by Wyatt "JOEDOG" Elliott
From the makers of such excellent racing games as Monaco Grand Prix and Speed Devils comes a new super bike arcade racer. Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing for Sega Dreamcast is not going to start any revolutions on gaming.
For those of you who remember playing Sega's classic arcade game Super Hang On, are in for a treat. Ubi-Soft's Suzuki game as close as we can get to Hang On for Dreamcast.
Suzuki Alstare is the standard arcade racing format. Multiple bikes racing on multiple tracks with check points. Finishing first wins you the next stage. The graphics are the best feature in this game. Sharp detailed high resolution 60 frames per second bikes and landscapes make this game gorgeous. Very little pop-up even for a Dreamcast game.
The control is standard. Brake, gas, turbo, multiple views. Once you've mastered the game play in the first person view for extra challenges.
Just where Speed Devils failed before it, Suzuki falls flat in the sound department. The sound effects are decent, but the music is lame and uninspired. The game plays much better with sound effects turned up and music down low.
Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing does offer some fun. If you love extremely fast racing with hard core wipeouts and great graphics to boot, this game should be played. If you yearn for more than that in your racing games, than perhaps Speed Devils is your game.
PUBLISHER: UBI SOFT
GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND & MUSIC: 4 CONTROL: 5
SECRETS: N/A ORIGINALITY: 5 FUN & REPLAY: 4
OVERALL: 6