A fantastic kart racer for the Dreamcast!

I absolutely love kart racers and have ever since playing Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. My wife and I still love sneaking in a game or two of Crash Team Racing on the Sony Playstation, and I just can't get enough good kart racers for the machines I have around the house. Fortunately for Dreamcast owners, Looney Tunes Space Race is a fantastic kart racer that allows players to control Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and other classic Warner Brothers cartoon characters.

Before I get to the merits of this game, let me mention one flaw that drives me absolutely nuts -- there are some serious frame rate issues in the multiplayer mode of this title. That's a true shame as the multiplayer aspect is crucial to kart racers because, heck, throwing bombs and such at another honest-to-goodness human player is fun as hell. At several points during the multiplayer matches, the action will freeze for a very brief second when there's a lot of animation on the screen. That doesn't interfere much with gameplay, but it gets quite annoying. In fact, the framerate problems are so frequent I feel like I'm playing this thing on a Windows-based computer (remember the motto at Microsoft -- "Efficiency is for sissies!")

Having said that, this title is just plain fantastic for Dreamcast owners. The animation is so good the game looks like a classic, Warner Brothers cartoon. The players are detailed and shake their fists at other racers, look good and annoyed when blasted and everything else one might expect in a game such as this. Infogrames, indeed, made good use of the license for this game and put together a racer that has the look and feel of an interactive cartoon.

The courses, too, are well-suited to the cartoon feel of this. You get tracks that are downright nuts and plenty of power-ups, to boot. For example, power-ups allow players to drop anvils, safes and elephants on competitors. Some power-ups allow players to lob bombs and missiles at the competition, while others utilize the time-honored spring-powered boxing glove or a disintegrator pistol. The power-ups (called "gags" in the game) are found by running over crates thrown throughout the courses. Of course, all the power-ups are made by Acme Corp., which I do believe stayed in business thanks to Wile E. Coyote.

The object of the game, naturally, is to win races by any means possible. The characters all drive hover ships which are suited to their personalities. My personal favorite is Wile E. Coyote's hover ship -- it's simply an Acme rocket with a saddle and handlebars on it.

As for sounds, the music is barely noticeable, but the game really shines when it comes to vocalization from the characters. The characters yell various catch-phrases common to them in the cartoons (Wile E. Coyote just holds up signs such as "Yay!" or "Drat!" when appropriate). The taunts hollered by Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam and etc. contribute heavily to the "cartoonish atmosphere" in the game (particularly Yosemite Sam's "I hate you!" quote when he's blown up by another character).

Controls are pretty good, although a bit sluggish at times. It's far too easy to go off course and wind up "falling" into oblivion, only to have one's character reset. However, I chalk that up to Infogrames' desire to stick to the cartoonish atmosphere of the title.

In addition to the multiplayer mode, there's the expected "adventure" mode in which players unlock new tracks by winning races. Also, tokens are won for each race, and those are used to unlock special races which demand the player to win without power-ups, avoid constant falling objects, and etc. The adventure mode is challenging enough and will keep the player coming back for more. Fortunately, the player isn't locked in to a particular character in the adventure mode and can choose racers at will. Since each character comes with different abilities, that's a nice touch.

All in all, this is a fine contribution to the library of any Dreamcast owner. The game is fun for two players, in spite of the framerate problems. Up to four players can participate in this, but I haven't tried it with more than two. Heck, I wouldn't want to as I can't imagine the framerate issues that would pop up with four players in split-screen mode! Still, if you have a Dreamcast, this is a title you ought to go out and buy.