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Vanishing Point
By R. Michael Porter

When I first picked up Vanishing Point I knew what I was getting into.  I had read reviews on it and I knew that the first few cars controlled like the tracks were made out of glare ice and that there was the hope of better handling cars and unlock-able goodies abound.  This helped me curb my frustration with the game and actually enjoy it, but I pitied the poor sap that bought this game without knowing about the gold at the end of the slippery rainbow.

Other than the control, you can start enjoying this game right out of the box.  The graphics are top notch.  With beautiful detailed high-resolution textures and visually interesting tracks.  You’ll have to pause the game to look at them properly because the speed of this game is incredible.  You’re zooming around the tracks at around 90 miles an hour presented to you at 60 / fps.  The game never slows down no matter how many cars are on the screen or how big of a crash you get into.  There are nifty smoke effects from power-sliding into turns and little sparks shoot up when you grind the side of your car into a wall.  Vanishing Point also features stellar replays with great camera angles that capture the action perfectly.

The sound is great and it did an awesome job of getting me in a racing mood.  Trance music filled my speakers and I was just itching to get on the track.  The tire squeals and engine noises are nice, but I turned them down so I could hear the music that kept me moving through the first few difficult races.

Another thing that made the game incredibly frustrating was the challenging AI.  Your rivals would purposely slam into you or create crashes ahead of you creating utter chaos as you try to avoid careening totally out of control. 

Other gameplay goodies include the stunt mode, which shows off the incredibly accurate physics engine.  Pitting you up against obstacles like slalom courses, jumps, and an expedition in balloon popping.  You get to try out the cars that you can unlock and build your racing skills.  I go here after getting utterly frustrated in tournament mode, it helps calm me down so that I can continue in my racing.

For the first few races the control makes you want to hurl your $30 Dreamcast controller against a brick wall.  But you are paid back for your frustration with great handling cars, new tracks, full motion videos, head-to-head modes and a tune-up option, which make the game WAY more enjoyable.  After you’ve spent a couple hours at the game the gameplay quality goes way up.  Once you’ve gotten all the goodies you’ll have one great racing game.