Gran Turismo 5’s Not so Ancient Ancestors
The upcoming release of Gran Turismo 5 has a lot of avid racing game fans foaming at the mouth in anticipation. However, that’s not my style. While I have to admit that GT5 (and indeed the Gran Turismo series as a whole) looks to be one of the best racing video games released to date, I’ve never been much of a fan of the genre myself. That said, there are a handful of games that can technically be classed as racing games that manage to hold my interest regardless. For example:
Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars
Released in 2002 first for the PS2 then the Xbox, Circus Maximus is set in Ancient Rome and has you driving not a car but a chariot. Eat your heart out, Ben Hur. Although it didn’t do very well at all upon its release, Circus Maximus actually has a cult following who host annual tournaments known as “Maximus Week: The Maximum Circus Maximus Experience!” Its control system is quite intuitive, allowing for epic battles while the chariot’s driver desperately tries to stop it from careening off the tracks.
Road Rash
Borrowing its name from the colloquial term describing the quite nasty injuries you can get from coming off a motorbike, Road Rash has been around since 1991. In it the player competes in illegal road races while avoiding the police and taking out competitors by any means necessary. Ports of the early Road Rash games were contained in the EA Replay compilation released for the PSP in November 2006.
Muscle March
In this game released for WiiWare in 2009 you must pursue a thief who has taken your bodybuilding friends’ protein powder, using the Wiimote and nunchuk to assume the correct poses to squeeze through holes left in walls. Fabulously camp, Muscle March really has to be seen, or preferably played, to be believed. Maybe a high definition port for the PS3 and Playstation Move is in order?
