Chronogamer - Auto Racing (Intellivision, 1980)

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Auto Racing (Intellivision, 1980)

 

We've seen an overhead view in our driving games before. Indy 500 and Speedway took the "camera" and hung it high over the track so that the field of vision encompassed the entire course. Such a viewpoint is usefull for seeing "the big picture" but it limits the amount of detail one need bother to show. At that camera height, a player can see where their car is in relation to their opponents and the finish line and is perfectly suited to those two games, though Indy 500 pulls it off more elegantly, in my opinion.

 

Auto Racing for the Intellivision takes a different perspective, or, more specifically, a lower, more mobile perspective. In this case, the camera hangs directly over the player's car at all times, moving with it, and the vantage point is so low that we can only see a portion of the track at any given time. This gives the game a feeling of driving in a larger, contiguous world rather than a single isolated arena. In fact, the five tracks offered are all on one big map and you can see and even access the other tracks by leaving your chosen course, driving through someone's lawn and getting on to another track! Like putting shifty eyes on a blackjack dealer, this feature adds nothing to the gameplay in itself, but gives an ineffable boost to the experience overall.

 

While some of the Indy 500 games are about getting around the track as quickly as possible during a single race, Auto Racing is about trying to improve your driving skills so that you can get around each turn of the course as efficiently as possible. Navigating your, um, auto, around a course is a collection of subtle steering nudges, careful braking and controlled drifting . . . LOL, does anyone ever call them "autos"? I mean, "auto racing" isn't an unfamiliar term, but "auto" by itself just sounds weird. "Hey, you kids, get off of my auto!", "I need a jump, my auto battery died"! *snort* "I've got to hurry, I'll be late for my Auto Pool", heh. heheh. Yeah, what was I saying again, something about navigating a track? You want to be good at navigating the track because if you go off the track you may hit a tree, a house or have to crawl painfully slow through a lake. The grass also slows you down a good deal, so keep off of that, too.

 

Something realistic about the steering: if your car is not moving, you can't change direction. Yes, this seems like it would be an obvious requirement, but it's addition reminds me of how much I didn't miss it in Indy 500, where cars could spin in whatever direction they wanted regardless of motion.

 

You get to choose your "auto", by the way. Some are faster than others while others handle the "cornering" better. Five colors to pick from and each has different characteristics, except two (tan and blue) share the same characteristics for keeping things equitable during two-player racing.

 

Which brings me to where this title can really do whatever the opposite of shine is. Playing two player on this thing can be a real drag. Because of the close overhead perspective, which is a Good Thing in single player, there's no way of getting too far ahead of your opponent. If your opponent gets stopped by a tree or a house, then you are both yanked back to a check point and have to start again from there. I suppose it could be enjoyable if both racers were skilled enough to not crash at all, but one race can take a long time otherwise.

 

It is Auto Racing that has introduced me to the affliction I'm calling "Intellivision Thumb". The disc on the Intellivision controller is interesting and innovative, but in trying to control my race car I'm afraid it can become a little painful. Perhaps this is something one gets used to over time, but while intently trying to improve my cornering, I began to feel discomfort and eventually this outweighed my desire to continue playing.

 

If I were more literarily inclined, I might do more of a compare and contrast between Auto Racing and Indy 500 since the two were similarly themed games on systems known to be rivals. However, since I've getting tired of typing, and you're probably getting tired of reading I'll leave it at this: Auto Racing is more realistic than fun and Indy 500 is more fun than realistic but both have their thrills and laughs.

 

Sorry, no screenshots or videos this week. I'm finding that the prospect of adding those is more often a demotivator to writing an entry due to the extra work involved. I think I'm going to focus more on actually playing the games and writing about them rather than adding the "multimedia flair" with the hope that this will allow me to get to more games and entries. I mean, I'm still in 1980 for crying out loud, I was hoping to be in 1983 by now!

 

Next entry will be Armor Battle.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...;showentry=4506