Rush 2 Extreme Racing USA

Hello and welcome to ToriJ's Video Game Reviews. Last December I played San Francisco Rush Extreme Racing and it was one of the best racing games I've ever played for the Nintendo 64, so naturally I tracked down the sequels of the game with the intent to review every single one of them, and this time we take a look at the second entry of the franchise: Rush 2 Extreme Racing USA!

This time we start things off with an opening movie showing a race going on with explosions and all before being shown the game's logo, and then a preview of a race from the game. Kind of annoying. Just take me to the title screen! From there we have the same menus that made up the first game. The first changes from 1 to 2 won't be seen until you make it to the road maps.

  Show me the money!

Unlike the first game that mainly took place in San Francisco, Rush 2 branches out by having maps from Vegas, New York City, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Seattle, and even Alcatraz! You have some special maps involving pipes, a crash course, and a place where you can perform your own stunts. There's a lot of variety in the tracks this time around and I had a lot of fun with each of them.

This time around you can change the features on each map before you click A. You can have the map spin backwards, not sure if that does anything to the actual course or not, mirror it to where you're racing in the opposite direction, edit the amount of fog or wind you have, turn off checkpoints, and even turn on deaths, which may as well be the fun on and off button. 

Have I mentioned lately that I really like green and red?

I'd say we have the same amount of cars as in the first game, but different choices and a lot more options for the cars specs. Not only can you pick a secondary color, but you can add stripes and affect the stats of the vehicle. There are other things on here too like engines and all that, but I don't know much about cars so I really can't get into specifics. 

Time to burn rubble!

Not much has changed in the racing side of things since the first game. You still have to be careful not to run into things and stay on the road or else you'll lose speed. Crashing still produces a large explosion that's cool as hell to watch, but grows ever more frustrating the closer you are to victory. Some times the computer will join you in these crashes. I hit a wall and bounced back only to have a computer car charge headlong into me killing us both. I can't remember how I did it, but I manage to take two cars with me in one of my crashes. Hell, the computer can't even past the finish line without blowing up!

You can adjust the difficulty on each course, but even if you don't the next track always seems to be harder than the last. I didn't have much trouble on the Vegas course only to go to New York or Hawaii to crash a lot more often. By the time I got to the track where you race in a pipe forget about it. That thing was spinning as you went and you can't tell if you should be turning or just let the pipe move on its own. The worse part about that course is if you have checkpoints on the timer is the lowest it has ever been and you'll run out before you can reach the next checkpoint. I couldn't even finish the race until I turned the timer off altogether.

  77 points to Gryffindor – Wait.

The Circuit makes a return and is pretty much the same as the first game. There are twenty-eight races in total and you have no control over the course or the conditions so you have to bear with whatever the computer throws at you. At the very least they don't include the last couple of tracks. You also always have your choice of car and don't have to keep racing with the same set of wheels you had before. Not that I ever had reason to replace my Compact.

I enjoyed the Circuit races immensely and climbing up the ranks. You don't know how satisfying it is seeing yourself go from the last car in the lineup to the top three, or even first. I unfortunately still don't know how satisfying it is to start a race at first place. Maybe if I won more races and didn't crash so much I'd have more points by now. Easier said than done, my friend. If it's not the sharp corners or obstacles standing in your way it's the other cars. Everyone is a dick who wants to win in racing. They don't care how much damage they do to your car as long as they win. You have to crash them before they can crash you. It's a jungle out there.

  I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!

The stunts course is a lot of fun. Basically, all you do is run around and go up ramps to perform as many tricks as you can. It reminds me of the Tony Hawk games, but with cars, and a lot better than the Tony Hawk games. You can drive up ramps and spin in the air. Points are determined by how long you can stay in the air, and how many flips you can do. The catch? You have to land right-side up and not explode.

Since there's no race to the finish the time limit is a lot longer giving you plenty of time to perform as many tricks as possible and there are no other cars in your way. Although, you can get rid of the other cars in the other courses any time you want. Just race with yourself. I never tried that. I like my races to be filled with cars. No fun if you're the only one crashing. Anyway, this course is very large and has a lot of places to explore which makes it great for finding new ways to perform tricks, but not so great because it's easy to get lost. I had to restart the stage because I couldn't find my way back to where the ramps were. Tread carefully.

The good ol' red, white, and blue!

With more places to race and ways to modify your car, Rush 2 is an even better racing game than the first. If you enjoyed the first game immensely, then chances are you're going to absolutely love Rush 2. Give it a whirl!

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