Ludography
Big Red Racing cover

1996 · Big Red Software · Racing

Big Red Racing

Big Red Racing is a comical racing game, released for DOS in 1996. It was developed by Big Red Software and published by Domark (now Eidos).

Released
29 February 1996
Platforms
3DOMS-DOSWindows
Genres
Racing
Developers
Big Red Software
Publishers
Domark Software
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
First personThird person
Themes
ActionComedy
Country
United Kingdom
Languages
English, French, German, Spanish (Spain)

About

Big Red Racing is a racing video game released for MS-DOS in 1996. It was developed by Big Red Software and published by Domark.

Keywords

  • helicopter
  • split-screen multiplayer

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Big Red Racing is a comedic racing game. During races, the commentators make humorous comments, stereotypically themed to the country they are from. When menu items are clicked, humorous phrases are played.

There are 24 courses and 6 cups, encompassing the globe, the Moon, Venus, and Mars. Each course has a humorous subtitle, usually a parody of a famous phrase or film.

Development

The game was originally slated for a November 1995 release. It was delayed into 1996 due to various changes and additions by the developers. The later Eurogamer writer Keith Stuart was commissioned to write an expansive backstory for the game, which was to be included in the printed manual. A few months before release, the publisher balked at the cost and cut the manual.

Looking back in 2016, Stuart wrote: "They were right. It didn't really add anything, it was indulgent (...) No one will ever care that I spent several weeks writing that nonsense or that now it is gone forever".

Reception

GameSpot was positive to the game; although commenting that the title is not a simulation, but an arcade game, they recommended it for arcade fans. A Next Generation critic highly praised the variety of playable vehicles and tracks and the use of real time graphics. He remarked that while the low graphical detail makes the game look chunky, it also enables the game to run just as smoothly with six players as with only one. However, he criticized the single-player mode for the AI's apparent cheating, since there is always one racer just slightly ahead of the player car, and recommended that consumers not buy the game until they've made certain they have someone who will play it with them. Frank Snyder of Computer Game Review offered Big Red Racing a positive score.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
MS-DOS31 December 1995Europe · North America 31 December 1996
Windows31 December 1995Europe · North America 31 December 1996

Games like this

Collections4 collections

Genres

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.