Chocobo Racing Playstation Publisher: Square EA Developer: Square Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium Camera: Far Chase

Story Mode's Plot Unravels In A Pop-Up Book Type Of Adventure Multiplayer Pits You And Your Friend Against One Another. And You Thought The Computer Was Tough Square Also Decided To Place A Create-A-Racer Option Into The Game After Finishing Story Mode TACH- O -METER Control: (4) Graphics: (3) Sound: (3) Replay Value: (2) Overall: (Not The Average) (3)

Chocobo Racing. Many of you are probably saying, "Ummmm Chocobo Racing?? How could a publisher or a developer for that matter ever come up with a name like that?". Well that publisher and developer are Square and Square EA. So what is exactly a Chocobo? I am here to answer that question. A Chocobo is a type of bird found in the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy has been around a long time and many of you may remember playing the the first of the series on the original Nintendo. Most recently were seen in Final Fantasy VII. As the hero in FFVII you had to raise them to become a better all around bird and also race them. So Square, the same company behind the Final Fantasy series, has taken the cute little birds and given them their own game. I have played FFVII and it is basically an upgrade to the chocobo racing found in that only better.

Chocobos are not the only type of characters/creatures found in this game. There are magicians, goblins, behemoths, golems (rock creatures), and all sorts of hidden characters that can be found. Each character has a different default ability that becomes available while it is in the heat of the race. While in the race the ability meter will gradually fill up. When filled completely you are able to use the ability. The abilities vary a lot and they provide the character with a specific talent...

-Dash: enables the character to travel faster for a short period of time
-Flap: enables the character the ability to fly over obstacles that slow everyone else down
-Grip-Up: provides better traction for the vehicle enabling better handling
-Mug: allows you to steal your neighbors Magic Stones
-Barrier: provides a shield from most Magic Stones and other Ability Attacks
-Charge: different from dash in that if you ram another vehicle it causes them to spin out
-Receive: if a Magic Stone is used against you you will receive the same stone after you recover
-Magic Plus: if you have a Magic Stone this ability will increase its level by one

With all this talk about Magic Stones and levels one must wonder what I mean by this. Well instead of calling them power-ups they are called Magic Stones. Magic Stones provide you with either projectiles or mine-like obstacles. There are Fire, Thunderbolt, Minimize, Doom, Ice, Reflect, Haste, and Ultima Stones. All of these stones can be powered up as well. While you are racing and you pick up two or even three of the same types of stones the damage caused by using the stone will be powered up. For instance, if you collect one Fire Stone you will have the ability to fire one fireball at an opponent. If you collect two you will have "Fira" which is a larger fireball plus it will act like a seeker missile and hunt down the vehicle in front of you. Say you collect three Fire Stones in a row. Well that is very good considering you receive "Firaga" which is a huge ball of fire that hits every one of your opponents.

Chocobo Racing has five different modes of play (Story Mode, Time Attack Mode, Grand Prix Mode, Versus Mode, and Relay Mode) each with different objectives behind each one.

-Story Mode
Basically an adventure played through by a pop-up book (pop-up book, come on, getting just a little childish there). It starts out with Sid supplying Chocobo with a new pair of rocket shoes. Soon Chocobo meets up with Mog, his first challenger. After beating Mog in a race he is then selectable throughout the rest of the adventure along with his ability. Chocobo and Mog continue in their adventure and meet up with a hostile Golem. After defeating him using either Chocobo or Mog the Golem becomes selectable also along with his ability. This is why Story Mode becomes kind of a bore because the only surprise is who is going to be the next victim. Every character you face ends up coming along with the crew and becoming selectable. Square maybe could have thrown in a few surprises.
-Time Trial Mode
Just as the name implies a character trys to make it around the course in the lowest possible time. This mode is for those of us who like the bragging rights when we have received the best time for a track.
-Grand Prix Mode
Like every other racing game there is a Grand Prix Mode. Select four courses to race on ,or have them randomly selected by the computer, and try to receive the highest total score at the end of the four races
-Versus Mode
Chocobo Racing makes up for the cutesy look when is comes to racing against one of your friends. Your whole outlook on the game changes when you are in a heated race with an actual opponent not some horrible AI. In Versus Mode you can select a track and race to beat your friend at it using every Magic Stone to your advantage.
-Relay Mode
This is kind of a new mode that can be found in Chocobo Racing. It is an actual relay race where one selects who races who (Computer vs. Player, Player vs. Player). Then you are able to select what order to race your drivers and finally select the number of laps. Relay Mode is fun in the beginning but then gets old kind of quick.

There are a number of tracks throughout the game. The sidelines and background look very good aside from some pop-up. Also the track itself has a lot of clipping and other mistakes. For some these are minor problems but should have been corrected seeing many of the flawless titles that Square has put out in the past.

Aside the fact that the graphics are pretty cutesy the control is very good. Turning is easy enough to pull off and controller reaction is sharp and fast. Learning certain tricks like "Drifting" are good additions and help with the steering. Most tracks have right angle turns and the drift helps out a lot. In the sound department this game could have used a little work. The tunes are not all that great and sound effects sound bad in places.

There are a few downsides to this game but there are some upsides. For one, the multiplayer is great and being able to select your character's ability makes numerous combinations at your fingertips. Also there are a whole lot of secrets to uncover, in all there are over eight secret characters. I would say that if you are an adult looking for a racing game for the younger audience pick this up. Even though the difficulty might be kind of tough it will probably be a good buy. For the rest of us? Maybe a rental for the Mario Kart lovers that need a new challenge.