Rocket Coaster for Pioneer LaserActive
Welcome to another great sneak peek on an exclusive Pioneer LaserActive title. This one is a racing game titled Rocket Coaster.
It's the year 2053 and a huge amusement park called "Gateway Islands" has been created on a group of islands in Tokyo Bay. The park was built by a high tech company, and boasts amusements on a scale seen nowhere else in the world.
The most popular amusement of all is the "Rocket Coaster". It's a high speed ride which allows you to experience the excitement of speeding inside a holographic virtual reality space while experiencing the bumps and shakes of a normal ride. In fact it's the jet coaster of the 21st century.
Unlike the old jet coasters which moved along fixed paths, you ride the Rocket Coaster on board a special vehicle with a Jet Fan Engine called a "Krono Gear" which allows you to freely move through the virtual reality spaces. Of coarse, if you make a mistake you'll crash! Can you make it within the time limit?
This game is made by TAITO and Distributed by Pioneer in 1993.
The graphics in the game are pretty good for 1993 using the LD FMV for backdrops and Sega CD sprites for the cars. I like the 3D scenery that you drive around in on each section. Every level has a completely different look and feel to it, and you can see the developers put some real thought into each stage.
There are 3 different areas to the game with 3 stages in each area for a total of 9 stages. Fantasy, Adventure, and Future are the 3 areas you can choose from which give you a slight variety of different tracks to play on. When you beat each area you get a cut scene showing that you won. But you must beat all 9 stages of the game to see the actual ending.
The music is a mixed bag. I like the music during cut scenes, and on a few stages in Adventure and Future, but the music in the Fantasy area is flat out annoying and despite the other areas having better songs they are all still repetitive. The developers at Taito didn't give too much thought into the soundtrack of the game IMO. There is a variety of songs that do match the scenery, but the songs just sound uninspired and uninteresting for the most part.
The sound effects are decent but not anything to write home about. Its the typical sounds from the Sega CD PAC for when you fly off the track or hit the sides of the road. Its not much but it gets the job done.
The control is decent after you get used to it. At first it feels a bit strange, like the car has bad traction on the road or something. But once you get the feel for the turns and how fast you can take each corner it becomes much more fun to play.
One thing that made me a bit upset is that they give you 3 cars to choose from. All with a different look, style, and color. But then you find out that all of them are the same in speed, handling, acceleration etc... the only difference is that each one gives you a different sprite on the screen as you play. That is the only difference that I can tell. So they might as well have just givin' you one car anyways.
Bottom line: If you own a LaserActive and SegaCD PAC then you might as well get this game. It's a good addition to your LA library, and is quite unique amongst the LA games. It is very challenging and will provide hours of entertainment. It also plays up to 4 people and unlike most LA games this one has a sound and music test in the options menu. :) It might not be the best on the system, but it's far from the worst.
This disc is in 480i, and features RSS Surround sound.