''Cruis'n Velocity'' is a

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic ra ...

and the fourth game in the ''

Cruis'n ''Cruis'n'' is a series of racing video games originally developed by Eugene Jarvis for Midway Games and published by Midway and Nintendo. The series distinguishes itself from other racing games with its over-the-top presentation and fast-pace ...

'' series. The game was developed by

Graphic State Graphic State Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. The company was founded by Claire Hill and Richard Whittall in 1997, specializing in games for the Game Boy Color The (commonly a ...

and released by Midway for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. It is the only game in the series not to be preceded by an arcade release and features slightly different gameplay from its predecessors. The game uses the same

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

as '' Dark Arena'', a

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

game also developed by Graphic State, to achieve a pseudo- 3D effect. This approach garnered the game mixed reviews.

Gameplay

Unlike the previous games in the series, instead of the racing down one-way courses consisting of streets based on real-life locations while avoiding various road hazards such as oncoming traffic and construction, the players travel through a large environment racing eleven different cars and winning the races without getting hit by walls and such. Fourteen different locations, the same as '' Cruis'n Exotica'', are available. There's a new speed boost system by pressing on the gas button twice. There's also an option that the player can have a damage system on or off and there will be a damage bar and it can go down when the players crash into different objects. There are three different races to choose from. Players can run through the Cruis'n Cup which unlocks new courses and cars. Championship allows players go through courses and if to earn points like in ''

Mario Kart is a series of racing games developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters and courses from the ''Mario'' series as well as other gaming franchises such as ...

''. In Freestyle players can go through courses to get the highest track record. The game features a three-player

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

mode using the Game Boy Advance's link cable. Instead of a save feature this game used a

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

system so that players can save their progress.

Reception

''Cruis'n Velocity'' received "mixed" reviews according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

called the game "somewhat enjoyable" with its multitude of play modes, while criticizing the

collision detection Collision detection is the computational problem of detecting the intersection (Euclidean geometry), intersection of two or more objects. Collision detection is a classic issue of computational geometry and has applications in various computing ...

, game-crashing

bugs Bugs may refer to: * Plural of bug Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Bugs Bunny, a character * Bugs Meany, a character in the ''Encyclopedia Brown'' books Films * ''Bugs'' (2003 film), a science-fiction-horror film * ''Bugs ...

, use of a password system and

A.I. Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech rec ...

They also remarked that the game was significantly less over-the-top than its arcade predecessors. The game's ''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

''-style graphics engine was criticized by

AllGame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

, which called the graphics "ugly and sluggish" and compared them unfavorably to '' Mario Kart: Super Circuit'', which used

scaling Scaling may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics and physics * Scaling (geometry), a linear transformation that enlarges or diminishes objects * Scale invariance, a feature of objects or laws that do not change if scales of length, energ ...

to achieve its pseudo-3D effect. ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Nint ...

'' called it a "so-so racing game".

References

External links

* {{Graphic State 2001 video games Cruis'n Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Advance-only games Graphic State games Midway video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom