Definately the most fun of the Burger King titles...
Time spent playing to date: 7 Hours
Gameplay: 7
It’s no Mario Kart, let’s get that out of the way first. Setting direct comparisons aside, this gameplay hold us pretty well. In single player there are 12 tournaments offered (total run through time is about 3-4 hours). These tournaments rage from “Who races best?” to “Who can hit the most opponents with missiles?” There are 3 different classes (50, 100 & 150cc) and only 5 tracks (8 would have been nice). For the most part you race around the tracks using gas, brake, power slide and turbo boosts while collecting “power-ups” to be able to shoot missiles and flash bombs at opponents. The racing is pretty simple, the tracks (except one) are not too challenging and if you don’t win almost every race on the first try, there’s something wrong…you should unlock 175/200 gamerpoints no problem. Another thing I will give props to is that even for 4 bucks, this game offers character customization! The stock racers are alright. You will probably only recognize The King and Whopper Jr. I wish they would have included the cartoon characters from the early 90’s campaign. The multiplayer experience is another story…Local multiplayer is fine, but online the lag is horrible. It takes ages for a game to start (if your box doesn’t freeze while waiting) and every time I have played an online match, my xBox 360 freezes during the race. There are 25 achievement points that you get from completing 25 online matches, but I gave up on that figuring that it would take more time to play the 25 races than it would to beat the single player campaign. Graphics: 7 I’m judging this on the basis of original xBox graphics. I know this game is marketed for both systems, but we can all tell this is just an original title made backwards compatible with some achievements. The graphics aren’t Chaos Theory or Halo 2, but honestly, they beat many other games I’ve seen on this system. The character models are good (I like the onions on Whopper Jr.), the tracks are bright and colorful and even the King’s robe flaps in the breeze when he rides. If you expect more from a game of this budget you are expecting too much.
Sound: 6
Probably the weakest part of the game is the sound. While they do have different songs for different tracks, all the background music gets very repetitive very quickly. I was impressed with the attention to detail they put on the noises that come from the pocketbikes themselves. You can hear downshifting, braking, acceleration, power sliding and other little noises. Value: 10
For $4 this is a steal. I know there are others that give it horrible ratings, but for the money you can’t ask for much more in a game. It offers semi-solid gameplay that is very addictive (my 4-5 hours went by quick) and a good laugh.
Tilt: 9
Despite its problems, Pocketbike Racer is a worthy ride through a BK universe. While it won’t be winning any Game of the Year awards, you should definitely pick it up if you find a copy.
Tip: As a revision to this review you can easily get the 25 points for completing 25 multiplayer matches. the way you do it is by finding someone else who has the game and then setting up a private match with just them and doing the shortest map on a 1 lap basis over and over. You shoudl get it in about 20 min or less. Happy playing!!