Road Trip - PlayStation 2

Opinion Posted on October 27, 2002

Written by Tiptonium

Here's a game that almost missed my radar completely. This unassuming little title with the name "Road Trip" that has no tie in with the movie of the same name (for that we can be thankful) with a bargain bin launch price under $20 packs a lot of fun.

Takara is famous for this super deformed series. Well, famous may be too strong. This franchise has been seen on different platforms over the years in various forms and names. Most of the time they seemed to suffer from control issues since Takara did not seem to want to support analog control features in there games. Well, this time the game engine supports analog control and that my friend is good news indeed.

Road Trip is a whimsical racing game with many RPG elements. Huh? That's right. RPG elements. In adventure mode you can communicate with other vehicles, challenge them to various types of races or just generally chit chat. You can travel to various locals where you can get involved in all sorts of mini-games including car soccer! Taking a cue from Nintendo's "Snap" game you can actually take photos of your adventure and post them in your garage. The cars are completely customizable. You earn money in races, challenges and even by painting advertisements on your car. You use the money to customize your vehicle. There are 250+ parts! In addition, there are over 100 different races and events. Plus the mini games that I mentioned before.

The actual racing can be quite challenging as there are 24 cars on the tracks at once! Definitely not a simulation as you'll find yourself driving underwater, through towns in odd locations and more. But the challenge is high and the control is pretty good overall. It is sort of reminiscent of the Mario Cart style racing without the power ups and weapons.

Graphically, the game is not going to win over the graphics hungry crowd. They can be on the sparse sides at times. It fits the game though. The music is also whimsical and upbeat, when a tendency of sounding very classical in a video game sort of way. No signed bands here, folks.

Road Trip supports two players for head to head split screen action. The game is a nice change of pace with roots firmly planted in the "if it ain't broke don't fix in genre." This game is one of those niche titles that comes along every once in a while. Many will pass it up, some will find a lot of value and much to like about the game.