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It’s Christmas Eve, and we have one last review before we go away for the weekend to play with all our new toys (and the inevitable socks and underwear. Thanks grandma!). FIFA International Soccer for the Sega CD was a classic case of the “catridge game with CD soundtrack” syndrome that so dominated the add-on throughout its lifetime. Thankfully, FIFA is a good game no matter what console it’s on, and those who don’t own the Genesis cartridge might look into this version.
If ever there was fashion trend that was downright dumb, it was the one involving Kriss Kross putting their pants on the wrong way. Sadly, people were willing to let the duo “warm it up” long enough to join in on the craze, and Sega even went so far as to give them their own video game. Debuting under the Make My Video label alongside such gaming powerhouses such as Marky Mark, Kris Kross’ horrible fashion sense is forever preserved in grainy, low-color video.
Sonic The Hedgehog opened the floodgates for a slew of furry mascot characters that had attitude and some lame nemesis to destroy for the greater world good. Activision’s Radical Rex, released on both the Genesis and Sega CD (as well as the SNES), varied from that tired formula in one way: its hero wasn’t furry. Yes, Rex the Dinosaur bravely decided to stand out from the crowd by having skin and not fur, and his jumping, skateboard-riding, item-collecting talents were the envy of the platforming world. And thanks to his individuality and war against conformism, video games are better now.
Sometimes, a developer’s creation is too ambitious for the hardware for which it’s created. The result is usually game full of lost potential, and players almost always sum things up with a collective “this could have so much more on better hardware.” Sega’s Racing Aces falls into that category. A game with lots of good ideas, it fell victim to a release on hardware too under-powered to fill its potential. The game is still playable, but one never ceases to wonder of what could have been.
How do you make a great game better? You slap a CD soundtrack and full-motion cut scenes on it! Err…. wait, that’s not it… Well, how about if you add more modes and better visuals? Yeah, I though that might work. Road Rash for the Sega CD does exactly that, and it tosses in the soundtrack and FMV for good measure. Bitter sweet or just plain tasty?