Where's the Wacky? Where's the Racing?
Wacky Races reviewed by Ojo de Gallo
Wacky Races was the 1968 Hanna-Barbera cartoon that introduced Dick Dastardly and his canine companion Muttley to the world. The show spawned two spin-offs (Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop) and a couple of excellent racing games for the Game Boy Color and Sega Dreamcast. Sometime in between all of that Atlus released a game for the NES called Wacky Races that had no racing and little that could accurately be described as wacky.
Shouldn't there be a car here somewhere?
Wacky Races closely follows the rules for platform games as set forth in the Book of Mario. Mario Muttley is able to effortlessly jump several times his height. Players are rewarded with an extra life for collecting 100 otherwise useless coins gems. Power-ups give Mario Muttley the ablity to fly and launch fireballs the word "BOW" at enemies. There's an underwater stage. And an ice stage. And at the end of every level, Mario Muttley must defeat one of Bowser's minions the other characters from the Wacky Races TV show.
Underwater? Brilliant!
The game is split up into 3 worlds. The worlds can be played in any order, but things will go better if you go in order and build up some lives before tackling the third world. Each world is broken up into several levels and sub-levels, each with it's own environments and lobotomized enemies. None of the enemies actually attack Muttley, they just move about in their predetermined patterns. Some of them won't even turn to face him if he gets behind them and all of them can be beaten with just one "BOW." The bosses follow patterns as well, so defeating them is just a matter of determining the pattern.
Insert all bark and no bite quip here.
There is a serious lack of challenge to Wacky Races. Besides the enemies offering up no real threat, getting through a level requires little more than walking to the right. No tricky jumps. No moving platforms. Like a serial killer sending letters to the cops, this game wants to lose in the end.
| Grahics: 7 |
| Wacky Races looks good, but not mind-blowing. |
| Sound: 5 |
| Pretty average music and sfx and an attempt at Muttley's signature laugh. |
| Gameplay: 6 |
| Nothing new here and just too easy |
| Overall: 6 |
| By-the-numbers platformer that underuses some great characters. |
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