14 DAY TRIAL // I admit that, as far as games featuring cars, races or other speed demons go, to me personally, the excellence expression is given by the Need For Speed series. But that doesn't mean that the world begins and ends with it and, every time I hear about another game featuring cars, I hope it proves to be better than NFS.
And, if we were to listen to the promises of Black Bean-Milestone-Alfa Romeo, SCAR - Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo, may just be this kind of game. Milestone Studios have a lot of experience in the field of auto simulations, the Superbike series and Racing Evoluzione being just two of the names on their business card.
Alfa Romeo being involved in the game, all the races feature various Italy landcapes, from the Toscany hills to the streets of Milan. The producers insist so much on the local specific, as even the music of the game will be represented by remixes of Ennio Moricone hits.
But what's really interesting about this game is a different performance approaching style. While other games of the sort emphasize the car tuning, SCAR emphasizes the abilities of the player. Thus, winning a race or competition leads to accumulation of ability increasing points for the player (RPG-like approach). There are nine types of skills available, each bearing its own importance in increasing the driver's skills.
But the innovations don't end here. The game also proposes a sort of temporal effect, named (totally uninspiredly, in my opinion) "Tiger Effect", through which players can go back in time to correct certain errors.
The idea is very interesting, but, without some limitations, the realism of the game can be compromised. Anyway, it's worth keeping an eye on!
The announced release date being May 2005, and with no demo being launched yet, all we have to do is wait and see!
To view a trailer of the game click here