DAAAAYYYYTOOONNAAA…
For many of us this was arcade games at its peak. It’s 1993 and video game arcades were somewhere you wanted to spend time (and a lot of money) when you were a 15 year old geek. Daytona was the first mega arcade cabinet that I remember, not only was it shaped like a car and had seats, a steering wheel and proper pedals, but there was a rumour that in certain places there were 4-player and 8-player cabinets where you could race together! Not only was this mind boggling to conceive but they were also advertising the V.R. chip which gave you 4 different views from which to drive – almost like the real thing!
Now the champion of arcade racing has arrived on PS3. This conversion brings everything that I remember from the original arcade, although to be fair most of us only played the original ring track and the automatic car; so beyond that I wasn’t expecting (or remembering) much else. Thankfully all of those great memories of the screeching name, the “rolling start” and the familiar colour cars are all there, all reproduced exactly. And here’s the thing… in this age of advanced graphics, cinematic sound and in-depth gameplay did I want the original or did I want an up-to-date representation of the original? To be honest, I still can’t make up my mind. This game is great as a nostalgia piece, but am I going to go back to it and replay it even for the trophies, I doubt it. Would I have done if this had been an HD update? I can’t say for certain on that either.
This version of the game is supposedly from the Dreamcast back in 2001 and includes the features that were available then. Apart from the 3 arcade races there are a few other options to indulge your retro appetite on. You have the familiar time trial and challenges modes as well as the unusual karaoke mode which displays words of some of the theme songs on the screen, theme songs you don’t know. This was a very odd mode, as it doesn’t explain what it wants you to do (yes sing obviously) but makes no mention of plugging a microphone in or does it score your singing. In fact whilst playing through the race I couldn’t even hear the music nor did I have time to look at the words… a very odd inclusion. It is supposed to include smoother graphics, a sharper soundtrack and an unwavering 60 frames-per-second, but I honestly didn’t notice this, it all looked like I remembered it.
This is an excellent conversion of the original, it looks the same, sounds the same and plays the same, so much so that I still get to the 8th lap to complete the race and am about 4 seconds short of the finish line when the time runs out; so all the same frustrations are there too – at least this time it isn’t costing me £1 a go! At £6.29 (original price) this is not worth the money, there is currently 30% off and I still am undecided whether this is worth it. Back in the early days of video games we raved about “arcade perfect” for new releases, as the majority had been released in the arcades first. This game is arcade perfect, but that just isn’t enough anymore. I do recommend you playing this especially if you have never seen it before, but at over £6 it’s not worth the money. I am certain that I wouldn’t have bought this, but 50% off or more for PS+ then it could probably tempt me to part with my money.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
