[Review] BC Racers

REVIEW # 00000000 00100110

No, it’s not Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and no, this is not a sexy racing game. B.C. Racers it’ s only a racing game. A funny one, where you don’t have to compete at the last gasp, but where you only have to enjoy the cartoon style and sometimes swear against some of the opponents. So let’s say a good pastime.

My heart says…

I don’t remember when I played it the first time but I remember I immediately liked it so I kept playing it every year maybe not continuously, maybe just a touch and go, but BCR is always there, in a small corner of the hard disk of my PC. It’s not an unforgettable game but has always been funny spending some time on it.

Splash screen

An intro that reminds me Pushover a lot with its carnoonish pixellated style. Quite fun though, I’ve always loved intros like this.

Graphics

Funny I have to say. Funny is the keyword of this game, in every single aspect, so even in the visual department. Some magazine in the past criticized the too-pixellated graphic but let me tell it: if you need to play a racing game you won’t play BC Racers, so you don’t have to blame the developers for such a light tone product. So for me, being this a comic-style game, the colourful graphics are more than enough.

Narrative

Gameplay

Here’s the catch. With a three button controller, BC Racer was really awful and difficult to handle. By the way I always got the PC version so with a keyboard it wasn’t so hard to manage the controls. On the contrary it was the easiest thing. Unfortunately I can only evaluate the PC version so for all the SegaCD-ers around here: don’t blame me.

There are 4 difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard and Rock-Hard and 8 different circuits. Every difficulty level has its own set of circuits giving a total of 32 tracks and at least a couple of hours of play. The easy version is really for hyper-beginners since it’s easier than cut the butter with an hot knife. But when you’ll reach the Rock-Hard level…hmmm don’t be so sure you will beat all the opponents in every race.

During the race you can trigger a turbo for a couple of seconds but this is not the core of the game; the most important thing you have to do is try to wreck other opponentt bikes (obviously without getting wrecked) to avoid them scoring points and gain positions in the final score.

Among the characters I would like to mention especially Granite & Tina, who were my favourites, not only because maybe they were the strongest in the game, but because Granite (or Tina) was the sexier among all.

Another mention goes to the poor Stiggy and Steggy, always the last two on the track but always the first two in my heart. The first time I saw them in first position (it happens a couple of times but only in one track and only in a precise difficulty level – I don’t want to tell you which one) I refused to attack them for the victory and I stand third defending them from the other opponents. I’ve always thought this could have helped my Karma (and maybe it did…)

Sound

The only department below the average is the sound which is very repetitive and poor. Again, this is not a game you expect great things from, but maybe they could have put a bit more efforts in this.

Longevity

If you consider this parameter regardless the game dynamics, 6/10 will be too much, but being this a pastime-game, just to have fun for half an hour or a bit more, 32 sceneries are more than enough. So I think 6/10 it’s a fair grade.

Final Score 61/100

An honest game, nothing special to emphasize, nothing particular to criticize.

Year: 1994

Developer: Core Design

Publisher: Core Design

Genre: Racing

Games Mode: Single Player, Multiplayer

Original Platform: Mega-CD, ported on Sega 32X, 3DO, MS-DOS

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