Fans of the Lotus brand of cars will rally to Lotus Challenge, developed by Kuju Entertainment and published by Xicat. You get more than thirty-seven models of the English car manufacturer to unlock and tool around with. Developer Kuju Entertainment has included models dating from the 1960's to the present. The amount of detail put into each car is very decent. But while a big selection of models can cruise along in 4th gear, game play grinds forward between 1st and 2nd. Experienced gamers, Lotus fans or not, may have to think twice before laying their money down for this racer.
Lotus Challenge is not boring, but it is cheesy in key areas that gamers will likely grasp the moment they fire up their Xbox or Game Cube. Take for example the handling of the cars. You get a lot of them, and they sure look good. But driving each one feels essentially the same. The lower end cars handle a bit more sluggishly than the top models, but even the top models aren't very impressive. On the positive side, once you've learn one car, you've practically learned them all.
Driver AI in Lotus Challenge is adjustable, but all you can do is make the other cars go faster or slower. The "I" part of AI doesn't really exist. But, Kuju Entertainment has incorporated a car damage option similar to the one found in CodeMasters' Colin McRae Rally 3. Car parts can fall off after smack-ups but the cars keep rolling. With eight cars buzzing along the track at high speeds, spectacular crashes are possible. However, don't try it with ten cars on the Xbox, the game can freeze up with that many vehicles on screen at once. The Game Cube version doesn't seem to suffer from this. Did I say buzzing along? Yes, I did. The word buzzing accurately describes the sound of the car engines, kind of like gas-powered model airplanes. The thunderous roar of the speedway is absent in Lotus Challenge.
On the other hand, the game modes do offer some enjoyment. The two-player race option is totally standard fare. But in Challenge mode you can unlock new cars and tracks when you complete the challenges. Some of those include stunt racing, like flying through a boxcar on a moving train. Challenges are innovative but some are made unnecessarily time-consuming because you are not provided with good instructions on how to complete them. This is really frustrating in an early challenge, for example where you play car soccer. The car soccer concept is fun but trying to score a penalty point against the AI goalie is nearly impossible until you happen to figure by trail and error. Some hints here would have been natural and appreciated.
If you love the Lotus car line then you'll be drawn to Motor Trends Presents - Lotus Challenge. But if you're a gamer who loves Lotus cars you'll have to bite the bullet to express your love. Graphics and physics are far from amazing and can even be frustrating despite some innovative game play challenges. Xicat's website makes a variety of claims about Lotus Challenge, including "A realistic yet accessible driving model, tested and endorsed by the Lotus test drivers themselves." Ok, I'm sure they got some guys to endorse it. But in the current glut of sophisticated race car simulations, Lotus Challenge doesn't come close to beating the competition with the quality of game features it actually delivers.
