Drome Racers Review

Legos were an integral part of growing up, and it’s uncommon to hear the name Lego and not think about building cars. The original Lego Racers video game really brought this idea to life, letting you create your block-style cars and race them through Lego-inspired worlds. Now, we’ve progressed past this and moved onto the newer Drome Racer franchise. Does this really improve anything, though, or is it a step backwards?

If you’re going to take something Lego and turn it into a racing game, you’d better be able to build your own cars. Sad to say, this much-needed feature is not available in Drome Racers, and you will find yourself only buying and upgrading existing frames after earning the points to do so. The meat of the game takes place in the Career Mode where you play through several championships and race different challengers en route to the top. As mentioned before, the race tracks are bland in design and offer little more than a few no-brainer turns. Weapons are thrown in for good measure, but the weapons are lame, uninspired, and unforgiving. A few projectiles. A land mine. A force-field. A hover power-up which does more damage than good since it totally screws up how your vehicle moves. Some speed boost pads litter the tracks, breaking up the monotony, but the overall game feels very bland. You’ll race against only five other cars each time, and while the first race of a grand prix is tough because of the AI’s cheap tricks, the rest becomes ridiculously easy when you get to start in front.

The controls are, simply put, pure awful! For one, the gas is the R button, which is easy to forget and hurts your finger after a while. Why they did it this way, I don’t know, because it’s not like they used the whole controller. The only other functions are going in reverse and firing your weapon. No button to power-slide or jump or do anything cool. There’s no apparent way to configure the controller, either, so you’re stuck with the uncomfortable L, R, and A setup. To make matters worse, your car is ridiculously touchy, and a slight tap of the analog stick will cause you to skid out of control. Just think about what happens when a projectile or another car hits you. You spin out and usually end up facing the wrong direction. Then you have to spend a good ten seconds trying to get turned around, because the car suddenly gets overtaken by some unknown force that won’t allow you to go in reverse properly. In fact, sometimes your car will just freak out and stop responding for a few seconds, long enough for you to slam into a wall and get flipped around. Is this frustrating? You better believe it.

The single-player career mode is actually quite lengthy, consisting of novice, intermediate, and expert levels that each have several grand prix and challenge races. The races are all pretty easy, though, once you understand how to cope with the exaggerated physics, so the game can be finished in a few days without much trial-and-error. But there’s no point since getting 100% doesn’t open up any of the options that remain locked for the duration of the game. If you manage to do this anyway, there’s little incentive to keep playing afterwards. The inclusion of four-player racing and battling is very welcome, but because the game feels so clunky and “off,” you’d do better not to upset your friends and play something like F-Zero or Mario Kart instead.

Graphically, the car models are slick, smooth, and true to their real-life counterparts. The worlds they race in are fairly impressive, too, though the tracks are not revolutionary by any standards. Still, the ambience created is nicely done and is an appreciated change of pace from the usual drab look of futuristic racing games. Everything else looks (and is) dead. Drome Racers is burdened with loathsome load times, questionable framerates, and other graphical oddites. The cars don’t even sit on the track but rather float above it. No, this isn’t done on purpose. I should also mention that the world of Drome Racers is not filled with Lego people, but rather actual people. All look awful, and the game is home to one of the scariest-looking women you’ll ever see.

The sound effects, notably the engine noises, are loud and obnoxious. At least you can control the volume levels and turn these down. I could suggest just muting the game, but the included music is actually very cool. Granted, you may hate rock that borders on techno, but it is definitely the best thing about this game. Some songs even manage to make my top ten list when it comes to favorite video game music. Not bad for a game that fails at everything else.

Final Comments

The fun, charm, and creativity of the Lego roots seem to have disappeared, leaving this very plain and not-too-exciting racing game. I’ve played some bad games that were built upon good ideas, but Drome Racers really has nothing going for it… except for a stellar soundtrack. It’s too bad the rest of the game wasn’t given this same attention. It’s sloppy, choppy, and boring. You’re much better off playing the likes of F-Zero, Mario Kart, Extreme-G, etc. If you really have that hankering to play some Legos, but feel too old to take out the toy box, then buy the original Lego Racers. Drome Racers is undeserving of your time and money.