R/C (Radio Control) racing has a large following around this country, but it is a fair weather sport. Big Scale Racing allows you to continue to race anytime of year from the comfort of your PC chair.

When I was first asked to do this review of Big Scale Racing, I was quite excited, since I've raced just about every form of Radio Controlled car there is and was very active in the sport for over ten years. Big Scale Racing simulates the world of 1/5 scale nitro powered road racing, big, powerful, loud, and very very fast!

The guys and gals that race these types of cars are every bit as serious about it as the racers of full sized race cars, and the smaller 1/5 scale cars are every bit as much work, tuning engines, setting suspensions, even selecting the right tires for the track. You don't just throw one down on the track without any prep work and expect to be competitive. So lets rip this baby open and take a peek inside.

Well, first lets get some of the small stuff out of the way. Hhhhmmmm...nice box, installed nice and easy (easy on the PC's resources too), supports keyboard, joystick, and wheel controllers (that's a plus for driving games), has a very nice intro and even a slideshow of actual 1/5 scale racing action (very nice), OK lets get on to the game.

The game breaks down like this, there are three modes, practice (lets you get used to a track before actually racing on it, I've seen actual R/C racers show up at a track three days before a big race just to practice on the track before the event starts), quick race (go to any track for a single race), and championship (the same as racing every race in a season schedule), and then you select to race single player or multiplayer mode.

In practice mode you are given the choice of track, time of day, weather, and car type, and you may select from any class (just a little word about car type, all the cars are 4WD and are broken down into classes from beginner to expert, each class having more speed, better brakes, better handling characteristics, and different front to rear 4WD bias, bias being the amount of power transmitted to either end of the car).

In the other modes you are given the same choices with the following exceptions:

• Quick race, you are restricted in class selection to the class you are currently racing in.
• Championship, you are restricted to the class you are currently racing in until you have won enough to advance to the next class, also you must race pre-selected races in order to advance.

Now that's pretty simple and straight forward, just like real racing, ah, but does the game give you real R/C racing?

This is where this game started going down hill for me. While everything looks pretty good and the game does have lots of potential, it does lack in some pretty major areas. Area #1, tunability...R/C cars are infinitely tunable from the engine to the suspension, they can be tweaked a thousand ways to make them handle better, or run faster. This game gives you zero tune options, what's up with that? Even the most basic R/C car can be tuned to some degree and the pro cars are a true work of engineering art, but not in this game. Here you must race it the way it is. Area #2, Sounds...oh come on guys, anyone out there ever been to a real R/C race? They are very loud! This game is not, the sounds are pretty weak and very thin and don't sound like R/C cars at all. Area #3, Handling...the cars in this game need a little more work, they don't drive like any R/C car I ever drove.

So what does the game have? Lots of good graphics, the tracks and cars all look really good, even the selection of tracks is good. The camera angles provided give you a good overall view from any angle.

This makes a pretty good racing game for some of the younger kids but really lacked too much to keep a hard-core gamer interested for more than, maybe five minutes?

Gameplay: 5
While the game is laid out well it lacks in some major areas that really show in this game. The cars don't handle realistically, and there is no tuning options. The game has potential but still needs lots of work and attention to detail.

Graphics: 7
The graphics are the best part of this game, everything looks really good. From the track layouts and details to the smoke from the cars exhaust, however good graphics don't make up for this games many other flaws.

Sound: 4.8
The absolute worst feature in this game are the thin sounds, they don't sound like anything I ever heard at any R/C race track, everything is wrong from the engine sounds to the sounds of the lexan bodies flexing during a wreck, weak, thin, and way too quite.

Difficulty: Easy
Game installs easy, plays easy

Concept: 6
While not exactly new, is totally appealing. Its too bad the game doesn't deliver that to your PC.

Multiplayer: 6
LAN multiplayer for up to 8 racers, or split-screen for two racers, but I have to ask...why?

Overall: 5
Game has some potential and could be a great game if some more work was done to its weak points and some more attention to details. But as it stands this game has too many flaws to make it worth while. This game has to get thumbs down from the Dog.