Glimmerati

Last year Namco picked up the street racer we thought we’d never see: Street Racing Syndicate. SRS came from 3DO, the Army Men development house that lost its life in 2003. SRS had great graphics but fell short of providing a rewarding racing experience. It tried to reward gamers and hold our attention with pictures and dance videos of semi-attractive women. That didn’t work out too well.

Nonetheless, that wasn’t the first time someone used women to attract male gamers, and it certainly won’t be the last. Glimmerati, a new street racer being developed exclusively for the N-Gage, is attempting to succeed where others have failed. Its saucy content will be used to promote the title to the mass market, but in the end I think it’s the gameplay that will help this racer prevail.

Glimmerati is played from an angled/top-down view. It’s almost isometric, but not quite there. Watching the demonstration closely, the gameplay appeared to be very much like the classic Micro Machines games. The city streets are properly proportioned to the size of the vehicles, but the camera is pulled back so far that it gives the illusion that you’re controlling something very small. The vehicles seemed to turn very quickly, and the camera didn’t always follow the vehicle around the course, which also reminded me of the Micro Machines games.

Only motor vehicles were shown, but Glimmerati will also give us the chance to race powerboats and futuristic, rocket-propelled vehicles.

Regarding the adult content, all that was shown to me was pictures of clothed women and a few sexy silhouettes. The final version might include more revealing images than that, but don’t expect this to be turned into an N-Gage porno. Word has it that the American version is rated Mature, while other nations say the game is suitable for all ages. This is likely due to the fact that the gameplay itself is not violent or gratuitous in any way.

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