Choro Q

Here we have the latest entry in the Choro Q universe, this time for Gamecube. Simply titled Choro Q, this particular entry falls into the straight forward racer mold of Choro Q games as opposed to the RPG style that some of the other titles use. Therein lies the games main problem, it's a little too straight forward for it's own good. There is nothing to really differentiate itself from the millions of other racers out there. It does feature the trademark Choro Q customization, however, that is still not enough to save this title from mediocrity.

Speaking of customization, it plays a big part in the game, as is par for the course when it comes to the series. Planning to race off road? Make sure you've got the proper tires equipped or no amount of racing skill is going to help. You can outfit your vehicle with different varieties of tires, engines, spoilers, breaks, and weapons among other things. In addition to the standard parts you can also equip extra visual items such as Police lights. These items serve no purpose, apart from modifying the look of your car. Rather than have more than one car in your garage, you get one base car and you just switch the body as though it were a standard part. This is good if you want to keep the same part set up with a new body, but it means you are unable to have a dedicated off road, on road or snow car. So, before each race you are bound to be doing some tinkering with your car's setup to make it ready for that particular race. You will have to buy a vast majority of your parts at the shop. Money doesn't grow on trees, so you'll have to compete in races to earn some loot. Don't worry, you do not have to come in the top three to get cash, so even if you have a horrible vehicle you can still earn some money, albeit very slowly. The position you finish in determines the amount of money you bring home.

In addition to buying new bodies for your car there are a few that you can only get by winning races. Coming in first place on a particular track will unlock a new body for you to use. There is one body to unlock in every track, so the only way to get every body in the game is to come in first place on every race. There are roughly 100 different bodies featured in the game ranging from all manners of Cars, Trucks and even some rather strange vehicles. My favorite being a replica of the car from the board game Life, complete with little blue and pink pegs representing a family. Something about driving down the road in that vehicle with a giant rocket launcher pegged on the back is appealing.

As with all of the previous Choro Q games, the handling can only be described as atrocious when you first start playing the game. The game relies on customization and until you upgrade your car a bit, you will have problems with the car handling. Trust me though, it gets better. Give the game a chance, it would be a shame to dismiss it before you've properly tuned your car. Sure, you may have to suffer through a few races but once you get your car in order you can race with the best of them. I'd say that most of the hate for this series stems from complaints about the handling, which is easily remedied by upgrading your vehicle.

All of your standard single player racing modes are present: Grand Prix, Challenge Race and Free Run. Free Run allows you to practice on the various tracks you've unlocked. Challenge Race is the single race mode. Placing in the top three here unlocks newer tracks, and snagging first place nets you a new car body. There are thirty-six races in Challenge mode. Grand Prix has you take part in a set of races, gaining points based on your position at the end of each race. At the end of the Grand Prix these points are tallied up and the racer with the highest point total is the overall winner. Coming in first place overall unlocks a new car body. There are six sets of races in Grand Prix mode. They are Short, Middle, Long and Reverse versions of those three. Each set features six races.

I bet you're thinking "Wow that sounds like a lot of tracks!" I'm sorry to have given you that impression because one of Choro Q's downsides is a lack of tracks. There are only six main courses. Each course has three versions, a short, middle and long, arguably brining the total number of courses to eighteen. Counting the reversed versions brings us to thirty-six. A pretty sneaky way to make up for a small number of tracks. Each version of the track basically presents an alternate route through the environment. In other words, you have six different environments each with three different paths. Unfortunately, the courses are rather small and not near as interesting as the courses in previous Choro Q games. A Long course is two laps and a novice driver can likely finish the longest course in the game in roughly four minutes total. It is really disappointing to see such uninteresting track design since Choro Q has always been about the wacky courses. The biggest offender is the Snow track, which is pretty much a carbon copy of every other track with a snow theme that came before it.

That's not to say that all of the tracks are horrible, it's just that, when you only have six different environments to make, there is no excuse for such standard track design. In addition to the Snow track, the courses you have to choose from are Choro Q Circuit, Kid's Room, Choro Q Park, Choro Q Highway and After School. Choro Q Circuit is yet more uninteresting drivel and is nothing more than a standard oval track. The most interesting course of the bunch has got to be Kid's Room, which surprisingly enough takes place in a child's bedroom. At the beginning of the course you drive down a clear yard stick from the desk to the floor. In the reverse version of this track you have to drive up the yardstick. there are no walls, so if you fall off be prepared to lose precious time. It's quite fun to knock opponents off on the last lap, often costing them the race. In one of the versions of the course you'll also have to race through a "Beyblade" arena complete with tops that attempt to knock you out of the race. I think it's called Beyblade anyway, whatever that lame anime about tops is called. There is also a section of the race that takes place on a Lego roadway! Keep an eye out for the Gamecube in the middle of the room and Transformers advertisements on the course walls. Back to the uninteresting course design, we have Choro Q Highway, this is no different from all other futuristic highway courses we've seen in numerous other racers. Choro Q Park is a little better, taking place in a children's playground. Plus, you have to give it credit for using the name of the Saturn Choro Q game. Here you'll find everything you'd expect to see in a playground. Memorable sections include riding up a see saw to avoid a puddle and riding up a slide. Finally we have After School, which, as you can imagine, takes place in and around a school. This course will take you from a classroom to the school pool and then right into the locker room. Next to Kid's Room, I'd have to say I enjoyed this course the most.

In addition to the single player modes, there are also a few multiplayer modes allowing for up to four players. First up you have your standard two through four player race. You can choose from any of the tracks you have unlocked in the main game. As far as cars got, there are a few pre-made cars available with average stats or you can load your current car from the single player game. The game allows you to load from either slot, so one of your friends can bring over their memory card and use their car against yours. Unfortunately, unless their saved game is in one of the three other data slots of your memory card, player three and four will have to settle for one of the seriously under powered pre-made cars. In four player mode the game's graphics take a small hit, most notably is the added draw in and pop up. The game still remains playable so it's nothing to get worked up about. As far as two player is concerned, the graphical difference is hard to notice without staring. My only problem with the multiplayer racing is the lack of CPU opponents. You can set players three and four to be CPU controlled if you want, but for some odd reason it will split the screen four ways even though obviously the CPU character doesn't need a screen. So, if you want to race multiplayer, don't expect any CPU racers.

Next we have the Mini Game section which is both single and multi player. There is the 400-m Race, Tag Battle, Quick Stop, Choro Q Jump and Chicken Race. 400-m Race is just a race against the clock or an opponent to see who can reach the finish line first. Tag Battle has a lot of multiplayer potential. Two players per car and one drives while the other aims and shoots the roof mounted gun. You can only choose from pre-made cars in this mode and each comes with a different gun. The battle takes place in a square arena. Each car has a Gold Coin equipped allowing them to take three additional hits. Once you get hit the fourth time, you lose. Quick Stop is just a parking challenge. Choro Q Jump puts the Jump maneuver to use. You drive down a small slope and have to hit the jump button at the appropriate time to get maximum air. The goal is to see who can jump the farthest. Chicken Race has you racing to the edge of the desk. Whoever stops closest to the edge without falling over wins. Overall, the mini games are a nice diversion, but they don't really save the game.

Look at me, I'm getting ahead of myself, I still haven't talked about the meat of the game, the actual gameplay! Despite the emphasis on customization, Choro Q plays more like a light hearted kart racer than a serious racer such as Gran Turismo. This is made more evident with the inclusion of items strewn about the track. I didn't like this in Choro Q Park (Saturn) and I don't like it here. I prefer my racers to be based on driving ability rather than how well you can sabotage the other racers. So, often times instead of the best driver winning, it comes down to cunning item usage. Thankfully, the CPU racers don't rely on the weapons too much and I've only lost a couple races due to being blasted by a rocket right before the finish line. I must admit though, a few well placed oil slicks have insured my victory a few times. The items available in the game are a Gold Coin, Lead Coin, Group Lead Coin, Oil Slick, Homing Missile and a Bullet. The Gold Coin is a shield and can take up to three hits. The Lead Coin makes the car ahead of you slow down considerably. The Group Lead Coin does the same but affects more than one person in front of you. If an opponent uses a lead coin on you, you can get rid of it quicker by hitting the spin button a few times. Oil slick leaves a puddle of oil, anyone who runs over the puddle will have a hard time controlling their vehicle. The homing Missile allows you to shoot a missile that will home in on an opponent and you can guess what happens when contact is made. The Bullet item only appears on the track if you have a roof mounted gun equipped. It gives you one shot with your gun. Effect varies based on the gun you have equipped.

Choro Q for Gamecube brings one big addition to the table: The Jump maneuver. Well, I'd like to call it a big addition, but it's not really used to it's full potential. Pressing the R button allows your car to perform a little hop. You can use this to hop over various obstacles such as oil slicks and pitfalls. If you fall into a pitfall you will get pulled to safety by a UFO ala Mario Kart. Unfortunately, I can think of only two spots where you have to jump over a pit. That's a real shame because it really shook things up a bit and could've added to the difficulty which is sorely lacking.

Taking another page from kart racers, if you hit the gas at the right time during the start up you will gain a boost of speed. The CPU always gets the timing right on the higher level races, but considering the game's general lack of difficulty it's not a problem. As long as you can adequately customize your car for any given condition, you should be able to breeze through the game with no problems. I'm far from an advanced gamer when it comes to racers, and yet I was able to clear the game with no problems whatsoever and yes, I got first place on all tracks. A few may have taken me a couple tries to snag first place, but in the end I don't recall any time where I was really challenged. There are nine other racers on screen and apart from the first few times I played I can't remember a time that I was in a place under fifth.

The lack of challenge doesn't help replayability at all. Sure, you have over 100 car bodies to unlock, not to mention all the other parts, but when you can come in first place with relatively no trouble it's just a matter of time before you've got more than enough cash. So the whole gotta catch 'em all philosophy never really catches on. It's just to easy, you don't have to put any effort into collecting the parts so it becomes nothing more than a time waster. As far as extra unlockables go, if you have Choro Q Advance 2 and a GBA-to-Gamecube link cable you can hook the two up to unlock some hidden goodies. I can't find CQA2 for sale anywhere, so I don't know firsthand what is unlocked. I've heard it is just a new body for your car. Apart from unlocking stuff, all you really have to do is work on your best times or scores in the races and mini games. If you've got someone to play with, multi player could extend the life of the game, but with a million better racers out there, why waste your time on this one?

Graphics are below average, everything you see here could've easily been reproduced on Dreamcast. The backgrounds are rather blocky and items in the background can be a bit foggy. On the plus side, the fog is limited to items in the background rather than the action on the track, it never hinders gameplay. You may be thinking that maybe Takara sacrificed pretty visuals in favor of a smooth frame rate. I wish I could say that they did, I'll take a smooth frame rate over nice visuals any day. However, the frame rate has a tendency to dip here and there. Usually when more than three cars are on screen in the snow level or during certain parts of the tracks such as a cave area on one track. The frame rate is hit the worst at the start of a race due to ten cars being on screen. Thankfully, it never dips to slideshow levels, but it is noticeable and may throw you off. It doesn't kill the game, but considering the blocky visuals it just makes you wonder why it dips at all.

The music in the game is your typical upbeat midi stuff. It's not ear bleedingly bad, but it's just so derivative that I can't really take it seriously. Though, even if you hate the music I wouldn't worry about it because you won't be able to hear it over the engine! The sound of the engine completely drowns out the music and all other sound effects. You'll have to put the volume up if you hope to hear the lovely Toilet Flush Horn that you can buy. I wish you could flush the engine sound. The sound in Choro Q is definitely a disappointment seeing as how I fell in love with the soundtrack to the original game and still listen to it to this day. I have to give points for creativity though, and no, not just for the horn that sounds like a flushing toilet. You know the signals that countdown the start of the race? Well, each of the six main courses has a different sound for them. For example, the Kid's Room features a young boy counting down from three (In Japanese) and traditional School Bells play for the After School course. I thought this was pretty clever.

As with every game in the series, it's obvious Choro Q was made for a Japanese audience. The entire game is in Japanese and with a game who's focus is on customization, this could cause issues. Thankfully, all of the important text is in katakana so if you understand that you're set. You'll even be able to customize your car with no problems at all. If you have absolutely zero knowledge of Japanese this can present some problems. The menus should be easy enough with time, but you will be completely lost when it comes to customizing your car and that plays such a big role that it could potential ruin the game. Luckily for you, a US release is planned. So, if you are dying to play the game you can always pick up the US version when it comes out. This way, not only can you understand it, you'll definitely be able to pick it up a lot cheaper.

With a Us release supposedly on the horizon, under the title Road Trip: Arcade Edition, I can't really recommend you pick this one up. It's a competent entry into the series, but it is so straightforward that it's just not worth your time. The biggest addition here is the ability to jump, and sadly, that doesn't add near enough to make this title stand out. Choro Q is not a bad game, it's just more of the same. There are plenty of other racers out there that do this kind of gameplay better, many coming from this series. The game may not be a stinker, it just does nothing particularly well leaving Choro Q somewhere in the middle of the pack. If you are looking for some SD racing fun that is worth your time, look to the original Choro Q on Playstation or the GBA Choro Q game. If you don't mind racing boats instead of land based vehicles take a look at Choro Q Marine Boat for Playstation, arguably the best game in the series. Who can forget the Ps2 entry, Choro Q HG 2, otherwise known as Road Trip in the US. Choro Q HG2 is what I like to call a CaRPG which blends racing, adventure and RPG elements all in one neat little package. Did I mention it was only $10 for the Us version? Don't waste your time with this GameCube rendition. Oh well, at least it's better than the N64 version.

©2003 Ed Finnegan

Back to Review Directory