Ford Bold Moves Street Racing
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing is the first budget release to hit the PSP with an initial M.S.R.P. of $19.99. This game was also released on PS2, Xbox, and PCCD. The PSP version is pretty much identical to the other releases. The game play, options, tracks, cars, and other features are identical. As an overall game, Ford Bold Moves Street Racing is not very fun. It has poor controls, limited selection of cars (and by limited I mean only Ford brand automobiles), and challenges that are less than exciting. If you are a diehard racing fan looking for a quick fix until Gran Turismo 4: Mobile comes out, you might want to rent this release. However, if you are not, this game should be avoided.
Gameplay:
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing offers several modes of play that include "Quick Race", "Career", "Arcade", and "Multiplayer". The game also features thirty-seven tracks and twenty-four cars that can be used in the different modes.
"Quick Race" is the quickest way to compete in a race. It loads a single player match, with the car and track selected at random.
"Career" is where the bulk of the game time will be spent. Additional cars and tracks are unlocked from playing through the career mode's "Solo" and "Team" options. In the former, win races to earn additional credits and complete challenges to unlock access to additional cars and tracks. In the latter, the traditional race car competition is broken. Join a computer AI-controlled car to race against other teams, pairs of cars, in both competitions and challenges. How well a team does determine the number of points awarded. The team with the most points wins. Team racing also allows things like blocking opposing cars and boosting teammate's speed.
The challenge types beyond common race competitions include:
Other portions of "Career" are "Garage" and "Showroom". "Garage" shows all the cars in that the player has control of. Additionally, the cars can be sold for additional credits or repaired if damaged. "Showroom" is the place to purchase news, look at their stats, test drive, and change their colors. (Note: the advance cars have to be unlocked from "Solo" and "Team" to purchase them.)
The cars include classic, performance, and high performance vehicles. The classic cars include 1962 Thunderbird, 1973 Escort RS2000, 1968 Mustang GT, 1975 Gran Torino Sport, 1970 Capri Mk I RS2600, 1969 Mustang Boss 302, 1971 Mustang Mach 1, and 1970 Mustang Boss 429. The performance cars include 2004 Fiesta ST, 2005 Thunderbird, Bronco Concept, 2002 Focus RS, 2005 Mustang GT, 1992 Escort RS Cosworth, 2004 SVT Lighting, and 2000 SVT Cobra R. The high performance cars include 1987 Sierra RS500, SVT Adrenalin Concept, 1985 RS200, Mustang GT-R Concept, Shelby GT500 Concept, GT90 Concept, 2006 For GT, and Shelby GR-1 Concept.
"Arcade" is a non-career mode that allows cars that have been unlocked to be raced on one of the unlocked tracks. The modes include select challenges listed earlier. "Multiplayer" features ad-hoc wireless support (no internet play) with up to six players.
Overall, for a twenty dollar game Ford Bold Moves Street Racing features a lot of different options for game play. Unfortunately, none of it is very exciting. To make matters worse, the game's controls are pretty bad. What does not work for the controls are the oversensitive handling. The slightest motion with the directional pad (or analog joystick) makes the car turn far too much to the point it spins out of control. Furthermore, when colliding with another car or hitting an inanimate object like a light post (regardless of the speed), the car goes out of control. It makes it very difficult to play and gives you little reason to try to master the game.
In addition, the game is fairly limited. There are no upgrades to purchase for the cars (which is an aspect I enjoy from games like Forza Motorsports and the Gran Turismo series). I think some more customization and better handling would have been Ford Bold Moves Street Racing is a stronger game. As it stands, this game features a less than decent race car game. It best reserved as a rental for those pining for a racing game.
Graphics:
The visuals are the best part of this game. What is great about this game are the graphics. The cars look sharp and have fairly good detail and realism (from what I can tell). The environments are not as clearly detailed. They are fairly generic and lack the same level of detail.
Audio:
The audio is pretty simple sounding. Vanilla music and generic sound effects support a fairly generic and lackluster game.
Conclusion:
I did not go into Ford Bold Moves Street Racing expecting much and I didn't leave with much either. The game is a budget title, and the quality of play is clearly reflects upon this. While the game has a fairly good look for a portable game, it lacks in everything else with a multitude of gaming modes that will leave you less than excited and gives little reason to want to play. In the end, this game is not worth your time. Unless, of course, you are a diehard racing fan who needs an on-the-go-gaming fix. This might make for a decent rental.
Note: this game requires the PSP's firmware has been updated to version 2.80 or greater. An update application to 2.80 is included on the UMD.