Initial D: Mountain Vengeance

The Good
I liked the menu presentation as well as the graphics--blocky, but it's good enough.

The Bad
Unfortunately, it follows the American version of Initial D...so that means DJ Milky--that means the Eurobeat songs that is the hallmark of the anime series is gone; and the character names gets Americanized. It's TAKUMI, not TAK!

What's worse is the controls. I tried using a Celeron-powered laptop to play the game, but, even if I was using a gamepad, refuses to respond. I shifted to a Pentium III laptop. I got it to working, but the cars are so uncontrollable I just quit the game, never to play it again.

I can't comment on the sound effects because I wasn't able to play the game.

The Bottom Line
If you're a die-hard Initial D fan, stay away from this unless you want to have hypertension. Oh--even the casual gamer can get hypertension with this monstrosity. But don't get me wrong--the Initial D franchise is a beautiful franchise to work with. Too bad its publishers didn't know how to exploit it and put it to good use. SEGA ROSSO should have done this, not some unknown publisher who just got lucky.

The Good
Has a nice, clean and intuitive menu system. Has an 86 in it (kinda - can't notice how bad the graphics are) Nothing else!

The Bad
Where to begin....first and foremost, it's Takumi NOT TAK!!! I'm sorry for those people who have watched the awfully dubbed version of Initial D, but the fact they have used the wrong names for game, that's the first thing that through me off this title. Next, the graphics. You could say the graphics are pretty good. Good that is if your comparing it to first gen PSX games, cause that is how good the graphics are. Actually, that’s being disrespectful to such games like Ridge Racer. The handling. The game tries to play like an arcade racer in some places, and then it feels like playing a simulator, the end result is one frustrating experience, where it is impossible to get a good feel for the game.

The Bottom Line
If you want to play a kick arse initial D game, import yourself a copy of "Initial D : Special Stage" for PS2, as that is actually an awesome Initial D gaming experience. I guarantee, it won't disappoint. As for this title, (Initial D: Mountain Vengeance), leave it where it belongs..... IN THE BARGIN BIN!!!!!