Oh the thrill of sitting behind the wheel of an ultra-sleek Formula One racing car, speeding across the runway in some exotic city for the chance at beating the best racers in the world.  Downforce puts you--the gamer--in the seat of a racing car in a frantic game filled with wild high-speed antics and brutal crashes.

Gamers can choose from ten different racing cars (with four others to unlock), all of them looking and reacting differently--an information box on the right tells you its specific abilities such as smooth cornering or its ability to break quickly.  Strangely enough, characters are assigned to each vehicle and this will, no doubt, lead gamers to believe that choosing the vehicle based on a character will mean something . . . it doesn’t.  Sadly, there is no story mode that takes advantage of having a character in the first place.  Why create characters--and name them--if they’re not to be used?

Still, this game is about the racing and Downforce is a traditional arcade racer with emphasis on speed.  There are seven different game modes; five of them are single playing modes (Trophy, Championship, Time Attack, Free Race and Time Trial).  Trophy mode takes gamers through a rigorous race where you have to finish the race in the required position until gamers make it to the final race.  Championship places you on a qualifying race to determine what place you will start in in the beginning of each championship race.  Time Attack is basically a race against the clock.  Free Race has no main objective except for just the mere fun of racing. And Time Trail is a perfect place to set a time record.

Aside from choosing the vehicle, you are also given the option of choosing the difficulty setting (Beginner, Intermediate and Expert), racetrack (Las Vegas, Florida, Singapore and a few others) and even different gears (automatic or manual).  While the difficult setting begins in Beginner--a blessing in disguise since it allows gamers to grow accustomed to the controls--you move on to Intermediate as soon as you successfully finish each race.  In the gear shift department, Automatic is simple to learn while Manual has you changing the gears during the race. 

Fortunately, the opponent AI is never impossible to beat.  In fact, the opponents are prone to make the same mistakes and accidents that happen to befall you during the race.  If you don’t smoothly navigate a turn, you’re likely to slam into a barrier and resulting in one of the most horrifying crash sequences seen in a racing game.

And the crashes are a spectacular sight indeed!  Each Formula 1 racer has its distinct visual characteristics (complete with the names of the various sponsors printed all over each vehicle), and although they’re nothing special, watching the racers crash (complete with flying vehicle fragments and flames) more than makes up for the okay graphics.  Mainly, the graphics lack details that could be seen in all of the racing tracks that include exotic locales such as Florida. 

Solid techno music makes up the soundtrack and it’s actually not bad at all.  Still, grooving soundtrack aside, it’s the authentic sound effects that will draw the most attention.  While the rumblings of a race car engine have been heard before in various other racing games, it is somewhat intensified here since the game is trying to recreate that “extreme” speed theme. There’s also a commentator that shows up during the Instant Replay but it’s only to introduce the race.  The only other voice is at the beginning of each race and even that is reduced to one word: “Accelerate!”

The game also allows you to race against a friend in two multiplayer games modes.  The first one, Two Player Free Race, is basically a head-to-head race that can be short, medium or long and seen in split-screen fashion.  Two Player Time Tag is a game where one player has to get ahead of the other racer for ten seconds--thus “tagging” the other player--to earn a point and the other player must do the same: the racer with the most points wins.

Downforce could have been one of the big boys in this genre but its shortcomings--the few that are there anyway--and its lack of innovation keep this game from being a classic.  Still, even with this, the game is a really good time in the old racetrack and has enough arcade-style action to please true racing fans that feel the need for speed.  

Gameplay: 7.4
Gamers will find the controls rather smooth and easy to learn, however, the game features six different control configurations just in case.  Still, the controls feature the same things other racing games feature (such as accelerate, brake or even change to gears).  It was kept simple because Downforce concentrates on one thing: the racing.

The opponent AI is also challenging enough to pose a threat to each gamer while still being able to make mistakes or loose control.  Often times those mistakes hinder other drivers and could even manage to get in your way during the race.    

Graphics: 7.7
While not gorgeous, the graphics are decent enough to keep the realism in check.  Each racecar is neatly rendered but it’s the surroundings that lack the pristine details that Grand Turismo 3: A-spec possesses.  Forests, for example, look lush but isn’t big on displaying things as birds taking flight or any other small detail that would add to the overall grandeur of the environment.

Yet gamers will enjoy the crash effects during the game and in the Instant Replay (which happens to look wonderful).  The camera always pans away from the regular view to display a scene of the car either flipping over or being shred apart by the impact.  Either way you’ll get too see the gruesome result in all its glorious beauty (trust me, the effect is beautiful).

Sound: 7.0
The game’s soundtrack is composed mainly of techno beats that aren’t really spectacular but are rather catchy once the gamer is thrust into the racing action.  Like most racing games, the sound is geared toward the rumbling of engines and since these cars are Formula 1s the loud buzzing of the engine as it speeds across the track is nicely authentic.

Still, the real pleasure comes in not only seeing the crash effects but also hearing it.  The sound of the actual impact is enough to produce a wince out of any gamer within earshot.  There’s also a commentator, although oddly enough he barely says more than five words.  While a running commentary would have ruined the sound effects during the race, it would have been nice hearing it during the instant replay.

Difficulty: Medium
Luckily, each of the seven different playing modes offer the difficulty setting option before each race.  Gamers can choose from Beginner, Intermediate and Expert.  Intermediate offers enough challenge and is never too easy nor too hard, in fact, much of the game is rather fair and never irritating when it comes to opponent AI.

Concept: 7.5
Downforce plays like an arcade racing game and that isn’t bad considering that there are many racing titles with much more innovative features than this one.  Still, there are several modes to choose from and over twenty-one different racetracks with hairpin turns and sharp curves.

The game also features various racers, although it’s a mystery why they were given names and visual identities if the game does not give them a purpose for being there in the first place. 

Multiplayer: 7.3
Like most arcade racing sims, Downforce also includes a two player multiplayer option.  Displayed as a split-screen event, there are two major multiplayer game modes that are worth taking a friend on.  Two Player Free Race pits you against a friend in a race to win while Two Player Time Tag (the more entertaining game mode) has you playing an odd game of tag against your opponent.

Overall: 7.8
Downforce is a wonderful ode to the old school racing games of yesteryear and fans of the racing genre will be quite pleased and entertained by its intensity. Although it could have been a tad better in certain places, there’s no denying that there is much fun to have with this title.