World Grand Prix
System: SMS
Release Date: October 1986
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Racing
World Grand Prix is a substandard Pole Position clone. We’ve already had Hang-On, which was a better game. This is worse all around, and Hang-On wasn’t great or anything. The 2 button accelerates, the 1 button breaks, you can veer left and right, and shift up and down. There are only two gears. First gear gets you to 172 km/h, while second gear gets you up to 300 km/h. I found that you could take all curves at top speed without sliding. In fact, the only racing challenge comes in the form of other racers.
The other racers love to switch lanes for absolutely no reason when you’re approaching. This causes way more explosions than there should be. When you get their lane switching down, you then get forced into billboards on the side of the road. What track designer in their right mind would put these here?
The manual talks about earning points from winning races and buying upgrades for your car. If there was armor, that would be the only useful part for me. The only novel thing World Grand Prix does is offer a design mode, which is lifted from Mach Rider. If that’s your cup of tea, enjoy. It was not mine and this game didn’t consist of enough to earn five paragraphs.
Graphics: 1.0
The graphics are significantly worse than Hang-On.
Sound: 0.5
They didn’t make the passing sound effect any more pleasant.
Gameplay: 1.0
You have only two gears to control your speed and the hitbox of other racers is too big. The only nice feature is the map in the corner.
Difficulty: 1.0
The only thing that makes this game difficult is the kamikaze nature of the other racers.
Fun Factor: 0.5
I was much more frustrated than happy while playing.
Overall Grade: 0.8
World Grand Prix gets a D. It’s not any good. Pass on this one.