Auto Modellista Review

Overview

Released in March 2004 by Capcom for the Xbox, Auto Modellista represents a bold artistic experiment in the racing genre. Originally launched on PlayStation 2, this enhanced port adds additional content and refined features. The game distinguishes itself through its cel shaded graphics and deep customization systems, focusing heavily on Japanese car culture and visual personalization. Arriving during a period of intense competition in the racing genre, it attempts to carve out its own niche through distinctive style rather than traditional racing excellence.

Graphics and Presentation

Running at 480p resolution, Auto Modellista's cel shaded visuals create a striking impression that still holds up today. The art style effectively transforms real world cars into manga inspired representations, with bold outlines and flat colours creating a unique aesthetic. Environmental effects like speed lines and impact markers enhance the comic book feel, though sometimes at the expense of visual clarity.

Car models demonstrate impressive attention to detail despite the stylized approach, accurately representing their real world counterparts through the cel shaded lens. Weather effects and lighting work surprisingly well within the artistic constraints, though occasional graphical glitches can break the illusion. Track environments maintain the distinctive style but suffer from limited variety.

Menu interfaces embrace the manga aesthetic with dynamic layouts and creative transitions. The garage mode particularly showcases the visual style, allowing players to admire their customized vehicles from multiple angles with appropriate artistic flourishes. While the presentation occasionally prioritizes style over functionality, it successfully creates a cohesive artistic vision.

Sound and Music

The audio presentation combines realistic engine sounds with arcade style effects that complement the visual style. Vehicle noises provide adequate feedback despite lacking the depth of more simulation focused titles. The soundtrack features a mix of electronic and rock tracks that fit the Japanese street racing theme, though the selection proves somewhat limited.

Environmental audio creates appropriate atmosphere across different tracks, while customization menus feature subtle background effects that enhance the garage experience. Sound mixing generally maintains clarity between crucial gameplay elements and background audio, though some effects can become repetitive during extended play.

Gameplay Mechanics

Auto Modellista's most significant challenges lie in its driving mechanics. The handling model struggles to find a comfortable balance between arcade accessibility and simulation depth, resulting in cars that often feel unpredictable and unresponsive. Drifting mechanics prove particularly problematic, with inconsistent behaviour that can frustrate even experienced racing game players.

The customization system offers impressive depth, allowing extensive modification of both vehicle performance and aesthetics. Players can tune numerous mechanical aspects while adding visual customization through a comprehensive decal and paint system. However, the impact of performance modifications often feels inconsistent with the problematic handling model.

Track designs provide basic racing challenges but lack the sophistication found in contemporary competitors. AI opponents demonstrate aggressive but often predictable behaviour, with difficulty spikes that can feel arbitrary rather than progressive. The inclusion of various race types helps add variety, though the core gameplay issues persist across all modes.

Story and Setting

The career mode, titled VJ (Visual Junction), presents a basic progression through various racing leagues and challenges. While lacking deep narrative elements, the mode effectively captures the atmosphere of Japanese tuner culture through its presentation and structure. Character interactions remain minimal but maintain the game's distinctive visual style.

The garage environment serves as a central hub that ties the experience together, creating a sense of personal investment in vehicle collection and customization. While the world building proves limited, the strong focus on Japanese car culture provides adequate context for the racing experience.

Content and Value

The career mode offers approximately 15-20 hours of content, with additional time required to fully explore the customization options and collect all vehicles. Multiplayer features include split screen racing and basic online functionality, though the latter suffers from dated implementation. The variety of customization options provides significant replay value for dedicated players.

At its original price point of £39.99 (now available pre owned for around £12), the game's value proposition depends heavily on player interest in its unique style and customization features. The limited track selection and gameplay issues impact the overall package, though the distinctive presentation helps justify the investment for certain players.

Technical Performance

Loading times prove reasonable for the era, with most track loads completing within 20-25 seconds. The game maintains generally stable performance, though frame rates can fluctuate during particularly busy racing sequences. Occasional visual glitches and texture pop in detract from the otherwise striking presentation.

The save system functions reliably, tracking career progress and garage contents without issues. Camera options provide adequate views for racing, though the artistic effects can sometimes obscure important visual information during intense moments.

The Verdict

Auto Modellista stands as a bold artistic experiment that unfortunately fails to deliver satisfying racing gameplay. While the cel shaded visuals and extensive customization options showcase impressive creativity, the fundamental driving mechanics prevent the game from reaching its full potential. For players more interested in car culture and visual style than pure racing excellence, the unique presentation might justify overlooking its significant gameplay flaws.

Pros

• Distinctive cel shaded graphics
• Deep customization systems
• Strong Japanese car roster
• Creative visual presentation

Cons

• Problematic handling mechanics
• Few track options
• Inconsistent difficulty
• Performance issues

Final Score: 5/10

Auto Modellista's ambitious visual style can't overcome its fundamental gameplay flaws. While worth experiencing for its unique aesthetics, most players will find better racing experiences elsewhere.

By OGXbox Archive