Burning Road: Review

Format: PlayStation
Publisher: Various
Developer: Toka
First release: 1996
Availability: PAL, NTSC J and NTSC U/C
Version tested: NTSC J

Daytona USA was hot property in 1996 (still is in 2019!) and being a Saturn exclusive, Toka took it upon themselves to create a PS1 version what was affectionately labelled ‘Dayclona’. Yes indeed, Burning Road is something of a Daytona clone albeit a somewhat quirky take on the arcade classic. But is it any good?

Graphics:

If any word sums up the visuals of Burning Road it would be ‘chunky’. It has a really blocky and robust look to it, perhaps lacking refinement but at the same time rather charming.
The four cars are big and bold, emblazoned with go-faster stripes or garish colour combinations. The three circuits are packed with variety and details such as mud, snow, big barrels that get stuck under the axles on the cars and even flying helicopters, desperate to get a good shot of the action!

Performance is very good with a smooth and consistent frame rate, even with all eight cars on screen and pop in, whilst clearly obvious, isn’t so offensive that it takes away from the immersion of the racing circuit. There are multiple camera angles starting from a first person camera right up to a helicopter camera that give the bear view of the action. The bonnet camera is particularly awesome because the sense of speed and vibration feedback through the visuals.

Clipping is kept to a minimum and the cars feel suitably solid, a perfect match to their chunky looks.
Our favourite details, stolen from Daytona are the traffic map and the awesome ‘Race Leader’ banner that displays when you hit the front of the pack!
Burning Road looks brash, loud and fun. It is a little scruffy but it has held up better than expected.

Sound:

The sound in Burning Road is just as brash and in your face as the graphics. Relentless arcade style rock music pumps out of the speakers and it is backed up by some of the cheesiest music known to man! You are constantly reminded of the game you are playing as the female vocalist has a tendency to sing about it when racing. It’s cheesy but it absolutely works a treat!
The US version added a new soundtrack by the Tommy Tallarico studio and this is also very well done. It is available along with the original European soundtrack in the Japanese version of the game but we are not sure if this is true of the USA version.
FX are suitable solid and really enhance the experience further, collisions sound brutal and engines roar suitably. Speech is there on every menu choice, in broken but charming English when using the European soundtrack!

How Does It Play?

Despite carrying the label of a Daytona clone, Burning Road doesn’t really play like it. The handling is extremely slippery and very drift focused. It’s is more about getting your angles right when going into turns. Too tight and you lose speed, to loose and you will hit the sides.
Control is superbly responsive and it needs to be because Burning Road is a very tough game. Each track requires mastery and the last in particular needs an almost perfect race to win.
AI opponents are vicious and catch up logic is very much in effect. You can certainly hold the lead but one mistake and you will be down in fifth. It can be immensely frustrating at times, particularly early on as Burning Road cheery demeanour makes you think it’s a relatively easy play.
However once you do master it, it can be a very enjoyable experience but one that is definitely better in short bursts.

Content:

Content is where Burning Road suffers quite badly. Despite being an arcade game that wasn’t actually ported, it is extremely bare bones in terms of choice. Just four cars and three tracks are available for players. A practice mode, a single 6-race championship and a two player link option finish off the light number of modes.

Of the four cars are all rated in top speed, road holding and acceleration. Two feel effectively useless due to being too tricky to control. Even the monster truck, the stickiest of the lot likes to slide into corners.
The three circuits are brilliantly designed, varied in theme and tough to master.
The championship is the main mode, all three tracks forward and then in reverse to finish off. It is a very tough championship to beat and the payoff is just personal satisfaction as nothing is unlocked, no extra cars or hidden tracks. Interestingly you do not need to win races in this mode, merely qualify in the allowed time. However these time limits are very tight so the practice mode does become useful.

It sadly makes up for a very repetitive experience. Ridge Racer Revolution for example, despite having a relatively low number of tracks, offered multiple speed modes and hidden cars to beat in TT mode, Burning Road has none of this and the difficulty may well put most off.

Summary:

Overall Burning Road is a fun, vibrant but frustrating and limited experience. If it clicks, it is so so much fun and really brings the feel of the arcade home. However, it is so difficult which will ultimately put many off, and there is nothing to unlock which limits the lifespan immensely.

So whilst Burning Road has issues, it is a good pickup for arcade racing fans after a real challenge. Or just to enjoy the mad presentation. Just don’t expect it to last too long.

Verdict: Good fun, but hard.

Excellent gameplay video here: