Hummer Badlands
Posted May 22, 2006
"Hummer: Badlands" is the latest game to hit the shelves at the bargain price of $19.99. Reminding me of the "direct-to-video" market, these $19.99 (beginning retail price) games cost less, but they're also generally less elaborate and less detailed. "Hummer: Badlands" takes the interesting route of having players race Hummers through different environments. I'm not a racing fan and admit to not knowing a great deal about cars, but when I think about racing, I think about a race car.
Gameplay:
I'd imagine that racing a Hummer would feel like racing a tank or a boat, and neither are too far off in "Hummer: Badlands", a game that certainly doesn't offer much of a feeling of speed. Players get behind the wheel of their own virtual Hummer (there are 19 different models to choose from) after doing some customization that includes wheels, transmissions, brush guards, lights and more. Some of the custom features are purely cosmetic, but some have a minor effect on your driving.
As for the driving, it doesn't work as well as it should. Cars don't feel like they have enough traction and when you hit a wall, the car is hardly damaged and just keeps on going. The brief off-road portions of the game aren't as entertaining as the racing, simply because you don't feel like you're powering over the few obstacles (downed trees, etc.) in front of you, but just kind of working your way over them. One "are you kidding?" moment had the game giving me a rather steep time penalty when I didn't succeed in getting the Hummer across a gap in the road that was bridged by a couple of planks of wood. As one would expect from a budget title, there are very few elements that you can actually destroy here with your Hummer.
The actual racing elements of the game have their own issues, but they do offer a bit more entertainment than the other sections (Extreme Off-Road, Quick Race, Beat the Clock and Time Trials.) The "Championship" section offers players the ability to race 3 other computer players in Arizona, Peru, New York, California and Colorado. There are multiple tracks in each section, but they are actually smaller parts of the larger whole, so you do see the same scenery quite a bit. There are also some shortcuts throughout the tracks, but they're obvious and really don't offer much of an advantage. Oddly, when I ventured up one particular shortcut, the game told me I was headed the wrong way. The other issue with the races is that, if you're way ahead and mess up, the computer players appear out of nowhere to suddenly overtake you. On the opposite end, it's not terribly difficult to catch up if you're behind. Overall, it's definitely easy (the entire game is pretty simple, and is more geared towards the playing level of younger kids.), but it adding the element of racing against opponents at least made this element of the game slightly more involving.
Overall, "Hummer: Badlands" comes in at the back of the pack in a genre that offers a wealth of excellent choices (many of which, such as "Burnout 3" and "Project Gotham Racing 2", have since dropped their prices to the same level as this game.) The tracks are pretty minimal in terms of design and obstacles and don't provide much challenge. Racing a virtual Hummer just doesn't provide much in the way of thrills, thanks to both the expected lack of speed and handling that could be tighter. Hummer fans who are interested may want to still try this as a rental, but otherwise there are too many other fine choices out there to recommend this one.
The game does not have any XBOX Live capability. 2 players can play against one another in three basic modes (quick race, pursuit mode, and tug-of-war.)
Graphics:
The game's graphics are not too bad considering that this was a game made from the ground up as a bargain title. The Hummers themselves actually look pretty good, as they appear colorful, fairly detailed and rather slick. However, while the cars are made to look reasonably good, the rest of the game could use some work. The tracks are rather sparse and a lot of the scenery is flat and unconvincing. Additionally, there are some clipping issues and the fact that, however much you bash up your Hummer, the car doesn't really reflect the damage done.
Audio:
The one positive aspect of the audio is the sound effects work. While the game's audio isn't layered with complex sound effects, ambience and other details, the assortment of various sound effects that do populate the game's audio sound pretty convincing. That said, the rest of the game's audio doesn't fare as well, including the generic rock soundtrack and the rather annoying announcer who pronounces every little thing as if it's "rockin'" and/or "extreme!"
Conclusion:
"Hummer: Badlands" is going to be too easy for most gamers and what racing options are here really add up to little more than a few hours of gameplay. Aspects of the gameplay (handling and fairly unexciting course design) could also have used some work, as well. Hummer fans may want to give this a rent, but otherwise I'd pass it by, as there's too many other great racing choices for the money out there.