Wacky Races: Crash & Dash

Nostalgia is always fun, right? Well Eidos is hoping that it is with the revival of Wacky Races, a 60’s cartoon that featured animated races filled with pratfalls and mayhem. One has to wonder if a 60’s cartoon that received very little fanfare is the right fit for a licensed video game on the Nintendo DS. Not only are the list of Wacky Races fans on the short side, the list of people who actually know of the cartoon is even smaller.

Dating back to 1968, Wacky Races debuted on CBS centering around 11 race cars (23 individual racers in total) trying to win the title of “World’s Wackiest Racer.” Of the said 11 race cars, the show usually was formatted around Dick Dastardly and his dog Mutley trying to foil every other participant’s chances at winning the race. Outside of Dastardly and Mutley, people may remember the Slag Brothers or Penelope Pitstop. The Slag Brothers design eventually spawned Captain Caveman and Penelope Pitstop was popular enough to earn her own cartoon titled The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

Wacky Races: Crash & Dash couldn’t have been shallower than a glass of water due to its limited gameplay. The controls of Crash & Dash are essentially the main problem with the game as players will guide their favorite characters to the finish line via the stylus. In theory, the farther the stylus is away from the car, the faster their car will go. In this case though, theory proves wrong as the speed never picks up when attempting to move the stylus farther away.

To help aide the players along the way, Crash & Dash provides power-ups that can be collected to benefit the player in a variety of ways. Only two power-ups can be held at one time, so nothing new here in terms of varying from kart racer stereotypes. There are four different power-ups types which a majority of them propel the characters forward with speed.

Perhaps the biggest downfall of Crash & Dash is the last portion of the race where it asks the player to either blow in the microphone or scribble as fast as they can on the screen to gain momentum towards the finish line. Not only is this quite irritating, it also takes away the players control of the car and puts it into auto-pilot. No matter how much distance you put between your opponents and yourself, the mad dash for the finish line is always tightly packed and will have players blowing their hardest to win the race.

But don’t fret about the difficulty; the game is in the easy side of the spectrum. Players who fall behind due to failing at a mini-game or being plain bored with the game can catch up on the whim with the forgiving computer AI.

Of the 11 race cars in the game, only 10 are playable. Dick Dastardly and Mutley are reserved as villains and will provide players with obstacles to overcome. These traps usually fall into the category of annoying or frustrating due to the mini-games that ensue to escape the trap. Each car has their own weapon to use against the opponent though all the racers are pretty much even in terms of quality, so it doesn’t make a difference what character you pick.

The technical aspects are somewhat better than the gameplay as the audio and graphics hold up much better. The graphics are on par with what you should expect with a Nintendo DS game as the visuals are representative of the television show. There are also animated sequences dispersed throughout the gameplay to provide some plot points behind the races. Audio also has a few bright spots such as the announcer, but he’ll eventually fall into repetition with limited dialogue.

Having been a fan of the cartoon, I can’t recommend Crash & Dash to anyone.

Gameplay: 3.0
Frustrating elements such as blowing into the microphone ruin the game.

Graphics: 6.1
Fans of the show will enjoy the graphics although the characters and tracks lack detail.

Sound: 5.5
If there was more dialogue provided for the announcer, it would’ve been a more enjoyable experience.

Difficulty: Easy
Players will never fear losing any race.

Concept: 4.0
Licensed or not, this game was bound to be shallow.

Multiplayer: N/A
It’s a crying shame that no multiplayer was featured in a racing title.

Overall: 3.8
If you are a fan of the show, it’s recommended you pick up the DVD to serve your hunger for wackiness. Avoid Wacky Races: Crash & Dash at all costs.