Pre-E3 2009 Preview
Commonly known as a light-hearted
building/adventuring franchise, EA’s MySims series has been allowing Wii and
Nintendo DS gamers the chance to create and customize a variety of cartoony
characters and environments. Therefore, it may come as somewhat of a surprise
that EA is looking to take the series in an all new direction with their
soon-to-be-released title, MySims Racing.
As you could surmise, MySims Racing
is a racing title featuring the art style that the MySims series has been known
for. Additionally, the game will include the customization features that the
series is known for as well, not only letting players customize their
characters, but also their karts. MySims Racing is shaping up to be a fun and
accessible racing title that fans of the franchise will enjoy.
Before beginning MySims Racing, you
must first create your character. You’ll be able to edit their features,
including their face, hair, and even the pitch of their voice. Additionally, you
can customize their outfits, giving them things like goggles and different
clothing options.
Once you’ve created your racer, you
can then move on to customizing your kart. You’ll be able to choose from light,
medium and heavy karts, with their own benefits and shortcomings in terms of top
speed, acceleration, and handling. As you play the game, you’ll unlock new
blueprints that allow you to further customize your ride, beefing up its
performance abilities and making cool aesthetic changes, adding elements like
taillights and specialized wheels.
The racing in MySims Racing is easy
to get into and fairly casual, feeling a lot like other kart-style racing titles
like Mario Kart. The control schemes are changeable, allowing you to use the Wii-mote
and Nunchuck combo or just the Wii-mote’s motion controls to race.
The racing element MySims Racing
feels a bit derivative, owing a lot to Mario Kart Wii, but the customization
features could give this title some legs with fans of the series and younger
gamers. Look for it to release this June.
