Mercedes-Benz World Racing PS2 game

Mercedes-Benz World Racing

2003

Overall rating: 2.5 out of 5

from 13 members

Debuting on Xbox in early 2003, World Racing is gradually making its way to the other major platforms, beginning with this release for the PlayStation 2. As before, the premise remains the same, focusing solely on vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and thus placing great emphasis on the authentic reproduction of each respective driving experience. Shying away from simple, all-out arcade racing, the game itself is loosely structured around an underlying story, which casts you as an inexperienced works driver for Mercedes. From here, the task at hand is to climb the ranks and achieve the number one slot through mastering new cars and tracks, under an assortment of different racing conditions, and achieving a good placing or meeting set targets. Along the way, your every move is monitored and subsequently saved to your profile. There are a host of detailed and realistic tracks to burn up, each one offering up to 50 virtual kilometres of road, staged across seven international environments, including Nevada, Japan, Mexico, and Australia. Each of the tracks is hosted in fully accessible landscapes, so there are plenty of opportunities for short cuts or some off-road racing. Where World Racing is most notable, however, is in its fantastically over-indulgent roster of vehicles. In total, there are over 100 cars, which encompass the entire Mercedes-Benz range and thus offer you the opportunity to get behind the wheel of legendary classics like the 300 SL and the Silver Arrow, as well as the full A to S classes, racing cars, and prototype models. Each vehicle has its own unique characteristics, defined by 150 original data parameters that Mercedes-Benz kindly supplied itself. Alternatively, if that all sounds a bit too simulation-heavy, you can always switch to the arcade mode and simplify things a little. With a massive amount of both cars and virtual road, World Racing will most certainly keep you going for a while. Its carefully-balanced gameplay should also please both hardcore racing fans as well as the more casual gamer.