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Race Driver: Create & Race
For Nintendo DS
Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Firebrand Games
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Codemasters has popped the trunk and created a cool brand new game in the Race Driver series. But rather than the expected next-generation outing, Race Driver: Create & Race will only be available on DS. This has given Codemasters the chance to ignore the graphical rat-race and focus on the elements that make racing games fun in the first place.
Every aspect from graphics to handling has been designed from the ground up, as is the new and course-creation tool. This allows you to design your own track and either race the computer on it, or try to beat three friends using wireless multiplayer. You'll also be able to cart-share locally. Or you can simply zip around one of 32 real-world circuits using your pick of 25 proper pucker motors, including the Koenig GT and Chevrolet Silverado Truck. Even more cars and courses lie in wait for those who beat the World Tour Mode, too, adding up to a grease-covered overall's worth of fun. And don't let other shonky racing games on the DS put you off, as Codemasters has pushed the envelope with this one.
Once you've conquered the 32 in-game tracks, which include Silverstone, Bathhurst, Nurburgring, then Create & Race players can really challenge themselves and their friends with a never-ending number of track combinations. Players can also lay down track on a grid-based template using the free-draw tool, with the DS working out fiddly bits like rotation. Or you can add things like speed ovals, hairpins, chicanes, pit-stops, dips, bridges, run-offs and all sorts of scenery by hand. And then delete it with the rubber. Once you're happy with a track, you can take a 3D fly-through of it or test-drive it on your own, and of course you can also race against the AI or join with up to three friends for single- or multi-card Wi-Fi play.
There's nothing sweeter than inviting up to three friends to race on your very own track... and owning them on it!
The engine is amazing, the 3D has rarely looked as slick on DS as it does here. It's beautiful, and it's frighteningly rapid. The handling has also been tweaked for a more Nintendo DS-y experience. Race Driver can be an unforgiving game, but the handling for the DS game is firmly set for fun. Don't worry about bashing the other cars or clipping the grass, you'll get away with it.
So then this is exactly what Codemaster needed to do to make Race Driver fun on the smallest screen.
Race Driver: Create & Race out on the Nintendo DS platform on 28th September
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