F-Zero was the franchise largely responsible for popularizing futuristic racers. The Nintendo 64 sequel had a lot of pre-release hype, and developers were eager to cash in on this with their own take on the genre. Aerogauge from ASCII Entertainment was one of these efforts. I remember following it fairly closely in previews before it came out and I was hyped. Aerogauge had style, and it looked downright fun. When it did I lost all interest because review scores were middling.
Since then I’ve taken less stock in reviews from major publications. So many games I skipped because of low or average scores turned out to be amazing. I decided to finally give Aerogauge a chance. Unfortunately it’s as bad as they said it was. Let’s take a look.
Aerogage has a really simple set up and story. It involves various corporations in the future wanting to show off their flagship technology in the form of hovercraft vehicles called aeromachines. These can reach speeds of up to one hundred eighty miles per hour, and fly unencumbered through the sky. These companies organize a racing tournament to show who’s is best.
Honestly the scenario is barebones and not even present during gameplay. I had to look up the story because there are literally no in-game references to it. That’s already worrisome, but plot isn’t a big factor in the genre so I can look past it. This does however go to show how much effort the developers put into this package.
Gameplay is what matters when it comes to racers. That’s where Aerogauge falls short. I’ll get to why in a bit. The game is a 3D futuristic racer where you pilot fantastical hovercrafts called aeromachines. These aren’t traditional hovercrafts and instead are designed more like modern cars that never touch the ground. While accelerating these are stuck to hovering just a few feet over the ground.
Once you get going fast enough you can completely lift off and fly in all directions though the accelerate button thrusts you forward. It’s a neat premise that differentiates itself enough from the likes of F-Zero and Wipeout. You can select from one of five different crafts (with more unlockable) that differ in terms of speed, handling, etc.You can change their color, but are offered only one other option for this.
Up to this point you’re probably thinking that Aerogauge sounds pretty cool. I admit that the basic idea is a great take on the futuristic racer, but the execution is sorely lacking. First of all gameplay is really basic. The course designs are simple and rehash many of the same mechanics in very unoriginal ways. You have basic straightaways, hairpin turns, tube-like areas where you can drive on the walls or upside down, and places with banked slopes you can use to help accelerate.
In some areas you are forced to go airborne. Admittedly in the first five minutes of playing I thought this game was great. That is, until I realized the courses are very similar, short, and feel very barren. Some environmental hazards, or even different gameplay scenarios would have gone a long way here.
The best video games introduce simple mechanics with complicated and difficult gameplay scenarios. Aergogage does not do this. Instead it relies on an overly sensitive drift mechanic that is not only hard to learn, but also difficult to consistently perform even after practice. You can drift by holding the Z-button but this is too touchy and immediately tries to overcorrect your angle.
You’ll need to use this technique to perform a boost, but this is unreasonably difficult. You have to hold the drift button while accelerating into a turn, release both it and the A button, and then hold the A button again. Too much precision is required in this. Should you release or press any input too soon your vehicle comes to a dead stop. Aerogauge is way too unforgiving.
I could look past this issue if drifting wasn’t required, but it is. The AI enemies consistently use this mechanic and the only way to keep up or stand any kind of a chance is by taking advantage of it as well. I’m pretty experienced with this genre and I absolutely struggled even on the low difficulties.
There’s no reason Aerogauge should be this hard. I could somewhat understand if the developers were targeting realism, but you’re driving colorful flying cars for heaven’s sake. I’m usually a fan of turn based boosting in these games but the mechanic falls flat on it’s face here in Aerogauge. There’s no way the publisher did any kind of testing on this one pre-release because it’s impossible to avoid this flaw.
This brings me to the game’s next problem. Aerogage suffers from a lack of content. There are only four different tracks to race on, and ten different characters to choose from. Some of these offer branching paths but they aren’t well hidden, nor is it rewarding to discover them. At best they only save you a few seconds and you have to brave annoying hazards to reap the benefits.
You also only have a few different modes to play. This includes the typical Grand Prix where you race against seven AI controlled characters, single race which is pretty self explanatory, as well as time attack and versus modes. The only time I’ve had any fun here is competing against another human because I don’t have to worry about the ridiculous difficulty. Unfortunately this is limited to just two players, and you can’t include AI opponents here.
Controls are a mixed bag. Flying around and steering is easy enough, and once airborne the aeromachines maneuver in a similar fashion to the arwings in Star Fox 64. The ships move responsively, and though they can be a little sensitive I never found steering unfair. Unfortunately things can get a little hectic while flying into a tube. Your ship will try to attach itself to any surface in these so you can fly sideways and upside down.
Sometimes you’ll find yourself in a death roll or stuck bouncing off of the walls. While this can be annoying I found it becomes less of an issue as you become accustomed to the physics. You have three options for viewpoint which include the standard behind the vehicle, a zoomed out perspective, and first person mode. Honestly the controls would be decent were it not for the aforementioned drift boost issues.
When compared to other Nintendo 64 games I found Aerogauge surprisingly decent in the graphics department. The courses themselves aren’t really all that special but the texture work is nice, and the polygon counts are pretty decent. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of visual variety. You’ll see a ton of repeating textures and identical looking obstacles/tunnels. Given the small cartridge space that’s kind of par for the course. The ships themselves are pretty interesting looking. They look like something straight out of F-Zero, but that’s a compliment.
I also really like how you can change the aeromachine color, but it’s disappointing you’ve only got one alternate palette. The framerate also holds steady in pretty much all situations. My only disappointment is the draw distance. There’s a lot of pop-in while you’re racing. The soundtrack is awful with some serious 16-bit level compositions that are annoying.
