Auto Modellista

All racing games are made for the same purpose: to provide fun for the consumer who buys it, and give the consumer a sense that what is happening on the screen could happen in real life, because of some sense of realism in it. If the game gives you a real sense of how the car controls and fast the cars feel compared to what the speedometer, then the racing game could be considers at least, average. If the game does not get the basics right, then everything else just goes horribly wrong from there. Auto Modellista gets nothing right from the start, leaving you with a broken mess of a racer, with the only thing going for it is flash, with no substance to make it enjoyable.

Auto Modellista was the first online racing game for the Playstation 2, so there is very little to do besides race online, but to play online; you need to collect cars in the single player mode first, known as Garage Life mode. There is also a single race mode, and a few options for offline 2 player racing,...

THE GOOD:
Lots of nice cars.
Cool tracks to race on.
Nice weather effects.
Ability to customize your car.
Ability to play online.
Ability to build your garage the way you want it to look like.
Graphics are very good.

THE BAD:
The turning sucks.

SUMMARY:
This racing game might not be the best out there but its a lot of fun. There are a lot of nice cars to choose from that you can costumize. Lots of nice upgrades to put on your car to make it fast. Another thing is that you can customize your garage. There are tons of posters and itmes like tool boxes that you can put in your garage to make it the way you want to look like. The graphics are very good and I was pretty amazed by them when I first played the game. The races are fun and some are also challenging. There arent that many races but the game is fun till it lasts. The only bad thing about the game is that the turning sucks. The cars slide...

THE GOOD:
A car tweaker's dream

THE BAD:
Supercars that drive like pick-up trucks

SUMMARY:
I'm confused. Is Auto Modellista a car-and garage-decorating simulator, or a racing game? If it's the former, it gets a 4.5. If it's the latter--and i'm pretty sure "racing game" is what the team at Capcom wrote on the big white board a couple years ago, right after "what kind of game should we make next" --well, you see the score i gave it.
Auto Modellista has two major flaws: For one, the handling is all screwed up. Cars drift like crazy, and even a stock Civic oversteers like a pig. But it's not fun, Ridge Racer-y drift; it's horrible, speed-sapping, almost-come-to-a-complete-stop drift. And then there are the walls, which look like they're made of stone or metal but are actually some sort of space-age polymer. It's often faster to go bounce off walls at top speed than to go around corners the old-fashioned...

THE GOOD:
Everything! Plus, I just LOVE the wind detail when you drive fast! Designed to outperform GT3 in every way.

THE BAD:
Sorry! Couldn't find any!

SUMMARY:
AM is THE essential game for any collector's library. How do you get those graphics onto the screen? The fact that it's for PS2 shocks me even more. Sorry, GT3 fans, but there's no racing game that can beat the Japan-Style, white-knucle powered, supreme detailed supergame that IS Auto Modellista.

When I first heard about a new cel-shaded racing game on the PS2, I didn't really have a reaction. But when I laid my eyes on the graphics of Auto Modellista for the first time, my jaws nearly dropped. The game looked amazing, and it was incredibly hyped. Unfortunately, I wasn't selected for the beta testing, but oh well. I did finally get my hands on it...

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics for Auto Modellista are just stunning. Who knew that a cel-shaded racing game could look this beautiful? The cars are greatly detailed, and most players will be able to identify the cars. The developers did a great job of creating a sense of speed. Even though it's just white lines around the car, it still looks pretty groovy.

The tracks were designed carefully, and most of the lighting is in realtime. Great lighting effects and that is the thing that stands out. The rain also looked pretty good bouncing off the car, but why doesn't it bounce off the...

THE GOOD:
1. The graphics are pretty nice.
2. A lot of good cars.
3. Brand name parts/ cars
4. Customisble
5. There i ran out.

THE BAD:
1. Cheap driving skills (dont have to be an expert to beat the game)
2. Online gameplay is very small (almost 100 players online on the best days, thats less than 1 person per city thats playing it)
3. 6 hours your done with the game.
4. Cars are free (ALL the cars are free)
5. Parts are free (the world isnt free)
6. Customising takes almost no skill.
7. You can crash into the walls for better track times.
8. Online teams arnt any fun.
9. Gameshark codes are out so expect cheaters online.
10. My CTR is faster than my Skyline around some tracks.
11. The menu is very bad.
12. The brand name parts are useless, they dont do any diffrence on the cars performance, all they do is try and sell. (they "say" the tier brands make a...

THE GOOD:
-lots of ways to customize your favorite car
-cel shading
-almost as many cars as GT3.

THE BAD:
-BAD car handling
-VERY annoying announcer
-some lame "speed" effects

SUMMARY:
Auto Modellista is really an overly long arcade game. You can't call this a simulation game, largely because of the controls. If you play Gran Turismo, your driving style cannot really be used here because of the indifferent control of the cars. Drifting is the key in this game. I think the developers used Ridge Racer and SEGA's Daytona as inspiration for this game. Capcom even copied the annoying announcer from Ridge Racer 4, but in Auto Modellista, the announcer can really get into your nerves. Unfortunately you cant shut him off but you could mute your TV volume if he really pisses you off. Another thing that striked me as weird is the car-skidding effects. They look as if you were driving on wet pavement with the...

THE GOOD:
Cel shading at it's best
The game looks like something taken out of a japaneese anime flick with all the little gadgets and stuff.

THE BAD:
Bad Driving, gets boring really fast, Not enough customizing oportunities in the garage

SUMMARY:
I was down at my local Gameshop a couple of days ago just to check out some of the new titles arrived for the PS2 ... actually i wanted to buy Hitman 2 but have always had a thing for driving games, so when looked at the shevles my eyes stoppedjust in front of "auto modelista" i fell in love with the cover right away so i just ha to buy (use to be a very big fan of the wip out series on the psx) this manga/anime inspired game was all i needed i thought. But as with everything there is always a few but's.

The game:
I came home threw myself in the chair and put the gam in the PS2, at first i was stunned the game looked great, felt great and was great at...

Reviewed by Alkaiser for netjak.com

With Gran Turismo literally blowing away the field of competition, there hasn't been much else on the PS2 to satisfy racers need for a good dose of high-octane entertainment. Ridge Racer V wasn't terribly entertaining, and after that stupid 99 lap mode fiasco, I wasn't all that happy with it. Driving Emotion Type-S was a first class disaster.

There hasn't been a Gran Turismo killer yet, but so far I've been hard pressed to find a Gran Turismo competitor.

So, out comes Capcom and throws their hat into the racing ring, with their fantastic looking cel-shaded offering called Auto Modellista. Early on, before I had purchased the game I had heard from one of my friends that the physics were bad and that this was not going to be anywhere as good as Gran Turismo. I went ahead and picked it up anyway, just cuz' that's what being part of the old school is all about.

Despite its cartoony looks, AutoModellista...