Nerd Mentality

4x4 Evolution 2

Posted by Archived.

4x4's rarely ever fulfill their real purpose -- to be driven in the rugged outdoors. They're designed to conquer the toughest of terrain, deep waters, mud pools and everything else mother nature can dish out. Considering their price tags, owners won't even tolerate a scratch to deface the surface. Well no need to worry, park those beauties back in the garage. Terminal Reality brings you 4x4 Evolution 2, an average racing experience for all you 4x4 enthusiasts.

Gameplay

In a game like this, the only mode that players will want to play is the very extensive Career mode. While there is Quick race, Time Trial and Free Roam I doubt players will want to spend much time in those areas unless they have limited time on their hands. In many respects 4x4 Evo 2 can be considered the Grand Turismo of 4x4's -- it follows many of the same fundamentals. You buy a vehicle, then race, earn money, then buy some parts, earn more money, then buy more cars, buy parts for those and then you do it all over again. Isn't it great? The product catalog isn't as extensive when compared to Grand Turismo but still features an impressive list. Players can buy parts in a wide range of categories including Appearance, Brakes, Engine, Suspension, Tires and so on. On starting a new career players are given $100,000 to spend as they please. This is more than adequate to buy a nice 4x4 or two and add a few accessories. The list of 4x4's is impressive numbering 40 from the world's best automobile manufactures in the world -- here is a complete list.

• Jeep

• Dodge

• GMC

• Nissan

• Toyota

• Lexus

• Mitsubishi

• Chevrolet

• Inifiniti

Sorry, no Mercedes or Ford.

Players will have to sacrifice quite some time and learn about the various parts and components. Before each race players can tweak Tire Type, Transmission, Suspension, Axle Ratio, Brake Balance, Torque Split, and Handling Balance. The manual outlines and explains the effects of these changes very well, so refer to the manual if you're feeling overwhelmed and confused. After selecting the 4x4, players can head over to the Series, Qualifying Event, Team or Missions. The Series is the meat of the game as this is where you will be competing in hundreds of races to earn the big bucks. The Qualifying Event is specific manufacturer races where you will have to own a specific brand to competep; this area will get you some pocket change. In Team Mode players can join a team thereby being able to buy some special parts, but you have to earn the teams respect first by racing well in the Series races. The Missions are an alternate or additional way to earn money by completing various objectives such as delivering or picking up cargo. Overall you will find yourself spending all your time in the Series mode, and the others you will barely ever need to touch.

The Series mode is very deep and is made up of various races taken place in 30 different tracks -- 4 of them exclusive to GameCube. Some races will be one lap short while others will be 5 long laps of boring endurance. There are a huge variety of designed tracks with many different types of terrain, muddy, sandy, smooth, and many more. Some of the tracks will have less bumps and jumps while others well shake you silly. And then there is even tracks where you will have to slowly trudge up almost vertical hills -- lots of fun there. The tracks are well designed and a joy to ride, filled with enough challenging turns hills to keep things exciting. The weather usually has no effect on your racing except the fog which is almost impossible to drive in. A tad overdone I think. Players are only able to race against 3 other opponents, a huge drawback that really tints the games value. The Xbox version enable player to race against 7 other opponents. Why they decided to cut the number is really a mystery and 4x4 Evo 2 in no way strains the GC hardware. This is very disappointing -- only being able to race 3 opponents really decreases the fun factor. The manual indicates 7 but it seems the manual hasn't been edited properly from the Xbox release. It sill indicates that you start off with 30,000, but this is incorrect as well.

The computer AI is almost human -- in other words, not perfect, as they will make the stupidest of mistakes. They will knock into signs and other obstacles, get stuck in deep waters, or misjudge their speed when approaching a turn there by flying way off course. They will even cut through the dirt and shove each other around. I normally avoid taking shortcuts because it's dishonorable, but when the computer AI is doing it then I don't have much choice. The impressive AI delivers an overall realistic experience that is randomized to keep you guessing.

4x4 Evo 2 shares the same camera problems as the Xbox Version. In many racing games the chase near camera is the most commonly used camera as it gives a nice view of the track while making your vehicle large enough to drool over. But not in this case -- the chase near camera can be very troublesome and almost un-useable. When on level terrain, it works fine but as soon as you go downhill the camera pans down filling your view with the bottom rear of the vehicle, making it impossible to see what lies ahead. Similarly the same distortion occurs when going up hill -- the camera pans onto the roof once again making it difficult to see. This problem is serious considering it's an off road game and players will be doing their fair share of up and down hill driving. Actually, you will rarely encounter level ground. To remedy the problem you will have to use the in vehicle camera; or, if you prefer seeing your 4x4, you can use the chase far camera. It works just fine but unfortunately your vehicle will look like a hotwheel.

But the problems don't stop there -- the collision physics are very glitchy. When on your own and knocking into obstacles, everything works fine; but as soon as you start hitting other vehicles it all goes downhill. When you continually knock into a vehicle the game will glitch all of a sudden pushing you ahead or behind the car. It looks very weird, especially when you're battling it out with all 3 vehicles at once. All it becomes is a circus of vehicles twitching back and forth. It's hard to imagine until you experience it yourself. Finally, the load times are also a problem and aren't very pleasurable, they can last any where up to 30 seconds.

Graphics

The most impressive visual entity in 4x4 is the many beautiful vehicles included in the game. While some look better than others, the overall craftsmanship on these babies are top notch with a nice coat of reflection mapping, especially on my favorite Jeep -- Grand Cherokee. But too bad the same can't be said about the tracks; they are often infected with many blurred textures and low polygons. The terrain texturing is notably blurry and clashes with the well modeled vehicles driving above. The rain effects are laughable, in other words their ugly. You can you see a few drops here and there and there are absolutely no effects when the rain makes contact with the ground.

The dust effects on the other hand are very nice as are the tracks that are left behind by the vehicles. Some of the tress and other greenery are also notably well done but that is all the eye candy you will get. Like many racing games featuring authentically licensed vehicles, you won't be able to damage your vehicle. Aside from getting it dirty, your 4X4's well remain in mint condition despite your constant abuse. Despite the lackluster visuals, 4x4 manages to produce a shaky frame rate, but for the most part it will stay steady enough not to disturb your performance. Overall 4x4 Evo 2's visual are sub par -- the bad outweighs the good.

Sound

I think they were taking a nap in this department. All the engines sounds change depending on your camera view or when shirting gears. You will even hear the engine struggle as you trudge up a steep hill. But this is about all they got right -- beside the engine sounds and the music, there is nothing else to be heard. When you jump off a steep place, you land without making a sound; when hitting a bump, no sound, when sliding, no sound, when hopping up and down on bumpy roads, no sound. Where did they all go? However there are sound effects when entering the water and some very dull repetitive sounds when bumping the other cars. The music isn't all that great either as you barely can make out what they're singing.

Replay Value

If you are able to endure the many long races and tolerate only racing with 3 opponents than this game can give you endless amount of game time. With so many races to compete in you can go on forever; then of course there is the enjoyment of buying all the vehicles and enhancing them with everything possible. The two player mode is also very nice as you're able to add in 2 computer opponents and load up your enhanced Career vehicles. To sum it up, if you're able to overlook the downfalls, you can enjoy this game for quite some time.

This game gets an N-Philes score of C-.

4x4 Evo 2 is Nintendo's first in depth simulation racer. Like I mentioned earlier, you will have to sacrifice some time and learn all the various components and how to tweak you vehicle. These options are a godsend to gear heads like me, but you can still play through without having to learn everything. While the game is headed in the right direction, it has its share of technical problems and the below average visuals don't help at all. I had very high expectations for this game but the camera problems and lack of opponents turned me away from the overall good gameplay.

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