's Cruisin USA

close to the arcade but not close enough

People have checked out my Cruisin USA review!

Cruisn" USA was once, and still is, an awesome arcade game. It was the first game in my opinion that really stood out in terms of graphics, sound, replay value, and downright fun! It was released four years ago by Nintendo and was supposed to be one of the first games to appear on the Nintendo 64. It wasn't of course, but instead came out three months later. What should of been an exact arcade repilca, ended up being what some might call, a major letdown. Don't let the million seller logo fool you. Let me start this review off by saying that fans of the arcade version will probably like the N64 version. But they wont however, think that it is just like the arcade. The graphics are close,

showing off the detail (what little detail there is anyway!) of the arcade. However, the arcade had what some call "pop-up", which is basically background objects that you are approaching, that seem to pop-up out of nowhere. This isn't a good thing. It is really evident of the N64 version. Lets say that your approching a hill. It wont seem like it until your about two seconds away, and by then your usually all confused and end up crashing. Speaking of which, the crashes are very pathetic looking. There are really only three types of them, all which make no sense. The control is very poor. The analog stick really doesn't do any good, simply because it is to sensitive. One little jolt, and I mean little, to either left or right, and your car turns practicly 90 degress, causing you to go off the road. The control also stinks when you are trying to maneuver your car during low speeds. The problem is that you can't. This is especially bad when your stuck in huge pile ups. It makes it really hard to get out. The sound in the game is bad too. The sound of your car and the sounds it makes are very poorly done. The screeching of the tires is annoying enough to want to make you mute the TV. The music is even worse, displaying off-beat tunes that are very painful to the ears. All in all, the sound sucks. The replay value of the game is surprisingly good. There is something about this game, despite all of its flaws, that makes it extremely fun to play. Maybe its the over-simplified controls, or the ability to crash as many times as you want. I don't really know, but people seem to love this game. I, am one of those people. Overall this game is alright. I also should mention a few more flaws in the game. There is a considerable amount of slowdown when there is a lot of commotion of the screen at once. Especially in the two-player mode. The game has also been censored. No more seeing half dressed flag girls, or deer getting made into mush. It's all gone.

Pluses--------->Arcade fans will love it, good selection of cars, decent graphics, and a lot of fun for some strange reason.

Minuses--------->MAJOR Slowdown, tacky music and sound FX, weird control, and repetivness.

Nice try.....with a 5 out of 10