IndyCar Racing II
(ICR II) is the second IndyCar racing simulator from Papyrus and includes 15 official 1995
IndyCar Championship tracks. Now with an optional SVGA mode, this game offers two times
more than anyone would expect from a racing sim. This means twice the color, twice the
speed, and twice the fear that a screaming caravan of real road-tearing racing machines
will trash the monitor and run you over if only the camera view would not change in a
split-second. The game gives you a chance to see yourself in neck-breaking head-on smashes
at 200mph followed by 40 360-spin whiplashes, as well as in the process of complex
technical tune-ups and preseason testing. You choose... Graphics diagnosis: Fantastic! No, really. In other words, do
YOU want to SEE YOURSELF as a part of REAL races or not?! In ICR II you CAN!
Imagine driving and seeing all the real details like asphalt texture with skid marks and
fancy advertisement prints on walls surrounding the track. Now add to that the ability to
see every word and logo on over 30 of your opponents' cars in front of you and behind,
along with the scenery, horizon and colorful tribunes...all at 180mph! Getting the feeling
now? When you are on the track racing and seeing all that, the only visible limits to this
"reality" feeling are your computer's capabilities. Of course, there is always a
VGA solution to the scroll rate problem, but what if you hate it (and believe me you will)
and still want the full-blown thing? Fortunately, Papyrus included countless options for
you to play with, like manually controlled min/max frame rates and about a dozen detail
adjustments of game components like grass, skid, smoke, dirt car, wall, etc. All that will
actually make the frame rate smoother, though take away some of that
"aah-I'm-gonna-die!" feeling when racing. There is even an "FM instead of
digital audio" option that supposedly increases frame rate (never heard of that), and
you are free to use it because who cares where eardrum-exploding swooshing engine and skid
noises come from if that's all you hear while racing anyway!
The user interface design is quite simple in the game as long as you
don't press Esc by mistake while setting up - that will send you right to the game menu
screen. While driving you can keep track of condition of all the essential parts of your
car like lap/standings/fuel/tire pressure info. It took me a while to understand what all
those numbers I was getting on the screen meant, until I consulted the user manual - truly
a necessary procedure in this game I should say. Yes, there is a whole bunch of keyboard
keys you will need to know to get timely info and make necessary changes while racing, but
after some practice they won't seem all that scary. As far as option controls: arrows
up/down/Enter will do the trick of complete tune-ups for your IndyCar.
As I said in the beginning, this racing sim gives
you a chance to try neck-breaking experiences as well as tuning up your car, and it is
just up to you what to have more of. ICR II is a case where you can have both: the
wonderful arcade experience and an almost real event. Still, the game is done for those
seeking the IndyCar World Championship experience with all the training, technical
understanding and preparation available.
Before each race you can go to the Garage, where you are offered a
truck-load of never-heard-of options for tuning your car up for races. Wheel locks,
cambers, staggers (for every wheel separately), gear ratios, shock absorbers, and a lot
more will be your responsibility to balance the way you want (that's where the manual
comes in handy). You better do something with those values before every new track! What
else? Weather, realism, opponents values are yours to balance the race with. Absolutely
great features of ICR II are the arcade camera that offers two thrilling views above the
car, and the "instant replay" allowing you to see the whole race again from a
number of mind-blowing perspectives. So even if you only care about the speed, the
effects, and the screams that will fly out of your mouth when you smash into the wall on
turns, ICR II has a great deal of arcade action for you!
Pros: Great SVGA graphics and camera views,
serious approach to the technical side of the racing for 100% simulation realism.
Cons: VGA graphics aren't that appealing,
"auto" detail option makes graphics jerky at times. The complexity of the
technical side and the skill required for competitive racing may seem scary to beginning
gamers.
--Andrew Morozov |