The transition from the PlayStation to the PlayStation 2 wasn’t likely a tough one for the Acclaim Studios Cheltenham. The basic gist is that the resolution has been pumped up, high-res textures have been put in place and the frame rate has taken a boost into the near 60 frames per second range. On the surface, this doesn’t seem all bad (while it doesn’t exactly take advantage of the more powerful hardware, it certainly gives the game a boost in the visual slot), but it falls apart in the fine tuning department, since it seems like even though the development team was given a few extra months of time (the title was scheduled for a release alongside the machine in October), they didn’t make much use of it.

The worst offender is the slowdown that’s apparent all throughout the game. There’s no excuse for it to be in the game – at all. If this was a title built from the ground up for a next-generation machine with expansive, beautiful environments and car models, then it would at least make sense, but in RC Revenge Pro’s case, it’s the developers being simply lazy. It pops in and out, and then in an attempt to hide it from view, the developers implemented the all-too-familiar resolution dropping that we’ve seen before, resulting in a load of pixelation to fill the screen. The slowdown doesn’t usually become a gameplay hazard, but it’s an annoyance that certainly isn’t necessary.

Besides screwing around with the visuals, Acclaim has done little to alter the rest of the game for the PlayStation 2 version. In other words, now it’s time for merely a reiteration of what we went over in our review of RC Revenge. The track designs, while creative with the various themes and surroundings (skull heads flailing outside of the walls, sharks swimming around underneath the surface, spaceships zipping around) have been designed in such a way that it becomes confusing to navigate through them. The times that the route isn’t straightforward through hallways and confined areas it’s difficult to judge which direction to head in next. It’s fortunate that the rest of the game design (the AI won't exactly make you stress out) makes up for this shortcoming, but in a battle for first place, there’s no worse feeling than bashing straight into a wall because you can’t find the next turn.

The artificial intelligence is mostly the same, which is to say it’s very flaky. At times the computer controlled opponents are challenging enough that earning that first place spot takes an entire lap or two in order to edge them out, while other times it becomes far too easy to charge to the front with little resistance. As a whole the AI is soft; even if you happen to sit around in the middle of the track for 30 seconds, it is entirely possible to catch up to the front of the back in a mere lap. In fact, most of the time the challenge of the game wasn’t keeping first place from the other cars, but concentrating on the course layout so I could tell when to turn.

And if people feel that the tracks created by the game’s designers aren’t up to snuff, they can take it to the create-a-track mode where all the freedom is in the hands of the user. There’s limited control in terms of the environmental themes and such, but otherwise, it’s mildly fun to mess around with your own ideas and see how they work in a real game situation.

With Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec looming on the horizon and titles like Ridge Racer V and Midnight Club: Street Racing already available on the PlayStation 2, it’s hard to recommend RC Revenge Pro. The graphics have received a much needed boost (though at the cost of some nasty side effects), and the gameplay is still decent, but there are definitely better pickings out there.