Bang Bang Racing

 
Developer: Digital Reality Software & Playbox

Steam Release: Jun 2012

Hours Played: 7.5

Similar To: Mantis Burn Racing / Mini Motor Racing EVO / Reckless Racing

Rating: 5/5 Stars

GAMEPLAY

Bang Bang Racing is essentially one big lesson to other top-down racers on how to get things right. It is everything that Mini Motor Racing EVO tried to be and more. Graphics are top-notch, the cars hug the road realistically rather than float lightly on the surface and all the cars respond beautifully to the controls. The AI is even better than in Mini Motor Racing. With little to none of the rubber-banding mechanic noticeable, opponents will keep things very competitive by nudging and colliding with you mercilessly in a human-like effort to get to the front. Sure there is a little bunching up around corners but none of this is done in a crippling or deal-breaking way that may have been apparent in MMR. Races are often tense, adrenaline-fueled affairs that will keep you engrossed till you hit that finish line. 
 

BALANCE & PACE

There are three types of events: Standard Race throws you into a race of around 3-6 laps; Elimination takes out last place per lap till one man is standing and Time-Trial lets you do multiple solo attempts to get the best time. The cars themselves come in one of four class types with each of those having five cars to choose from. These are proficient in one of five specialisations: acceleration, nitro, top-speed, agility and health. Unlike MMR there is no upgrading involved - all are totally unlocked at the start of the game and you simply pick which car you think best suits the demands of the track. With less time spent spending and worrying about wasted cash, more time and effort can then be spent on actually racing and this works infinitely better!  

PRESENTATION & DESIGN

Like MMR, you'll certainly need a little time to become acquainted with how things are arranged via the menus. Clicking gives off the engine rev sound and pressing Play takes you to the choice of three modes. Career and Championship are very similar in that they are 4-tiered blocks of races and events (featuring the 4 classes: N-Dura, Evo GT, Protech and Apex) that you compete in to gain the gold award. These feature all the nine tracks that you can tackle in the other mode: Free Play. This is that part of the game where you can customise a standard or elimination race on an Easy, Normal or Hard setting as well as go for that time-trial which is where most hardcore players will be to perfect that time. To avoid sea-sickness, I advise changing the camera from Follow to Fixed position.     

PROGRESS SYSTEM

There are three ways to play this type of racing game: (1) treat the Career and Championship modes as levels to complete with the ultimate aim of gaining gold in all of them; (2) fine-tune your driving skills in the time-trials by recording ever-better times and seeing your name climb the leaderboard or (3) mess around customising standard races and elimination races while pushing yourself to do more laps (15 max) and hitting gold on tougher difficulty settings. Personally, my long-term plan is to practice and to improve my times with the different classes (and the five different cars for each) on the nine different tracks. For me, that's top-down racing heaven right there. Incidentally, best lap-times can be recorded for the leaderboards during a standard or elimination race as well as during a time-trial itself.   

CONCLUSION

So, in all, I'd say Bang Bang Racing comes a close third behind Reckless Racing and Little Racers Street in the top-down racing stakes. It runs silky-smooth with zero frame-rate issues, sports great colourful graphics, features a stable leaderboard system and is an all-round blast to play. Even if the AI is not to your liking, it has a superb time-trial component where you can solo the tracks unimpeded to your hearts' delight. Oh, each track has five alternative courses (long, short, reverse etc) as well. The only minor issue I have is that it perhaps could have benefited with the inclusion of a ghost car of your best time a la Little Racers Street or Reckless Racing but, hey, you can't have everything.