Sega Touring Car Championship


Developer: 

 AM Annex

Publisher: 

 Sega

Players: 

 1-2

TV System: 

 Europe / PAL

Accessories: 

 Analogue Controller

Style: 

 3D Racing



Sega Touring Car. If any of you have been to the arcades in the last year you will have noticed this game. You may have said this is different from Sega Rally, for better or worse. Well let me tell you something, it was meant to be different.

When Touring Car was previewed at the E3 show in Atlanta everyone was amazed by the sheer speed and graphics by this game, and at only 40% it was looking very promising. Since then, AM Annex have added a load of options (more on that later) graphics update, and most importantly quicker speed. This game maybe a driving game like Sega rally but it is very different to it. Touring Car's keypoint is speed, this game is nearly twice the speed of Rally, and at first is hard to control but with the analogue pad it works like a dream.

At first when you load up, you think to yourself this game has very few options, ah but that is because most of them are hidden. Touring Car offers more options than any other racer I know, and I know a lot of them!

The cars consist of:
  1. Alfa Romeo 155 V6Ti
  2. AMG Mercedes C-Class
  3. Opel Calibra V6
  4. Toyota Supra
Each one handles differently and has different top speeds. Plus there are 3 secret cars to find which I will not reveal just yet.

There are the original 3 courses plus the hidden arcade course and a new secret course for the Saturn only. The new course if very wide, easy and made for speed freaks. You can get upto and amazing speed on this track!

There are many different modes of gameplay including: Championship, Grand Prix ( having you race around the circuits for 20 laps! hence the pits to help you ) Time trial, Ghost Mode, 2 player mode, Exhibition Round, and Expert mode.

And as well as secrets AM 2 has also included a time lock on this game so play this game after a while and you may notice some changes. Set the game to Xmas to see the first one. I'll tell you the rest in my tips feature.

And to go with the racing includes one of the best soundtracks since Wipeout 2097. You don't get your usual rock guitar shit, instead you get brilliant techno from Artists such as Am Annex, trance and Sega themselves. The music is so good the game is often found in my CD player!

You may think ah brilliant this is but there are a few disappointments in this game. The 2 player mode is terrible compared to Sega Rally's and things can get quite ugly graphics wise. Even though the speed is very fast there are glitches and pop up. You might think that was because of the technology but this could of been avoided and it's down to sheer sloppiness I'm afraid.

This game breeds new life into the Saturn but should have been better. Many people do not like it because of the glitching etc. But lot's of people including myself who love a fast game will be happy enough with this game. Despite the few niggles it's still a good game but I would advise try before you buy.

Graphics: 

 76%

Sound: 

 95%

Playability: 

 84%

Lastability: 

 87%

Overall: 

 79%


Review By: Matthew Langan



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