Racing has never been this SIMulated

When I first got my hands on MySims Racing, I thought back to the early days of the Nintendo 64 and its production of some incredible multiplayer racing titles. Whether you were playing Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X, or the Mario Kart clone, Diddy Kong Racing, all encompassed the beauty of the N64 in a nutshell: innovative presentation but above all, incredible multiplayer gameplay. As Nintendo has a knack for reselling previous titles, and rehashing old franchises, both the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS have kind of carried over much of this multiplayer appeal we knew and loved on the Nintendo 64.

For instance, hits such as Mario Kart 64 and Super Smash Bros. have been brought over to the Virtual Console for gaming nostalgia. The DS has seen titles such as Diddy Kong Racing ported over and Mario Party DS, which in many ways mimics the original Mario Party experience. Thus, MySims Racing reminded me of a few of the rehashed/cloned titles that I’ve loved over the years and I had hoped that it could bring about the same type of quality gameplay that previous titles did. MySims Racing is definitely a Mario Kart clone but does it bring enough enjoyable gameplay to the table to warrant a purchase?

The Song Remains the Same

When I first turned on the game, it gave me the option of customizing my character as well as my car’s appearance. After being given control over the wheel, I immediately thought of Diddy Kong Racing as the game’s races/favors are all controlled via a hub world like in the oldschool N64 game. Players are allowed to drive around town doing favors for different Sims in order to attain either personality points, modifications to your car, or different additions to your character’s wardrobe. Favors generally consist of driving the respective Sim to a different part of the map, collecting items, or even collecting items on a stunt track (similar to Tony Hawk experiences). After receiving an upgrade, players can then go to a garage or their house to buy the respective change (using personality points) in the appearance of their car or character.

Races are also accessed through the overworld hub but you’ll quickly realize that the game’s progression is limited to your completion of the available races. Thus, you’ll have to complete races to gain stars and can then access new races or environments according to the amount of stars you’ve acquired. This is very similar to that of Diddy Kong Racing and helps players to improve their racing skills before taking on some of the more challenging races. Also, if you finish a race in first, you’ll be rewarded with both personality points and a stat changing upgrade to your vehicle. Players can then visit the garage to buy and equip the upgrade, which will affect either their speed, acceleration, or steering.

If you’re familiar with Mario Kart for either the Wii or DS, then this game should be easy to pick up. For the DS, it plays just like any Mario Kart experience you’ve played on either the DS or N64. As for the Wii version, you’re given more options with the ability to play with multiple controller schemes including both motion controls and classic controls. The game features almost identical racing style to the Mario Kart experience, with everything from the initial boost to similarly distributed item blocks. Just about everything about the racing experience, in fact, mimics Mario Kart (though the Power Slide adds to a boost meter like in F-Zero rather than giving you a temporary boost like in Mario Kart).

Items are also quite similar to those in Mario Kart, aside from a few unique additions, including the Tornado Inverter, which flips the screen and forces you to play as if you were driving on the ceiling. This is a nice unique addition to the format but is easily overlooked due to the game’s all out similarity to other experiences out there. Another nice addition are multiple placements of shortcuts throughout the tracks. I feel like some of the more recent Mario Kart games have lacked the interesting shortcuts seen in the SNES and GBA versions of the game. These shortcuts were another welcomed addition to the game and added to the overall quality of the track design.

What is and What Shall Never Be

MySims Racing features up to 4-player multiplayer on either platform and this is another comparison/homage to the party games of old on the Nintendo 64. However, in this day and age, gaming almost demands an online experience, especially from the racing genre. Thus, with no online functionality for the Wii version, MySims Racing falls short of its Mario rival on the console. The DS version does feature online multiplayer with up to 4 players playing online which is a much nicer option than what's (not) available on the Wii but it still doesn't fully stack up with the experience of rival racing title, Mario Kart DS, lacking a battle mode.

Also, if you’re a Sims fan and you’re expecting MySims Racing to feature any sort of connectivity with other Sims titles on the market, you’ll be sadly disappointed. MySims Racing does not allow you to upload any of your characters or connect any of EA’s many other titles in the genre to this game. With that being said, MySims racing still provides more customization than is available in Mario Kart (but what good is this extra customization if you can’t show off your character in online gameplay?).

The presentation in either game is not too shabby on the other hand. Though it doesn’t compare to the quality of graphics/sound/character likeability seen in the Mario universe, each game still looks quite good on both the DS and Wii. Musically, the games’ scores neither please nor pierce the eardrums and thus is easily forgettable. The sound effects, on the other hand, are of decent quality and the Sims’ voices are as silly as usual (sounds as if they recorded the phrases backwards).

Though the game does offer a decent amount of visual customization, the actual stat customization is very limited. Essentially, players will only upgrade their cars according to the current tier of vehicle part. Thus, if you obtain the “gold” engine then this is better than the “silver” one that you had equipped before. No stat increases/decreases with each subsequent upgrade and no separate but equal parts.

Bring it on Home

MySims Racing is the typical generic racing experience on either the Wii or the DS. And, though we’ve played games very similar to this one, it still holds some water as a standalone with its hybridization of features from several different titles as well as visual customization for both your car and character. Multiplayer is fun but the lack of online functionality in the Wii version really holds MySims Racing back from being a strong addition to your Wii library. Still, if you’re willing to spend the extra dough after already playing the best racing game on your platform, MySims Racing should provide a polished enough experience to keep you interested for some time.