Say what you like, but I enjoyed the first iteration of Auto Modellista. Avoid the powersliding (which was broken) and it was a decent game with a great style and lots to do. The US Tuned version was rubbish. They tried to sort the handling problems of the original and in doing so completely ruined the flow of the racing, meaning you couldn't play a 'grip' style or a 'drift' style with any great finesse.
The problem with the first game was that it was difficult to control a slide, and when you slid the car you lost speed too quickly, meaning that you tended to stop mid-corner. You could avoid this problem by not trying to powerslide around every corner - it was very car dependent as some of the cars in the game had rubbish handling when you drove this way. Choose the right car and you were left with a decent enough racing game, even if it wasn't what you might have wanted.
The first US tuned versions made it easier to slide, but this upset the handling of many of the car models and it made driving in a grip style much more difficult and less rewarding. You still ground to a halt mid corner if you tried to slide, meaning the easier sliding was largely pointless.
The drift handling in this latest version has been further 'refined' and now you can powerslide like no mans business. It's like you're driving on marbles and the steering is almost as twitchy as Daytona on the DC. Even going in a straight line is a feat, but what it does mean is once you adapt to the controls, you can initiate a slide and actually control it for the first time ever in the series.
You still lose too much speed though. Quite often if I got over agressive I'd carry out an excellent drift, only to find myself going 35kph three quarters of the way through the corner, and then you'd have lost so much momentum that the drift would just grind to a halt and you'd be left pointing at the inside of the turn.
I've only played it for a short while in arcade mode so far, so I don't know if anything else has changed in the main body of the game, but there are new manufacturers - Hyundai (they weren't in the Japanese/US/UK versions, but were included in the Korean release on PS2 and GC), Dodge, Ford and Chevrolet. There are 2 new 'US' tracks, but these are massively disappointing - a dirt track oval and a nascar style oval speedway.
I haven't fully got to grips with the handling, but it's definitely better than the other 'US Tuned' games and is more like a fixed version of the first game, which pleases me. It's still very car dependent. Play with a FR car and you will slide whether you want to or not, making it quite tough to drive 'grip' around those corners you don't want to slide, but with a 4WD or FF car you get a better balance and can choose your moments.
Last night I was trying to initiate slight drifts, to keep my speed up through the turns, but I wasn't getting it - the handling model seems solid enough once you get used to the controls, but more practise is definitely needed - if they'd only got rid of the slowdown during slides then this could have been a really good game.
Overall is it worth a purchase? Not at ?40, no! For those who have played any of the AMs in the past and enjoyed it but been annoyed by the handling then no, it doesn't fix it enough. For anyone who'd been tempted to get an AM game before and has been put off by the bad reviews in the past then I'd say yes, for ?15 from Play Asia it's worthwhile - it's the best of the lot to date, although still not properly sorted. For anyone like me who liked the first (or second) and enjoys lots of cars, tuning options, collecting and unlocking rubbish then defintely get it.
No Hi Def by the way - 480p with an NTSC output from the Xbox, and it doesn't take advantage of the Xbox hardware, in fact I'd say it possibly looked better on the GC.
The problem with the first game was that it was difficult to control a slide, and when you slid the car you lost speed too quickly, meaning that you tended to stop mid-corner. You could avoid this problem by not trying to powerslide around every corner - it was very car dependent as some of the cars in the game had rubbish handling when you drove this way. Choose the right car and you were left with a decent enough racing game, even if it wasn't what you might have wanted.
The first US tuned versions made it easier to slide, but this upset the handling of many of the car models and it made driving in a grip style much more difficult and less rewarding. You still ground to a halt mid corner if you tried to slide, meaning the easier sliding was largely pointless.
The drift handling in this latest version has been further 'refined' and now you can powerslide like no mans business. It's like you're driving on marbles and the steering is almost as twitchy as Daytona on the DC. Even going in a straight line is a feat, but what it does mean is once you adapt to the controls, you can initiate a slide and actually control it for the first time ever in the series.
You still lose too much speed though. Quite often if I got over agressive I'd carry out an excellent drift, only to find myself going 35kph three quarters of the way through the corner, and then you'd have lost so much momentum that the drift would just grind to a halt and you'd be left pointing at the inside of the turn.
I've only played it for a short while in arcade mode so far, so I don't know if anything else has changed in the main body of the game, but there are new manufacturers - Hyundai (they weren't in the Japanese/US/UK versions, but were included in the Korean release on PS2 and GC), Dodge, Ford and Chevrolet. There are 2 new 'US' tracks, but these are massively disappointing - a dirt track oval and a nascar style oval speedway.
I haven't fully got to grips with the handling, but it's definitely better than the other 'US Tuned' games and is more like a fixed version of the first game, which pleases me. It's still very car dependent. Play with a FR car and you will slide whether you want to or not, making it quite tough to drive 'grip' around those corners you don't want to slide, but with a 4WD or FF car you get a better balance and can choose your moments.
Last night I was trying to initiate slight drifts, to keep my speed up through the turns, but I wasn't getting it - the handling model seems solid enough once you get used to the controls, but more practise is definitely needed - if they'd only got rid of the slowdown during slides then this could have been a really good game.
Overall is it worth a purchase? Not at ?40, no! For those who have played any of the AMs in the past and enjoyed it but been annoyed by the handling then no, it doesn't fix it enough. For anyone who'd been tempted to get an AM game before and has been put off by the bad reviews in the past then I'd say yes, for ?15 from Play Asia it's worthwhile - it's the best of the lot to date, although still not properly sorted. For anyone like me who liked the first (or second) and enjoys lots of cars, tuning options, collecting and unlocking rubbish then defintely get it.
No Hi Def by the way - 480p with an NTSC output from the Xbox, and it doesn't take advantage of the Xbox hardware, in fact I'd say it possibly looked better on the GC.
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