Room Zoom is another little car racer for the Xbox that came out in the bargin, just like Grooverider that I already looked at. In fact, it suffers from almost all the same problems as Grooverider and makes very few improvements. It also does have the same successes though.

The game is fun. I used to have a radio controlled car that I loved playing with. I'd have it outside and walk around the block with it and stuff... I always wanted to do races, but no one else had one that was the same speed. My neighbor had one that was about four times faster, but mine could do off road, so it was never a fair match.

Anyway, Room Zoom gives you a fair match in RC-like cars... sorta.

Just like Grooverider, I like the concept a lot and that is what got me to buy this. The problem though, also just like Grooverider you have to unlock nearly everything. You get more cars to start with, but just one track.

The tracks are imaginative, but require the same memorization to beat. As you progress, you HAVE to memorize where the track is or you'll forget. And then you'll be lost.

Perhaps the biggest problem springs from the tracks. There are multiple paths you can take in some of them, but in others you can take a special path and the game will tell you that you're off course and set you WAY back. In one course, you can go down the stairs or drive off the side to meet up with the track. Driving off the side, you'll land on the track just a short way below and probably save a couple seconds, but the game says you've gone off track and puts you back about five seconds before you fell off. On the other hand, sometimes you go to an off-track place and it is a shortcut with a special item. Which one you'll get is TOTALLY random and ruins a lot of the fun of the game.

Control is okay, but not superb. Nothing to really talk about there. Same with sound and graphics. All acceptable, nothing great. The camera is well done, thankfully.

The one thing that the game does suffer from is a lack of originality. With Grooverider, the strange experience of racing as a slot car and switching lanes works because it isn't a common way to race. Grooverider wins points for that. With Room Zoom, there is nothing special. Nothing at all. It's a racer with little cars. I could compare it to any other racing game from extreme games like Rush 2049 or serious games like Gran Turismo, and it doesn't hold up. It's unfortunate because take out the random shortcut thing and it could've been a lot better.

Overall Ratings:
Graphics - 7
Sound - 5
Control - 6
Gameplay - 5
Overall - 5

Great track design can't make up for poor execution. Another game I want to like but just can't.