Have you ever wondered what it might be like to take a $300–800K, two–wheel drive, fully–loaded pickup or 4 wheel drive SUV and thrash it in the outback with no worries about damage or liability? Well, now’s your big chance! Welcome to SUV Mania in all of its glory!
In this slick racing sim, 4X4 Evolution takes you beyond the dealers’ showrooms and out into the wild, wild outdoors. There are more than 100 different sport trucks and SUVs, but if you look really, really close, you can see that there truly are only around 30 to 40 such models. The mechanical physics in this game for all of these vehicles have true–to–life action. The modeling is pretty clean. However, a big drawback was the lack of damage modeling for crashes and fender benders. What’s with that? I guess all those big auto companies didn’t want their vehicles to be shown in any bad light, displaying broken glass and fenders hanging off their shiny, new SUV's. Isn’t that what happens in an off road rally? Vehicles are supposed to show their wear and tear, to some extent.
The game offers four race modes, with the added options of replay, rankings, profile,
and other standard game options. Quick Race allows you to select any course, pick out a rig from more than 20 vehicles in 3 classes, such as: Rookie (pure stock rigs); Intermediate (minor off–road and power mods); and Pro Class (with way more off–road, power, and drive train mods). You can also use your Career Rig that you’ve upgraded should you really want to stomp those AI's into the ground.
With Time Attack, you have to get the fastest time (or hot lap) on a track, then race against your own, or your bud’s, ghost racer. You can go flat out because you don’t have to worry about colliding with another rig — only rocks, tree, and other course obstacles.
In Career Mode, should you win some races and build a good bank account, you can shop for a vehicle or parts upgrade. Pick up a spiffy clean Toyota Tacoma Xtracab for a measly $14K, or if you’re really flush with cash, pop for a way–too–pricey Ford or Chevy 2WD, fully tricked out, racing truck in the $850K range. It’ll take winning a lot of races and some big sponsors to put any of those last babies into your garage.
In Career Mode, the Shopping Mall lets you choose vehicles from more than eight companies the likes of Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Toyota, Dodge, Mitsubishi, GMC, or Lexus. Go to the Garage if you want to change out or sell your rig to get a better one, or to just upgrade vehicle parts. In single race mode the AI will match you truck for truck, and part for part, in every race. This does reduce the challenge. The best way to get a good race is in multiplayer mode by logging onto Gamespy’s matchmaking site. There, you can race up to 8 or more other gamers across Macs and PCs, or a lowly 4 other gamers if your playing on a Sega Dreamcast. This is the first of the cross platform multiplayers, and we’ll just have to wait and see how well the races pan out with all the different systems coming together for such competitions. Now all we need to complete the cycle is a good PS2 version.
When you race on one of the tracks and put your truck through its paces, you’ll see the AI–controlled trucks leaving the track in all directions. Be sure to explore, as there are tons of shortcuts that can shave precious seconds off your time and keep you ahead of the pack. Also, keep your eyes open for secret money chests stuffed with cash to build up that upgrade account a little quicker. These cash bonuses are in all of the tracks, each containing varying amounts. Watch out for other surprises, as well. Pay attention to your track and explore, explore, explore.
This game was visually stunning and ran well on my middle of the road PC packing an old AMD 400 and a Voodoo3 card. I’m glad to see that this game had wide open terrain to really go bushwhacking and see else is out there. To me, that’s the way a really good off–road race sim should be. Now we simply have to wait for some of those great new tracks to be released after Terminal Reality debuts their game track editor. What I’d still like to see is some nasty body damage to the vehicles, with smoke spewing out of exhaust pipes.
I did find the AI a little too easy to beat most times in single play. The rig setup took a little longer then it should have for performance tweaking. Watch the gas pedal and don’t leadfoot it or you’ll always wind up out of the money. Big air is way cool, but keep your truck on the ground for a faster lap time. Hardcore racing fans will probably find this game comes up short in spots, but the rookie to semi–pro racer will have way too much fun. This is what you get when the people that made Monster Truck Madness push the envelope a little more than their competition.
OK, yuppies, pick out a shiny new SUV and go tear up someones shrubbery!
"I say, nothing quite as sporting as tearing up the shrubs as you engage in off–road racing in a variety of rather handsome SUVs. However, one must note the lack of body damage inflicted when roughly bumping into others — otherwise, a most enjoyable off–road racing sim."
