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Leadfoot

Score: 40%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: Wizard Works/Ratbag
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Racing

Graphics & Sound:

After opening the box for Leadfoot and installing it, the problems began with this game. It installed ok, but once you inserted the disc to play it, it asks for your video card setup. Here, you can either use your video card hardware driver or you can use your software drivers. On my test system, the only thing that worked for me was using the software drivers. Everything else froze my system. I was beginning to think that I would have to buy a bigger machine just to do the review.

After finally getting Leadfoot to run on my machine, I decided to have a quick race to see what kind of graphics we were dealing with. While I was selecting my truck and track to race on, things began to look up because you are able to choose different multicolored paint jobs for your trucks, not just solid colors. Some of the designs were cool, so I was beginning to think this game was going to be fun.

After starting the race, you begin to see where they saved money. The graphic details of the trucks are somewhat bland and the crowd in the stadium is a multicolored blob with no movement at all. Also, while driving, you might tend to hit things, go off the track, and you might expect these objects you hit to move realistically. Not a chance; they are immovable objects. The track is also very poorly rendered because you could count the pixel blocks on the ground. Granted, this might be because I was running on my software video driver, but since it was the only driver I could get to work with this game, I had to make due.

The sound effects for Leadfoot were also a letdown because you had the obligatory crowd sounds and the grind of the trucks, but that was it. Hardly any crowd noises and no music track either.


Gameplay:

When I first heard about Leadfoot, I was excited because I had so much fun reviewing a similar game, 4X4 Evo. I was a little apprehensive with the idea of racing trucks on a motor-cross style stadium track. I have a hard enough time racing small motorcycles on those tracks where you turn incessantly all the time.

There are three modes in Leadfoot: Single Race, Multi-Player, and Career Mode. I usually start off with the Single Race to get a feel for the trucks, the tracks, etc. What did I say earlier? This is where the problems began. I started the race and after we took off, I promptly crashed into a track barrier. Ok, so the difficulty settings might be set a little high for me, so I head off to Options to fix it. Nope, its on the easiest setting you can find. While there, I did notice that there were plenty of real world tweaks you could do to your truck to make it run more realistically. Of course, there was no autopilot. I am not a racing enthusiast, so most of the options were Greek to me, so I decided to leave the truck with its default settings. I did turn off the Force Feedback setting from my joystick, because it tended to bring on more crashes.

After playing Leadfoot numerous times, I finally got good enough to finish a race. I was in last place, but hey, I finished the race. Multi-Player was embarrassing to me due to my pitiful driving. Some of those players online can be down right mean! In Career Mode, you are able to start off with a small truck and work your way to a massive machine by winning races and winning money. With your winnings, you upgrade your truck. Pretty standard set up for a racing game. Now I just have to work on that winning races part.


Difficulty:

The diffculty in driving might make Leadfoot a serious challenge for racing sim fans, but for the casual player like me that prefers a more arcade like set up, the learning curve is a little steep. This surprises me for such an affordable game. Maybe with a fifty-dollar game I might expect such challenges, but a cheapy? My problem is that I do not have enough time in my day to get really good at such a mediocre game. This will probably be the biggest thing going against the game for the long haul. Bargain bin, here we come!

Game Mechanics:

I am one of those strange people that actually prefer to use a joystick rather than a racing wheel. I really don't know why, I just prefer being able to control all of the functions of the truck, car, pod, with my hand. This is entirely my preference only. The games works well with both the joystick and racing wheel. The steep difficulty level makes this game almost impossible for mouse and keyboard control, but you might be good at it. I did not have a chance to test the game with a game-pad but if you are into console games, you might prefer one.

In conclusion, Leadfoot is a very mediocre game that will not last too long on the store shelves. The difficulty in getting good enough to be able to race really slows down the enjoyment of the game and a lot of people might not want to bother.


-Wickserv, GameVortex Communications
AKA Eric Wickwire

Minimum System Requirements:



PII 266 or equivalent running Windows 95/98, 32 MB Ram, SVGA Video Mode, 250 MB Hard Drive Space, and PC Sound Card
 

Test System:



GX-450xl running Windows 98, 256 RAM, Creative Sound Blaster 64CPCI with Boston Acoustic Digital Media Theatre, STB Velocity 4400 with RIVA TNT chip, DirectX 7, 32 Mb RAM, 6X24 DVD-ROM.

Windows High Heat Major League Baseball 2002 Windows Pearl Harbor: Defend the Fleet

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated