Mad Dash Racing

Xbox exclusive

Mad Dash Racing combines high-speed combat and 3D adventure action with a crew of motley characters for an insane multiplayer competition for up to four. Players select from nine different characters, each with their own unique personality and abilities, and compete in a race for survival against the evil Hex, his dirty minions and your unforgiving friends. Glide across rivers of hot, steaming lava, slip through underwater pipes, bash through mammoth boulders, and slide down icy glaciers to beat the other racers and escape Hex's wicked wrath.

Released: 15 November 2001
Platforms: Xbox
Genres: Racing
Developers: Crystal Dynamics
Publishers: Eidos Interactive
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB T

About

Mad Dash Racing is a racing video game for the Xbox developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released 10 days before the Xbox even launched in November 2001. The video game features the voices of Billy West and Charles Martinet.

Keywords

launch titles
xbox 360 backwards compatibility

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The Characters are split into four different groups: Bashers, Dashers, Gliders, and Bosses. Bashers are able to break through certain objects, Dashers are able to gain quick boosts and run up steep slops, Gliders are able to jump farther or glide, and Bosses are able to have all the powers. It is very similar to Sonic R and Running Wild. Players can collect 10 green meteor chunks and become a Tribrid.

As a Tribrid players can have Bashers, Dashers and Gliders with just using one character. There are 9 tracks all together in the game. Different tracks have different settings. Numerous licensed music tracks were featured in the game.

Story

On a little island known as Trem Land, a crazed wizard named Hex plans to take over the world using red meteor chunks to power his device. He can't do this on his own so he forms a contest and invites a group of miscellaneous characters so that they can race each other across the island in search of the seven red meteor chunks. In return, Hex initially offers the winner a brand-new pig, until Sid (one of the playable contestants) states that according to the contract they signed, the winner would receive Hex's Magical Scepter. Hex reluctantly agrees and the contest begins.

The player can play as several different characters, which fall into 3 separate categories of Bashers, Gliders, and Dashers - all of which have unique abilities that can allow access to short cuts throughout the map. As the player progresses, more of the characters can join the team and become playable.

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. NextGen said that the game is a hardcore cart racer despite its misleading cute and fuzzy look. In Japan, where the game was ported for release on May 30, 2002, Famitsu gave it a score of 28 out of 40. Dan Elektro of GamePro said, "for all its shiny visuals and four-player races, Mad Dash Racing elicits nothing more than a noncommittal shrug. The stars are animals without an anima, and as a result, it's just a rental."