It isn’t too often a new type of game hits the scene. A few years
back, a company called Macromedia introduced Flash, a
way to combine standard animation, 2D/3D vector graphics and
compressed sound into an interactive platform that would transform
web development.
That change was not exactly the massive web-wide upgrade that was
hyped, but rather a general nuisance that caused relatively simple
information to be bogged down in an assload of fluff and load time.
Eventually someone realized that (like all worthy technology) flash
would be best suited for games (and cartoons). Early flash games
were most often crude platformers that were little fun to play, but
as time went on and the development tools became more complex – some
pretty cool little games actually made it to the scene. Games like a
faithful re-creation of the vector classic Battlezone and
pornographic Japanese dating simulators made finding flash gems fun.
Community sites like
www.newgrounds.com made finding flash games and animations that
fit your tastes easy.
Enter the talented group of Flash designers at
www.phantomgames.net. With Drag Racer, these guys have
created a game with incredible depth despite the simple medium in
which they work. At fewer than four megabytes, the downloadable
version of this game takes mere minutes on a dialup connection and
costs nothing for the standard issue of the game. This game was so
popular on Newgrounds that it had to be removed from the
feature page because of the bandwidth spike it caused. This level
public fandom is what originally sparked my interest.
Gran Turismo it Ain’t (but almost)
With over sixty cars (all of which can be fully customized) this
game is no slouch for variety. Several tracks are also offered, but
it ultimately makes little difference due to the nature of the game.
As this game only takes place on drag racing strips, there is no
steering involved… Instead, the strategy element is implemented by:
1. Getting off the line without making a false start
2. Deciding how far to push your RPMs before shifting
3. Shifting quickly enough to maintain speed, but timed
correctly so that you successfully shift
4. Burning NOS at the most beneficial time to gain an edge on
your CPU opponent
This is a very elegant system that makes good use of the limited
technology, but ultimately it is the superb balance which makes this
system great, as it is easy to learn and difficult to master.
The player starts with enough cash to buy a low-end car (like the
Honda CRX or Hyundai Tiberon) and perhaps small improvements like
exhaust upgrades or a NOS refill. Cash is earned by drag racing
other cars in five different classes over three sizes of tracks, the
shortest being the standard quarter-mile. You can also get larger
amounts of cash by racing the custom cars in ‘Story’ mode, as well
as gaining the car you defeat. This system allows the player to gain
better cars early on, but as any given car requires expensive
upgrades to really compete, the player must carefully choose which
car he wants to invest in. Your garage can only hold three cars,
which rounds out a car management system that adds a respectable
level of strategy.
Each car has body kits which can be purchased to customize your
ride, along with a remarkable amount of details: decals, spoilers,
neon chassis lights, rims, tire size, ride height and the ability to
create custom paint schemes. Add to this realistic performance
customizations that vary in cost to keep racers busy buying
upgrades, an intuitive menu system and the ability to tune your gear
ratios – and you’ve got a tight gearhead sim that is deep for any
platform, downright amazing for a Flash game.
It Came From the Second Dimension!
All of you PS2 fanboys who constantly insist that graphics do not
matter should love this one. Seriously though, the small file-size
and Flash medium pretty much limit game graphics to 2D, so I’m not
going to bitch. The reality here is that each car is detailed and
well animated, the interface works well and the overall package is
both stylish and functional.
Click Click Boom Click Click Boom Click Click Boom (Dear God,
please kill me.)
The music in this game is comprised of simple loops, which are
only a few seconds long. This means that you’ll be hearing one line
of the vocals over and over and over…
“It makes me want to put a bullet between the eyes of every
panda that wouldn’t screw to save its species”
– Ed Norton, Fight
Club
The clips without lyrics actually work well, and the selection of
music fits the game well… but the bottom line here is that if you
want to save space for the dialup crowd, nix the tunes altogether or
take less annoying samples.
Sound effects are sparse, but serve their purpose.
Final Digs
Drag Racer has crossed the line from being an interesting
diversion (which is what Flash is at best) to a full-on gaming
experience. I spent the entirety of the last weekend playing this
game, and actually came back for another four hours so far this
week. This level of infatuation with a Flash game is simply unheard
of, and as of right now this is as good as it gets.
If Phantom Games can continue this momentum, I predict
that they will be the leading name in the next generation of amateur
game developers. If you are at all interested in racing you owe it
to yourself to play this game. Period.
