Kinetica illustrates the point that you need more than speed and flashy graphics to make a good high-speed racing game. Sure, the racing here is fast, but design issues quickly turn it into a wreck of a title.

Like the Wipeout and Extreme G games, Kinetica features futuristic car designs, a bumping techno soundtrack, and racetracks that defy the laws of physics and logic. In the world of Kinetica, you don't merely race in cars, you become a car. You race wearing one of several special suits that feature souped-up wheels and engines, and choose from a variety of drivers. Each combination of suit and driver performs differently and withstands varying amounts of damage. In order to finish in a decent place, your racer must locate power-ups and perform stunts in the air and on the ground. Successfully completing a stunt will increase your speed boosts. It's just as important for you to learn the many alternate routes each track offers. Every other racer is out to get you and will try to smash or disable you in a variety of ways.

Once racing begins, Kinetica crashes and burns. The racing is blindingly fast, which makes it very hard to concentrate on performing the trickier stunts. Often you can't see far into the distance, which leads to frequent crashes into walls and other obstacles. You can easily fall completely off a track because of the overly frantic action. The awkward track design and the number of challenges you face each moment severely limits the fun factor for players. The game also experiences some occasionally drastic slowdowns when more than two racers are onscreen at once. Kinetica's original gameplay ideas should have stayed in the shop for more fine tuning. --Mark Brooks

Pros:

• Blazingly fast driving action
• Stunts and wild tracks

Cons:

• A little too much action to concentrate on attaining objectives
• Poor v

Average Customer Review: ( 17 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

Interestingly, the Kinetica game manual is extremely well-designed, being both informative and beautiful to look at. The racers and circuits are presented along the bottom of the pages across the entire manual, while the specific, easy-to-read details of the game (controls, options, etc.) are explained on specific pages. An added bonus is "The Art of Kinetica," a small booklet presenting close-up images of the game's characters.

Perhaps most impressive is the incredibly FAST load time for each race venue. The expansive worlds and their glorious detail take almost no time at all to load; this is made to seem even shorter as the game screen offers a tip to improve a palyer's performance while the venue loads. Another wonderful aspect is that the fast-paced gameplay is NOT interrupted by dropped frames :-)

The only potential drawback is the lack of a specific stunt track and/or interactive stunt tutorial (such as is available in SSX). This would be a great benefit to players as they first play the game, especially since stunts MUST be performed (almost continuously) to have a chance at winning. Nonetheless, while this is not a Gran Turismo 3, Kinetica is definitely a wonderful game which should definitely be a part of every serious PS2 gamer's collection!!!!!

12 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Awe-inspiringOct 23, 2001

I'm shocked to see that no reviews have come in for this game and thought I would put my two cents in. I'm disappointed to see that it hasn't made the top 25 best-selling list on your site or even the top 10 racing games. I'm not a big fan of racing games, but Kinetica is just different enough to pique my interest. I bought SpyHunter a few days before and haven't even gone back to it after playing this game. Contrary to some reviews, I've only found that stunts are difficult to get off when you're in tight turns, which I'm sure is exactly why there are extremely tight corners in the game, to make sure that you don't use the same old tricks to get through it. Unlike other racing games, I enjoyed playing the boards over and over, because the outcome can be completely different every time. I definitely recommend this to just about anyone who likes futuristic settings and racing games other than the everyday stock car variety.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Driving game with a mild twist ...May 12, 2002

Kinetica seems to be a very underrated game amongst my PS2 friends. In my opinion it is one of the coolest games for the Play Station up with Grand Theft Auto 3 and Jax and Daxter. You basically are one of a choice of racers in the future wearing exo-suits with special abilities allowing you to cruise a wide variety of inventive racing tracks in primitive to future environments. Since the suits have some special powers like gathering boost strength through doing stunts and skid/acceleration control it takes a lot of practice to get fluent. The tracks are very fast paced and tricky, and the further into the game the hairier the action. You begin by playing 'seasons' of racing which consist of 4 tracks each. Score in the top three out of twelve racers on the first season and it unlocks the next season, score top 2 on each track there and unlock the third season. Then you unlock bonus tracks which then unlock special racers you can use to get further with. The tactics of weight, speed, and cornering are all factored into the suits and sooner or later you realize how to power up at certain points in order to boost ahead at others. The graphics and design are wonderful, it moves well, and the game play is intense. Once a player goes through the motions enough this game is very enjoyable, and holds you tighter then any other game on PS2 while you are engaged. Clever game, clever execution, great play.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

yea, it's a pretty cool trip.Oct 25, 2001

Graphics could be a little better, and the play a little smoother, but it's still a good play. feels like a combination between xg3 and bustagroove from ps1. the drivers are hot and have got some sick moves, all the stunts are L1 plus quarter circle, half circle, etc. environs are huge and you can get mad air. in a nutshell, you're trying to get as much "boost" power as possible. the more burly your stunts, the more boost you get. there's a total of about 9 characters, 3 of which have to be unlocked. during replays the backgrounds flicker alot, but they're pretty consistent during actual play. i didn't notice much slow down at all, not even when you encounter other racers. overall, this is a good game. the concept is rad and it'd be cool to see what they could do on a sequel. oh and yo, the music gets kinda boring after awhile. seriously, i'm pretty sure that in the future techno will not be the only music out there...

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Addictive and originalJun 26, 2002
By J. Bollen
I first previewed this game on a demo disc I received in the mail. At first I didn't pay all that much attention to it and wasn't big into racing games at the time. Then a few weeks ago a friend of mine watched the demo and exclaimed, "Dude, you gotta get this game!" I watched the incredible speeds reached and stunts performed and realized that Kinetica wasn't just another racer like Gran Turismo 3. Since I'd be working this summer I decided to fork over the money and buy it. I can honestly say it was my best purchase decision since Twisted Metal Black. I picked up the controls and techniques within a matter of minutes and was well on my way to beating out the CPU. Amazon's review states that you can't see very well and that the game slows down when the action heats up. Both of these are false. Maybe on a PS2 that was released prior to Fall, 2001 these complaints hold water. On mine, there is no problem whatsoever. As for the concern about the races being so blindingly fast that one can't concentrate on stunts, someone with quick fingers and a little practice can easily refute this. And don't think the fun is over when you beat the game. Unlocking all the bonus tracks and characters offers the player to couple his or her racing skills with an awesome new bike on past courses or against a friend. Furious speeds, dazzling stunts, and flawless and intricate tracks: Kinetica is all this and more.

See all 17 customer reviews on Amazon.com