Dreamcast

Dreamcast

Average Customer Review: ( 3 customer reviews )
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POD Speedzone is an interesting game. There have been many futuristic racing games both in the arcades and on the various consoles. POD Speedzone certainly does not even attempt to distinguish itself from the rest of the futuristic racing games in existence, but it is still rather interesting and fun to play.

However, players should DEFINITELY bypass the opening movie. It is not interesting at all. In fact, the opening movie is absolutely unnecessary. Even worse, it is embarrassingly open-ended without having really presented any believable storyline to make such an open ending worthwhile in any way.

in POD Speedzone, it is important to become familiar with the controller configuration as quickly as possible. Fortunately, there are five configurations from which to choose, including steering with either the analog stick (which is really rather difficult unless someone is an analog-steering specialist) or the D-pad (the arrow buttons beneath the analog stick). Those coming to the DreamCast now (since there are so many used DreamCast consoles on the market in the States) from the PlayStation/PSOne or the PlayStation2 - both consoles primarily use the D-pad for steering in racing games - will find the analog stick difficult to use for steering, as it is inherently not nearly as precise as the D-pad, and oversteering or overcorrecting is FAR too easy to do with the analog stick.

For those who do not have the DreamCast console configured and wired for Internet access and online play, Arcade Mode is the only game mode available (other than Two Players Mode). The game presents a number of cars, each varying in both look and performance; two of the cars are not available, as they are apparently for online use only. Once a car has been selected, a race venue can be selected; again, one race venue is not also available unless online capability has been detected.

Each car comes equipped with shields and a fixed amount of Boost. Shields are destroyed due to collisions with ANYTHING, and once shields are gone, the next collision cripples the car and the race immediately ends. Shields and Boost can both be provisionally augmented by collecting the proper power-ups. Weapons are also available to try to blow the competition out of the way.

In many situations at most racing venues, the raceway is bounded by metal barriers. Touching these barriers or any other obstacle (including another vehicle) will result in the car's shields fading away due to the incurred damage. In ALL situations, the raceway is extremely narrow, so passing must be done with care; this is an obvious benefit to the race leader, as there is not much raceway to protect when driving defensively.

POD Speedzone is interesting, and difficult to master. Players can expect to spend a lot of time with this game.

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:

could be betterDec 28, 2000

this games is really really fun but has way too much bad things. first off theres only 6 tracks, not much options and no championship or story mode etc. Therefore this game gets boring quickly. I think Speed Devils is a better bet. the racing may not be as good but there IS WAY MORE REPLAY VALUE BECAUSE OF THE CAREER MODE.

1 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Internet Must!!!!Jun 19, 2002

It's a good game if you have internet access.If you don't, don't bother