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Auto Modellista Review
Chris Leyton
26/11/2002
Can Capcom's cell-shaded racer provide worthy competition to the mighty GT3???
Auto Modellista marks Capcomās first entry into the competitive racing genre; unfortunately although thereās some great touches and distinct flair, the overall game is let down by a severe design flaw.
When Auto Modellista was first announced it generated a fever amongst racing fanatics; the promise of online play, coupled with Gran Turismo mechanics and manga styled cell-shaded visuals, looked to create a game that would appeal to many. The name Gran Turismo is likely to feature quite heavily in the review, Auto Modellista doesnāt just borrow ideas from the pinnacle racing series, it blatantly copies the Polyphony rulebook in virtually every feature thatās made it into the game.
Upon booting up the game youāll be greeted with Arcade, Career and VJ Theatre Modes; Arcade needs no explanation, itās designed to let you get straight into the action and also houses the options for the games 2P split-screen mode. The main challenge in the game lies naturally in the Career Mode, which sees you competing in a range of different races and tournaments.
Unfortunately the main fault behind Auto Modellista is evident right from the start, because thereās no currency system within the game youāre free to choose whatever car you want from the beginning, so thereās no challenge of having to start with a low-spec car and build your way up. Of course given the choice, most people will select the fastest and meanest cars on offer, which ultimately means youāll be winning the first selection of stages without even batting an eyelid; perhaps not the best way of gaining a gamers interest right from the start! To be fair there are some neat touches; as you progress through the game youāll unlock a huge amount of items that can then be used on your car, ranging from decals to tune-up options to different parts. Thereās a lot to unlock, which gives you great scope to totally customise your cars, and youāve also got the cosmetic option of decorating your garage with posters, tools and a variety of other items (unfortunately this doesnāt appear to have any impact on the range of tune-up options allowed for your car). You can imagine why Capcom chose to go down this route because of the games online origins - to have a world of online boy-racers showing off their shiny new motors ā“ but sadly because we completely miss out on any online features, it merely represents two proverbial fingers to European gamers.
Opinions seem to be split on the level of customisation seen in Auto Modellista; some say it pales next to the complexity of Gran Turismo, whilst others canāt stop harping on about it. Itās true that thereās a whole range of items and features to unlock, which does have the result of keeping your attention, and there are some nice features such as the āEasy Tune-Upā that simply asks you a few questions as to how you want the car to perform and then automatically works out the correct tune-up options for you; however for die-hard racing fanatics youāll find that the game tries to do a little too much for you and doesnāt give you the same scope as Gran Turismo 3.
Once you get onto the track you canāt help but marvel at the visuals, the cell-shaded approach gives the visuals such a distinct look in a jaded genre obsessed with realism. The car models look truly stunning with strong colours and distinctive lines; despite the cartoon nature all of the vehicles realistically portray their real-life counterparts. Unfortunately the environments canāt match up to the standards offered by the car models, suffering from a lack of detail, variety and poor anti-aliasing issues. The overall result is marred by a number of stupid issues that should have been ironed out before the games release, namely slowdown and clipping. On certain tracks the game is prone to slowdown, whatās the point in having wind trails and slipstream effects when the game is bogging down to 15FPS? Secondly youāll notice quite frequently that car collisions look odd, with cars merging into one another and going through crash barriers without any impact!
The actual racing is an enjoyable mix of arcade racing and depth most usually associated with a simulation; each car feels markedly different to the other, whilst your customisations do take on a notable effect. Unfortunately your opponents make even the ones from Gran Turismo 3 look aggressive, Iām not quite sure whether this was again a result of the online origins, however youāll find that your opponents rarely drive to cut you off and try to stick to the correct racing line. Itās highly likely that youāll find the experience quite disappointing until you reach the later challenges of the game.
Away from the main game is the impressive VJ Theatre mode, which allows you to add a range of visual and audio effects to your saved replays. Thankfully this mode is as cool as it sounded when Capcom first announced it; you have to edit the replay in real-time, adding a range of visual and audio effects to the end result. Because of the wide range available to you and because of the distinct look, itās likely youāll spend quiet a bit of time in this mode creating some stunning looking replays that youāll want to save to watch at a later date.
