Mad Dash
Mad Dashby EIDOS INTERACTIVE
Platform: Xbox
ESRB Rating: Teen
ASIN: B00005NZ1U
Check price @ amazon.com
Amazon.com Product Description: An original title designed for the Xbox, Mad Dash Racing combines high-speed combat racing and 3-D adventure action with a crew of motley characters for an insane multiplayer competition. You will compete in a race for survival against the evil Hex, his dirty minions, and your unforgiving friends. Glide across rivers of hot, steaming lava, bash through mammoth boulders, and slide down icy glaciers to beat the other racers and escape Hex's wicked wrath. Do whatever it takes to cross the finish line first, from shooting weapon power-ups, planning scheming attacks, or knocking your opponents off track with a sharp elbow nudge.
Customer Reviews:
No Rules... Do What It Takes To Win!, September 24, 2002
Reviewer: A 12-year old gamer
A classic and comical game full of surprises at every turn! Even though it looks like another animal racing game, it is truly different from just about every other race title. The first difference you notice is that the characters race on foot.This makes the game more challenging and fun to play. Climbing and swimming involves circling the joystick, but hey you'll get over it. Also there aren't that many tracks as one would expect. Only 11. But it takes a while to unlock the rest even if you are an experienced player, so I don't blame the developer. As with every cartoon style racing game, there are power-ups to slow your opponents down. But you can also trip up your opponents with a little pouncing and elbow throwin'. Heh Heh. Also you can grind rails or similar ledges. This may seem familiar with Sonic Adventure fans, but the tricks are less harder to do and the characters balance themselves automatically. Having more characters makes up for less tracks. Each character has a different ability and speed, so choose wisely. And of course there are a couple of cool characters to unlock. I recomend Sid for beginners. They also say cuss words and so do some of the songs, but there are also millions of short AND long cuts of shortcuts, CHALLENGING bosses and other surprises. Buy the game and experience one of the most original and coolest racing games of all.
Uninspired early racing title for the XBOX, June 4, 2002
Reviewer: adrian_m from New England, United States
I tried to like this game and in some ways I do. But there are too many flaws to make me consider rating this anything higher than a 3.
For starters, there's nothing here that hasn't been done before. The concept of animals racing is nothing new and the added techniques such as grinding don't really add to the game and look rather strange. The frame rate fluctuates wildly and despite what others may say, you DO notice it during the game. The courses are way too open ended...at times, it feels like you're playing a game similar to SONIC ADVENTURE on the Dreamcast because there are TOO many different ways to proceed and you tend to lose your bearings at times. Swimming and climbing are accomplished by rapidly circling the analog sticks which I found disrupting in the middle of a close race. And lastly, there's something about this game that makes me nauseous when I play it for more than 25 minutes...usually 3D games like FPS and other conventional racing games don't do this to me, but MDR seems to succeed every time whether its from the wild movements of the backgrounds or the chunky frame rate.
I bought my copy for [$] and I would warn against paying any more for it. This is probably the first XBOX game (other than Wreckless) that I feel just isn't worth buying. Rent it and see first.
Fun but hard, February 27, 2002
Reviewer: Missy from CANADA
I recieved this game for Christmas as a present. There are 11 different tracks all of them are quite hard but fun. They take some getting use to too! All of the characters are very comical:
Ex:Betty: She has a huge wrench that she runs around with and trips people with it.
Spanx: A crazy looking lab rat that can't run straight.
I would suggest this came for 12 and older. Some of the comments that the characters make are quite rude. The versus is the funnest. There are adventures where you have to beat some very hard level (I am still stuck on the last one!).
Not a Great Game, February 10, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from merrick, new york United States
I personally own the game thinking it would be good for me. But I realized that it is more of a kids game. I own 11 Xbox games and play almost all of them. I have never played Mad Dash again after the first day I bought it.
Fun racing, dark courses, January 28, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from San Diego, CA USA
The game, Mad Dash Racing is a very good racing game. There were a lot of funny scenes. There were some things that I didn't like. For instance, the characters didn't look right. The courses were very dark.
Great Simple Game, January 22, 2002
Reviewer: William Doman from Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
This game is great! The graphics are not the best I've seen, but certainly better than anything on a PlayStation. If you're tired of the RPG's and strategy games and want something simple and fun, this is your game. It's great for two players as well.
All these reviews about how bad the AI is are people who cant beat the first level. The game goes fast, I guess they cant keep up.
Mad Dash, January 21, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from Niwot, CO United States
Mad Dash is the hottest game around! Racing throgh 8 different levels is so fun. All the levels are long and fun and full of shorcuts, traps, bad guys and more. Its so fun!
Mad Dash Racing, January 1, 2002
Reviewer: tiger_tailz from New Jersey
I had alot of fun with this title. Keep in mind this game should only be played Multiplayer, as the single player mode is kind of boring. The graphics are great. Tons of shortcuts, HUGE levels some took us up to 8 minutes to complete. Powerups, jumping, flying, climbing, bashing, grinding and more. It's alot of fun multiplayer but single player is kind of boring as you need to place first in order to advance to the next race. With the Huge levels and and long race times it can drag quickly if you don't place first. You can complete any race to advance to the next though, you do not need to complete any of the races in order. Halo would be the best thing to play multiplayer, but if you want a change of pace or want to unwind with the kids this is still fun.
Terrible, December 26, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Connecticut
I can't understand why most of the xbox games on release were terrible. Halo got me interested, and since halo was supposed to be for the computer, and i had been anticipating it for a while, i had no choice but to buy the xbox. I'm not saying that the xbox is bad, but the box has some stupid and terrible developers, some i have never heard of before, and others that make terrible games. Dc Interactive is one of the worst developers i have ever seen, and mad dash racing shows how terrible this company is.
First off, the game does not take any advantage of the xbox's power, and it looks like this game could be on PS1 if it were a little slower. The game has some nice landscapes, and some of the grahpics are beautiful and detailed, but the characters look terrible compared to the levels. Graphics isn't everything though... lets check out the game play
I realized at first playing that you will always have computer players around. The only way to not have computer players in a race is to have 4 human players race. This is a major flaw, and its even worse because the computer players ae more out to get you than to win, and on top of that, the pathetic "homing chickens" never miss you on a shot. It is extremely easy to collect enough "green thingys" (I think they are called green rocks) to make weapons out of them. The creators of this game went to far in their creativity trying to make a humorous game and also have it fun and exciting. Nothing of the three was accomplished.
The game is way too difficult at times, and the AI is more than unballanced, but they have an extremely unfair advantage. The computer players never seem to run out of energy so they can dash everywhere, and of course maybe run you over so that they can get into the lead. Ontop of this, the computer players know the secret paths in ALL OF THE LEVELS. You will take days to figure them out, so the computer players have an extremely good advantage.
One last complaint, and my least complaint, is how that you can be in first place, and get hit by one of these stupid animals in the course, and get knocked back into last place. It is amazing how stupid people can be, and even those people who need to go to college for 10 years to learn perfect programming and math so they can be a computer/video game programmer, and still mess up a product, that may have even been anticipated for. I do not recommend this game, and everyone who gave this a good review is not a true gamer. You are all probably 12 years old, or are just not a gamer. Waste your money on another game. You will be extremely dissapointed if you are a gamer or above the age of twelve. DON'T GET THIS GAME!!!
Ho Hum, December 26, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from La Jolla, CA USA
I really feel sorry for the developers of this game. You can tell that they were trying so hard to make it fun, but it always seems to come up just short.
I can't even put my finger on what is wrong with this game. All I can say is that after playing for an hour, I simply had no desire to continue... it didn't interest me.
I think the problem is that this game is so obviously trying to be Mario Kart, and it so obviously fails. I think it's possible to say without exaggeration that the 2 Mario Kart games rank among the 5 best video games ever made. Their simplicity, replayability, and perfection were truly awe-inspiring. Mario Kart was inspired by genius, and that genius isn't there in Mad Dash Racing. There is just nothing in this game that is comparable to the deep satisfaction that came from hitting Peach with a red shell or the rage when Luigi nailed you with starman and zoomed past saying "I'm a Luigi" in that hilarious Italian accent.
You should rent this game and give it a try, especially if you weren't spoiled by the geniuses at Nintendo. My prediction, though, is that it won't take long to get bored. The game is just.... blah.
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