World Driver Championship

World Driver Championship
North American Nintendo 64 cover art
Developer(s) Boss Game Studios
Publisher(s) Midway
Composer(s) Zack Ohren
Platform(s) Nintendo 64
Release
  • NA: May 31, 1999
  • EU: November 1999
Genre(s) Racing game
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer

World Driver Championship is an automobile racing video game. It was developed by Boss Game Studios and published for the Nintendo 64 by Midway Games. Released late in the console's lifespan, it is notable for having especially high quality graphics.

Production

One of the last racing simulations to be released for Nintendo 64, this graphically intensive title uses custom microcode optimization and high polygon count modelling. The development team was able to optimize the usage of the various processors within the N64 to allow a great draw distance (reducing the need for fog or pop-up), highly detailed texturing and models, Doppler effect MP3 audio, and advanced lighting and fog effects for realistic weather conditions. Increasingly prevalent toward the latter years of the N64's commercial lifetime, the game has a high resolution 640x480 mode that does not require the add-on N64 RAM Expansion Pak. Additionally, unlike many other games of its type on the platform, the game runs high resolution at a smooth pace.

Boss Game Studio planned to release an updated port of the game on the Nintendo GameCube, but never published it.[1]

The soundtrack, consisting of original rock and heavy metal tunes, was composed by musician Zack Ohren.

Gameplay

Tracks

There are ten locations in the entire game, most of each with six tracks (marked "A", "B", and "C"), three of which are in reverse (marked "R" next to "A", "B", and "C"). The exception is Black Forest, which has only four tracks, two of them being in reverse.

These are the ten locations: Hawaii; Les Gets (a mountain village located in Southeastern France); Las Vegas, USA; Auckland, New Zealand; Lisbon, Portugal; Rome, Italy; Sydney, Australia; Zurich, Switzerland; Kyoto, Japan; and Black Forest of Germany.

Reception

Reviews
Publication Score
GameSpot 5.7/10
IGN 8.8/10
EGM 7.25/10
N64 Magazine 9.1/10
Nintendo Power 8.7/10
Game Rankings 78 out of 100[2]

The game received mixed and positive reviews due to intense competition at the time. While the game was an improvement in nearly every way compared to Boss's similar earlier effort, Top Gear Rally, it was up against the impressive new Gran Turismo series and other new racers. Complaints included a somewhat unconvincing driving physics model, non-licensed cars, and poor sound effects and music quality. The dislike for the physics model often stems from the beginning cars being difficult to drive and offering a "sloppy" feeling of control.

References

  1. ↑ IGN Staff (June 17, 2002). "Boss Game Calls it Quits". IGN. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  2. ↑ "World Driver Championship Reviews". Game Rankings.
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