Vanishing Point was released in 2001 for the Dreamcast and PS1, it was the last game made Clockwork Games before they close down their doors, and it was published by Acclaim, by what I said so far you would think this is a bad game, but I in fact think quite the opposite about it, despite it's short comings, I think this is a game that does the fundamentals right, I will be Reviewing the Dreamcast Version
What is Vanishing Point
It's an Arcade Racing game with license cars, On it you have multiple game modes but the 2 main models are Stunt mode and Tournament.On Stunt mode you perform a series of challenges, like going to a twist path to Point A to B and back to A without touching the red area or Touching all the Balloons in a complex panthers, you are rated 0 to 100 points based on your performance and while getting more than 90 is relatively easy, getting the 100 is pretty hard and require mastery of the game handling model, this mode is great way to get used to the driving model in this game, and they are pretty fun challenges too.
The other mode is Tournament, each car has 3 Tournament each of increasing challenge, you can only reset races in the first challenge, and if want to complete it you must have the most points, note that sometimes opponents placement is not consistent so you can win Tournament if you win the first race and perform decent in the other 2 races.
At the start you can only race 2 Cars the Ford Explorer and the Mustang, but as you complete these championships you unlock new cars, while you may think this are traditional races, this is not the case here, they are in fact time trails, you must beat the time, you don't directly race against anyone in this game.
I find the Single Player mode in this game very bare bones, and racing the same car in 3 Tournament across 8 races in total can become repetitive.
There's also multiplayer mode but I have no idea whether you can actually play it nowadays, or how it works.
How do the car handle ?
The handling mode is the single most fundamental thing in a racing game, and it's what separate good Racing games from bad one, Thankfully this is the best thing about it, It's Arcade with a touch of realism, Car suspension bounces a lot like if they are dancing over the streets.Not only that but it's very easy to learn while still requiring skill to master, every car Drive different from one another, while the driving physics are the same across all cars, a Family SUV will Drive different from a Sports vehicle, this adds variety to the game , making every car feeling fresh and unique to drive and while some are better to drive than other, every cars is a bless to drive, no other Racing gaming plays like it sadly, because I believe this is one of the most fun handling mode in a racing game, imagine a game that's as fun to drive as VP but with a better campaign!!!!
While in this game every "Races" is actually a time trial, your biggest opponet in this game is not time, but rather other cars riding alongside you, there are 2 types of trafic in this game, Regular trafic and Rivals, the difference between them is that Rivals will some times goes fast (But they will still be slower than you 99% of the time) and that they will go to the other side of the road for some reason, but both of them can be really annoying to deal with, they sometimes will change lanes for no reason and move to be in front of you causing a crash for no good reason, they drive like a maniac making you not crahsin into them a difficult task, this woundn't be such a big issue if conlison in this game wasn't so annoying, in most racing game when you crash into another car, your car will just slow down a lot, this game is different however and some times even a small crash can send your car flying all over the place and Rollover making you having to reset the car, which is a very slow animation, what's more infuriting then that is when that happens so you reset the car, and after the is car rested , another car crashes right into your car that was just acelareting after that reset and has to rest again.
One time a Rival Crashes into a buss, this Bus goes to the other side of the road where I was and Crashes into me, causing me to rollover and having to reset the car, after reseting the Car right when I was accelating it another car Crashes into me from behind, so I Rollover again, this made me lost the race and lost the whole Tournament because of it.
Visual, Graphics and Music
While every game from 2001 looks old and dated 24 Years later, Certain games look better than other, and sadly Vanishing point is not the prettiest game, comparing it to other Dreamcast games that were released around the same time like Sega GT and MSR, and it's clear to see that this game uglier in comparison, I am not saying this game is terrible or eyesore only that it lacks behind it's contemporary, looking like a Upgraded PS1 Game instead of a Dreamcast game, however this is a unfair comparison, because this game was made in only 18 months by 8 people and it was financed idependitly before Accaim got interest in this project, while the size of Dev teams and devolpement time was much smaller than what is common nowadays, this still a increadible feat for such a small team in such small devolopment time.
Another point of critsim is that this game has no cohisive Art direction, nothing in this game UI was made with a vison or art style in mind, the game visual feals disjointed, the main menu for example is a empty black void.
I also dislike how muted the Color palet in this game is and how, every single track in this game has this Giant wall that not only work as Guard rails but also work to hide the lack of scenary in the tracks, and while circut in this game still have landmarks it feels lacking comparing to other Arcade racing games from the time, special because you will be looking at wall 90% of the time.
One the Good side Replays of races are really fun to whatch mostly because the camera work on them ads a lot of Energy and Dynamicism, the music while not cohecive to the rest of the game and it doesn't 100% Fit with the game, is enjoyble to listen, but I do dislike how they don't loop properly, if a music track end in the mid of a race (Which likely will because they are only around 3 minutes long) the game will go silent for some seconds before the music starts again from the start.
Conclusion
When we Talk about Racing games on the Dreamcast we normally talk about games LIke Sega GT and Metroplis Streat Racing, while Vanish Point is generally left behind, and while this game has many short coming because it's a budget game, I still belive Racing game fans while enjoy this game, because it does what matter the most right.Pros
- + Fun Handling model
- + Every Car Feels different
- + Good OST
- + Fun Replay mode
Cons
- - Annoying Traffic to deal with
- - The music doesn't loop Properly
- - Bare-bones Single Player
- - Not cohesive Art Style
8
Gameplay
This is one of the most fun car to drive in Arcade racing game fun but challenging.
6
Graphics
I feel bad to be Harsh on this aspect when it was made by so few people in such short amount of time, but it fact that this game was behind it's contemporaries with no Art style to back it up.
10
Story
CAR GO BURRRRRRR (Of course there's no Story here but it's a racing game, it's probably better without it)
8
Sound
The Music is very early 2000's , It might not fit perfectly with the game and it's only 10 Tracks long, but I am fine with it because it's quality music.
7
Replayability
The Content on this game is Bare-bones, but it has a easy to pick up nature, perfect for coming back to it once in a while.
7.8
out of 10
Overall
It's Bare-bones game that doesn't look pretty, but that's easy to Forgive when it get what's import for a racing game right.
