Cruis'n World is no flashy sim-racer, but you will find pleasure in this simple arcade-style racer.

User Rating: 7.6 | Cruis'n World N64
Cruis'n World is a simple racer that takes you on a (surprise) worldwide tour, racing other cars. It's got several modes and, like any worthwhile racer, some unlockables. Now it sure isn't any Gran Turismo, but CW is a fun, relaxing, comfort-food kind of game. Let us start with the modes of play, shall we? You've got multiplayer, of course, since it is a racer and it is made for Nintendo. Multiplayer is fun and it will keep you busy. There's no added features to the main game, really. You get the same tracks as you would on Cruis'n World mode, but in splitscreen. Cruis'n World mode is the main game mode. In it, you can race against 8 other cars for practice or to beat previous times, or you can select "Cruise World" in the center and race through every track, plus two extra (I won't spoil it for you!). If you place (4th and up) you will move on. If not, you will race again and again until you do! At occasions it might get frustrating (that d*^% red car!) but in the end you'll be pleasurably satisfied when you inevitably win. There's a Championship mode, in which you will race (single or multi- player) against several cars in three to five much longer races to gain unlockables like power-ups or paint jobs. If you do practice mode, it will be just you (and your friend if it's multi) racing the clock. If you choose practice Championship and beat a certain time, you will unlock a new car. Pretty basic. There's a lot of cars to choose from (considering what the game is) and the variation i cars is good. You can drive a three-wheeler, a VW bug type, a porshe type, an army truck, or even a big rig truck (Big Rigs? Over the Road? Not here!). Of course, this was still the era of copy-cars, so there won't be a corvette but there will be a "Serpent" that looks like it. On single player there will be an explanation of the car's specs, but the print is too small to bother with and it doesn't really factor in to how the car rides. They'll all go fast enough (there's a margin between a sports car and a big rig, just a few MPH) and they'll all launch pretty high off a jump. Sometimes one will even do a spin! Thus far, however, I have not observed a specific mechanism one must perform to have the car to a trick. In vernacular, it just happens every once in a while and you get points. The race tracks are pretty good. As one might draw from the title, each track represents a different area of the world: New York City, England, France, China, Australia, Hawaii... Plenty of tracks in there. Each one is animated accordingly, with sprites in the background and such. One can't drive very far off the road; indeed, there is a visible margin where the driveable area ends and the backdrop begins! Of course this probably unintended line helps because you will know where NOT to drive. There are also some challenging parts to the tracks, with narrow two-lane roads lined by trees and highways full of obstacle cars (they look just like brightly colored opponent cars). Graphics and sound are pretty good. The graphics aren't really anything special; they don't really ned to be. All that's needed is provided; an environment that will remind you of Russia or Egypt or Kenya. The sound is a lot of tracks that are based on the environments (sort of tropical for Hawaii, that type of fare) but you can change it to your favorite tunes. They aren't real songs by real artists, rather like the non-brand cars you have to choose from. But they're memorable enough, even years later, and help with the feel of the race. Cruis'n World isn't a great game; it's not a masterpiece or a standard-setter. But it is fun. You'll have plenty of fun just relaxing as you race through some imitated Italy. It's no great challenge but you'll still in all likelihood enjoy yourself, even if it's only to take off some GT-induced stress. Have fun with this simple, easy to learn racer.