Jump to content

My Qualms with Stunt Rally


Baz
 Share

Recommended Posts

Im gonna rant for a little bit here and just say a few things about the game. Now I'm crazy about all the LEGO Racers games, even Drome Racers. This one always was a bit of a disappointment with me though. I'm probably not alone in thinking this but after experiencing LEGO Racers, I full expected this installment to be like that game, but with tracks that you could build, which was an awesome concept to me at the time.

Mainly, what I took issue with was the fact that:

  1. You were in a forced overlooking 3rd person, rather than the over the shoulder and first person available in all the other racing games
  2. The actual racing was simplified to the point of being simply boring. You can successfully navigate most of the tracks just by holding down the forward button, since it makes all the turns for you. Sure there are actual turning keys but they only move you from side to side along the track.
  3. You can't build you're own cars.
  4. The stunts that the game revolves around weren't that interesting, seeing as the player has so little control over the actual racer.
  5. The whole you-need-a-printer-hooked-up-because-taking-screenshots-and-printing-those-is-too-difficult thing...I only just recently got it working without the need for a printer and I'm not even sure why it stopped working in the first place.

I'm wondering at what point did they decide to simplify the game down that much. Would it really be that difficult to make it a driver-perspective racing game? It has plenty of cool power-ups, and the map editor is great and easy to use, with plenty of content. In my opinion this is one of the few games from that era (Rock Raiders being another) that didn't live up to its full potential. But I digress...it's fun enough to mess around with the map editor and one can use their imagination, but it doesn't have as much replay value in my book as Racers 1 & 2, and even Drome Racers, which also lacked car building.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good post, one that I agree with entirely.

Third person view doesn't give you the same feel as first or second person view. You don't feel like you are driving the car, rather just watching the race. The fact that you can't actually turn your car other than moving to each side of the track and speeding up/slowing down adds to this player-game disconnect. If the view wasn't in third person, I could have overlooked the fact that the game doesn't allow you to build cars because you can build tracks instead.

Making the game in first person would not have been hard. However they would have needed to improve texture quality due to the player being closer to all the objects. This was probably a decision that was made early on in the development.

To me, the game feels like the flash games on LEGO's website because of the lack of control and third person view.

It could have been better, it could have even matched LEGO Racers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mr. Eight-Three-One

I agree wholeheartedly on everything. The track builder is the only redeeming factor to me.

The big problem here, to me, is that they suddenly went from an ages 6-10 target audience to a 3-5 target audience. Why they'd do this is just beyond me. If you're an older fan of other Lego games, you could have easily been suckered into buying this one! And trust me, even in the sense of the target audience, it's still not even that good. If you think I wouldn't know, keep in mind you're looking at the kid who was covered in ages 3-5 games in their youth, and after throwing them into the dumpster, he actually went through the trouble of acquiring them again. I just found little enjoyment from this game. Like you guys said, this is a game you could easily win by holding the up key, and applying the brakes at every sharp turn.

Overall, I'd say they missed the mark on this one. If you're going to make it for younger kids, that's fine. But could you please make it more obvious? Like I already said, you wouldn't know it's this way unless you did research. I don't think this game would have gotten half the criticism if they just marketed it right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lol username

My guess is that they were trying to make a LEGO video game version of a slot car toy. You know, where you can put tracks together which have grooves in them, which the cars then race around, and all you do is hold down the trigger on your remote and try not to go so fast you fly off the track...

... But if you're making a video game, why stick to the real life limits of toy car tracks? :\

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion this is one of the few games from that era (Rock Raiders being another) that didn't live up to its full potential.

I'd be curious to know why you think that and in what ways Rock Raiders didn't live up to its full potential. Considering the short comings of Stunt Rally you laid out, I can't help but feel that RR is a far more cohesive and completed project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion this is one of the few games from that era (Rock Raiders being another) that didn't live up to its full potential.

I'd be curious to know why you think that and in what ways Rock Raiders didn't live up to its full potential. Considering the short comings of Stunt Rally you laid out, I can't help but feel that RR is a far more cohesive and completed project.

Oh definitely, the amount of work they put into the RR franchise as a whole is exceptional, and the game is no exception. But I don't think a good 3/4 of the base game is all that interesting, and they could have done a lot more with their caverns, and a lot of things, particularly stuff like the mining lasers ended up being completely useless compared to the drilling vehicles. If I had felt RR lived up to its full potential I wouldn't have made my mod :P

That being said, maybe when modding comes to stunt rally we can figure out how to get a first person version with full control over the car :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But I don't think a good 3/4 of the base game is all that interesting, and they could have done a lot more with their caverns, and a lot of things, particularly stuff like the mining lasers ended up being completely useless compared to the drilling vehicles.

Ah, so mechanics-wise. Yes, that does make sense and I would agree for the most part. I would say though that for a bunch of 8-year-olds it was pretty complex regardless :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Oh definitely, the amount of work they put into the RR franchise as a whole is exceptional, and the game is no exception. But I don't think a good 3/4 of the base game is all that interesting, and they could have done a lot more with their caverns, and a lot of things, particularly stuff like the mining lasers ended up being completely useless compared to the drilling vehicles. If I had felt RR lived up to its full potential I wouldn't have made my mod :P

Karl said they were being pushed for time, so a number of their ideas never get implemented as they had to get it finished. If they had one month more time, who knows how different they game would have been, maybe there would be so many of those bugs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Karl said they were being pushed for time, so a number of their ideas never get implemented as they had to get it finished. If they had one month more time, who knows how different they game would have been, maybe there would be so many of those bugs.

I think you wrote that wrong.

Who knows, maybe some of the hardcoded stuff might have been unhardcoded...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Well, Stunt Rally = IG

IG = LEGO Loco

LEGO Loco = Intended for Young Kids

you may have understand what I said...

But I actually find fun the way you just need to press up, but the best was the track builder and the musics, after all everything has a good side, no?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But I actually find fun the way you just need to press up

There's no actual gameplay. You just press up and tap left and right now and then.

but the best was the track builder

The ONLY good part.

after all everything has a good side, no?

No.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 years later...
Cyberbrickmaster86

My gripe which no one seems to have an issue with, is that Mr. X in the menus treats you like an idiot and won't shut up. Even if you turn him off, he will still show up from time to time to remind you how to turn him back on again, because he doesn't trust you enough to figure things out on your own. It's really annoying!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.