I feel like it's 1996 all over again.  Here I am, sitting in my room, playing a racing game that was developed for Nintendo 64.  The graphics are as satisfying to the eye as a Game Boy Advance game.  Vehicle steering is handled with the thumbstick, but somehow it's not as smooth or as precise as the Nintendo-made racers that preceded it.  Courses are mostly oval, some having more twists and turns than others, but overall the feeling is relatively the same; constantly moving in circles, rarely feeling like you're cruising a video game race course.  Graphics are unusually bland, with cheesy fade-in effects that make it impossible for the player to see distant objects.  This also helps to separate the player from the virtual reality the game creates, a reality that should have been more involving.

"Um, excuse me sir, but this game was designed for GameCube, not Nintendo 64."

What!?  GameCube?  That's not possible, the controller I'm using is a—

Oh no, it IS a GameCube controller!  That could only mean one thing: this is a GameCube game.

Can you tell?  Take a look at the screenshots.  I know that graphics don't make or break a game, but they are the first thing you see, and whether we like it or not it does encourage many of us to make a purchase, and steers us away when games are less pretty.  If you were to judge Road Trip: The Arcade Edition based on looks alone, you wouldn't go anywhere near it.  GameCube is nearly a decade old.  GameCube has been out since 2001 and Nintendo is already talking about their next game console.  There is no excuse – not a single good reason – for someone to design a GameCube game that looks like it was made for Nintendo 64.

It's not just the look of the game in screenshots though.  Just wait till you get inside the game and become baffled by the frame rate, which actually slows down at specific points!  Can you believe that?  If the game were drenched in polygons and had real-time effects that never quit, I'd expect some slowdown, or at least some incredible graphic technique that prevented it from occurring.  But Road Trip is low on polygons and even lower on graphical beauty.  The frame rate should never, ever slow down.  Why it does is beyond me.

Gamers know how important the frame rate is, especially a racing game.  Speed is key for racers.  For whatever reason, Road Trip checked its speed at the door.  There are speed boosts power-ups to acquire, but they're few and far between.  There are also speed boost arrows planted at specific points of some of the courses, but they're not enough to make this game drive at an acceptable level.  The speedometer might say 100+ mph, but it feels like you're moving at bicycle speeds.  Seriously, I've experienced a greater sense of speed and exhilaration from running a quarter mile.  The frame rate issues are bad enough – but even if the frame rate was perfect this game would still move way too slow.

Each car is small and oddly deformed, while the courses attempt to give an "over-sized" feel by making everything bigger.  You'd think this was a game based on the MicroMachines toys, or even Hot Wheels.  That's fine.  In fact, I love the idea of a racing game that puts players inside of their toys.  However, I'm not sure that was the goal with Road Trip.  I'm not sure what the goal was at all.  The whole thing feels very unstructured.

As I noted in the review's introduction, Road Trip's controls aren't very smooth or very precise.  The power-slide move is kind of cool: instead of just sliding, you jump in the air.  Game Boy Advance games use this technique, as did old 16-bit classics designed for the SNES, but it has sense been outlawed now that the new, ultra-powerful consoles are in every gamer's home.

The rest of the controls don't fare so well.  Steering is sluggish at best.  I'd expect the steering to be difficult when you hit a patch of oil, but that's how the game feels throughout each race – like you're driving on a semi-greasy surface.  When you do hit an oil patch the vehicle becomes more resistant to turns, but it doesn't spin or drive in the chaotic way that you'd anticipate.  This is almost disappointing, because I would have rather had great controls that turn very tightly, but become loose and uncontrollable when the tires lose traction.

Road Trip: The Arcade Edition is an inexpensive game that retails for $19.99.  That sounds like a great deal, but there is a hidden cost: the game itself isn't worth buying.  It's generally hard to argue that a $20 game is worth passing up entirely, but how could anyone recommend a game that isn't fun?  That's the real problem that I have with this game.  You can overlook technical issues and ignore crappy graphics if the gameplay delivers a compelling experience.  In the case of Road Trip I don't think gamers will be compelled to do anything but stop playing it.

Gameplay: 5.5
Road Trip isn't unplayable.  You could play it, and you could get through it, without banging your head against the wall because of some ridiculous frustration that shouldn't have been created.

You can't, however, get through the game without getting bored.  It's slow, fairly easy, and is relatively short.  The car lineup is small, and each one drives almost identical to each other – they mostly differ in their deformed appearance.  I know a lot of people love the VW Beetle, but there's a much better game out there called Beetle Adventure Racing.  It was designed exclusively for Nintendo 64 (no joke this time), can be found for $25 or less, and it was published by the king of sports games, Electronic Arts.

Graphics: 3
Why is it that Xbox and GameCube, the two most powerful consoles currently on the market, get all the ugly games?  I mean really, share the love – throw some of that ugliness onto PlayStation 2., and give Xbox and GameCube more beauty!

Sound: 3
Generic sound effects and sub-par techno music.  Below typical, below worth listening to, and below the point where I should spend any more time talking about it.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The lead racer is the one to beat.  He'll keep you from getting first place, at least a couple of times.  The rest are pretty easy to pass though.

Concept: 3
If this game were based on the film of the same name it might have rocked.  If the game had better controls, or better track design, or a faster speed, it just might have rocked.  But that's too many IFs for me to handle.  IFs are "what could be" or "what could have been."  This game is what is.

Multiplayer: 4
If a game isn’t fun to play alone, how could it be any fun to play with friends?

Overall: 5
Like an alarm clock in reverse, Road Trip is the game you play when you want to go to sleep.