More like pop, pop.

Digital Reality’s new action racer, Bang Bang Racing, released on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade today and we’ve been waiting to take this one for a spin. As a big fan of classic top-down racers like RC Pro-Am, I was anticipating having a good time with Bang Bang so how did it fare? The wheels came off quickly and pit crew couldn’t give me a good reason to stick around after that.

Single Player

Bang Bang Racing is a racing game that takes a, not quite, top down view on the action. Let’s start with the view; there are two camera options available with the default being called Follow. Follow is a nausea inducing version of the top down view that rotates with every little movement of the car and makes it generally hard to see what’s going on. For a more reasonable experience I would recommend choosing Fixed, which still follows the car, it just doesn’t change perspective.

The Follow camera could have been great if a little more work was put into how it tracked with the car, but it was simply tacked on to the back of the car instead. This lack of care is what you’ll find in most aspects of Bang Bang Racing, and just one of the things that add up to make for a forgettable experience. Action is supposed to be name of the game, I mean the title says it all, but there really isn’t much going on out on the track.

Vrooom!

Digital Reality promise a chaotic racing game with tight turns and lots of crashes but the AI drivers have other ideas. What happened most often, when I was playing is that the AI cars would all stomp on their Nitro to get a jump on the competition, but would all end up crashing into the apex of the turn. If you simply brake properly and take the turn like you’re supposed to you can pass them all.

This strategy is what the whole game boils down to, in the end. Take your turns carefully and avoid a few obvious hazards, like oil or gravel patches, and speed your way to the finish line. There are four classes of cars which setup the format for the championships and you can unlock different cars in each class by playing the Career mode first.

Cut that corner.

There are four careers, four championships and nine tracks to free play but you’ll have seen it all within a couple of hours and will probably be glad of that.

Multiplayer

Bang Bang Racing does not have any online multiplayer, sadly, but four players can compete in Championship and Free Play via split screen.

Closing Comments

Bang Bang Racing didn’t give me any reasons to play it. Once I solved the AI, the game was a breeze and I couldn’t test my skills against others easily because there is no online play. Any element that was thrown in to make this game fun was under used or ineffective. There were very few shortcuts that made any difference, the hazards were fixed and easy to avoid and the other drivers weren’t a factor. I would steer clear of this one, if I were you.

Score: 5/10