Choro Q/Gadgets Racers (PS2) question?

[josekortez]

What's the difference between the new Choro Q game that's coming out tomorrow and Gadget Racers or even Road Trip? I'm just curious...

[DaBargainHunta]

What's the difference between the new Choro Q game that's coming out tomorrow and Gadget Racers or even Road Trip? I'm just curious...

First of all, check out my review of Road Trip right here on DP for some basic info about that game.

The URL is http://digitpress.com/reviews/roadtrip.htm

Like Road Trip, ChoroQ is a "CarPG," but there ARE some differences (more below). Gadget Racers doesn't have any RPG or exploration elements - it's all racing. Ditto for Road Trip Arcade on the GameCube.

Here are my VERY early impressions of ChoroQ...

POSITIVES:

- As I expected, I'm enjoying the wacky races. If nothing else, the Choro games are always good for their unique tracks. I've only seen a few of them so far though.

- There are some nice graphical touches in the races (the sand skids from underneath your car when you drive through it, etc.). However, there are some negatives with the graphics too (see below).

- You can actually feel the improvements when you upgrade your car. Like the other Choro racers I've played, the cars control unresponsively at the beginning of the game, but that improves with each upgrade. One review (I wish I could remember which magazine) mentioned that the left and right controls were broken, but a steering upgrade fixes that problem immediately. Obviously, this "professional" didn't even bother to play the game for more than 5 minutes.

NEGATIVES:

- I am not so sure that I like the RC Pro Am-style perspective when you're exploring the towns. It seems limiting and confining to me. One of the things that made Road Trip so much fun was the exploration. With the different camera perspective in ChoroQ, that aspect isn't quite as enjoyable IMO.

- It could be my imagination, or maybe I just haven't played enough yet (remember, I'm still very early in the game), but ChoroQ's graphics don't seem to be quite as good as Road Trip's, even though Choro is the sequel. As mentioned above, I'm not sure I'm in love with the new perspective Choro uses for the exploration section, so it goes without saying that Road Trip's graphics are better in that area. However, Road Trip may also have sharper and more visually impressive RACE graphics too. Of course, I must reiterate again that I'm still very early in ChoroQ (I've only seen a few of the tracks thus far), so I may be wrong on this. Of course, neither game is going to give Gran Turismo 4 any sleepless nights, but I thought that Road Trip looked perfect for that type of game. The jury is still out on ChoroQ.

- Perhaps I'm just being nitpicky, but the load times every time you enter a house, a race, etc. get to be kinda annoying after a while. I think it was the same way in Road Trip too, but it's slightly more irritating to me here for some reason. The load times are hardly crippling though, so don't get the wrong idea.

MY OVERALL GUESS:

Assuming that ChoroQ's different tracks end up being as inventive as the ones found in Road Trip, Gadget Racers, Road Trip Arcade (GC), etc., this game will probably turn out to be a bit better than Gadget Racers and Road Trip Arcade but not quite as good as Road Trip.

[KJN]

Choro Q HG 1
Released in US as Gadget Racers and in Europe as Penny Racers: Haven't played it but I think it's mostly racing.

Choro Q HG 2
Released in US and Europe as Road Trip: Huge open ended world to explore as you want (no loding times except when you enter a building) + racing. So far my favorite game in the series.

Choro Q HG 3
Was going to be released in US as Road Trip Adventure Avenue but was cancelled, released in Europe as Gadget Racers. Improved racing aspects, (for example you can now jump and drive on the back wheels) but the world is smaller than HG2. The world is devided into four smaller areas (like forest or mountain area (loading between them)), no day and night cycles (or photo shops), minigames cost money to play.

Choro Q HG 4
Will be released in US as Choro Q being the first to actually use the Choro Q name outside japan. From what I gather the racing aspects is improved yet again but the areas are now even smaller than HG3, now being just three cities viewed from a more looking down perspective. Im sure it will be good as all the games in the series are but I will miss the huge world that made Road Trip so great.