Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Yes, I have a review for a Burger King game



I had intended to not play my 360 last week, but something actually caught my eye. Pocketbike Racer was a game that was brought out by Burger King last year. Big Bumpin', Sneak King, and Pocketbike Racer were the games released for only $3.99 with a meal purchased. These games were made my Blitz Games, makers of Fusion Frenzy. Out of the three, Pocketbike Racer was the game most recommended. I will try to play other King games soon. So here is what I think:
Graphics – The graphics are pretty bad. Each of the 5 tracks are not really rememberable. A Burger King parking lot, a neighborhood, the King's castle, a construction site, and the Bacon Ranch. It was actually difficult to remember each of them. Now, I can understand why the graphics are not good. The disc has both the original Xbox and the 360 on it. The graphics in the background are not even memorable. I have seen better games when the PS2 first came out. One good thing to notice is that there is no pop ups throughout the game. During Live, human opponents seem to pop up with a bad frame rate. Just not good.
Grade: D+
Controls – This is where this game actually is tolerable. You use the RT to Accelerate, the LT to brake/reverse, RB to toggle up the weapon list, LB to toggle down the weapon list, A to power slide, B to boost, X to use a weapon, and Y to taunt (worthless). Along the tracks, the power slide is important. If you can master the power slide, you will master the game. The turning feels really good. You will, sometimes, screw up and shoot the wrong weapon when playing. You must toggle up/down to get the right weapon and if you get the wrong one, you could lose all of your boosting. Make sure to check.
Grade: B
Sound – There is not that much to talk about here. Each track has a different song and you will actually know when the song ends because it stops for a second before it begins again. The taunt button allows you to talk smack by saying 1 phrase. Hopefully you can play with people on line and talk smack. You do not want to hear anything from this game.
Grade: C-
Challenge – Oh my God. I appreciate the opportunity to play against AI that is actually able to CHALLENGE ME. There is absolutely no challenge what-so-ever. There are 4 types of racing: Standard (Race, Weapons, and Boost), Battle Royale (Most weapon hits win), Cone (Go through 20 lit cones first), and Hard Core (Racing, nothing else). I will give you this piece of advice: On the Cone and Battle Royale, go backwards. You will get a HUGE lead on everybody else on the cones because no one else will go backwards. On the battle royale, toggle down to the shield (1st level) and ram into the other cars. This game will be quickly completed. I believe I played at least 100 races and I remember losing 3 times. I never placed last. Something that would have been nice was to allow people to play the game in backwards. The 5 race tracks are not played in backwards. There are secrets you can exploit throughout the game and most of the AI will not follow. If you find the secrets, the game is a breeze. Maybe this game may be challenging for a 4 year old or Michael J. Fox.
Grade: F
Extras – There are absolutely no good extras in the game. You get to create a character (change the hair, skin, shirt, and pant color...THAT'S IT). You also get to race the tracks in whatever you want to. The only thing is that making this not being a total F is the multiplayer. You are able to play with people on line. If only there are people playing it.
Grade: D-
Achievements – The achievements are just completely stupid. You are able to get almost all of the achievements within two days of playing partially. The only difficult achievements are the ones about multiplayer. You must win 1 multiplayer match for 20 points and play in 25 Xbox live games for 25 points. Trying to figure out what the computer considers an actual race. A one lap battle does not count. I believe you must play the right amount of laps with a 150 cc bike. Oh well, here is the list:
Standard Gold – Win a standard race tournament (Easy)
Cone Trial Gold – Win a cone trial tournament (Easy)
Battle Royale Gold – Win a battle royale tournament (Easy)
Hard Core Gold – Win a hard core tournament (Easy)
Multiplayer King – Win a multiplayer match (Easy if you can do it)
Mascot Jr. - Win a race with each of the BK characters (Whopper Jr., The King, and Subservient Chicken) (Easy...again)
Career King – Complete all of the tournaments (16 in all and all very simple)
Pro Gamer – Complete 25 Xbox Live matches (easy if you can do it and find enough players)
Big Wheelie – Wheelie for more than 2 seconds (you WILL do this within the game)
Big Stoppie – Stoppie for more than 0.5 seconds (see above)
Big Air – Jump for longer than 50 meters (see above)
Time Trial Gold – Achieve a lap time of less than 1:30 on all tracks in Time Trial (kind of confusing...just hope and pray you can do it)
Expect to actually get all of them (if you can find on line approach).
Overall, Pocketbike Racer is not really worth it. With just 5 tracks (not racing backwards sucks), characters that are boring as hell, races that are brutally easy, why was this game worth $3.99 at Burger King. If you want and are addicted to achievement points, get this game for two days then bury it right next to the old E.T. Atari cartridges.
Overall grade: D

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