Looney Tunes Racing

Game Boy Color (2), 2000
Genre: Racing (3)
Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: Xantera

Recently I talked about how Disney had a good track record with video games. Well their main golden age rival Warner Brothers had a reputation all over the map. Their games run the gamut from classic to garbage. There were also a ton of them released in the 90s so the varying quality isn’t all that surprising. They weren’t always getting the best in the business to make their games. Looney Tunes Racing is a textbook example of their over exposure. It was made by a small company called Xantera that for about two years did sports conversions for Game Boy Color. Their other six games are Test Drive and Tiger Woods games that are more well known on their home console counterparts. Looney Tunes Racing is no exception to the rule as there is also a version on Playstation. I haven’t played that one, but I can tell you this GBC version doesn’t give me much confidence. In this game we have the funniest characters in the history of cinema staring in one depressingly dull game.

It gets off to an okay start. The vehicle descriptions are peppered with Looney Tunes humor and the backgrounds on the tracks look very nice. But then the first track ends up being a simple circle. Then the second track is also a simple circle. Then reality starts to set in that every track is going to be a circle. The whole game you are slowly racing around a long boring circle. No obsticles, no sharp turns, just circles. There are also only four racers per track which means that there are long stretches where there is nothing on the screen but road. You can pick up some typical Looney Tunes items like anvils and portable holes, but there’s just not much opportunity to use them. Kart racing just isn’t that much fun without characters to interact with or interesting tracks to navigate. Who knew? It can also be beaten in less than a half hour not that anyone would want to play it much longer than that anyway.

It’s hard for a game that I expected so little from to disappoint me so much. It’s not like I thought this was going to be Gran Turismo or anything, but I was at least hoping that Xantera would put in a little effort. It’s a shame because the graphics are quite nice. This makes it one of the most inexplicable things in all of gaming. It’s a game that’s actually better on pause. It’s time to get out your red pencil if you’re playing along at home because we have our first bad game on the list. Just like Wile. E. Coyote running off the side of a cliff, it’s going straight to the bottom.

1. Galaga

2. Pac-Mania

3. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

4. Metro-Cross

5. Gaplus

6. Dragon Spirit

7. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

8. Baraduke

9. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

10. Galaxian

11. Gyruss (2600)

12. Looney Tunes Racing

Next time: Ultra rare Atari week begins!