After installing Breakneck, the main pop-up menu gives two choices. Picking the first one will take you to the normal arcade mode that has been in every single racer on the face of the Earth. That is not to say that Breakneck’s arcade mode is not fun, but it does not feature all the cool features that the game has to offer. So then comes to the second choice, the “Expert” mode. Having spent most of my time in the arcade section, when I clicked on Expert I was not expecting what came up. This is where most of Synetic’s time was spent on development. There is an immense amount of features to keep track of, and racing is only part of what has to be taken into account. The player has the ability to micro-manage all aspects of everything, ranging from what races to take part in to upgrading all the parts of the car to earn the top spot.

Needless to say, the first few moments of browsing around are a bit overwhelming; Synetic has packed an awful lot of options into a tiny CD-ROM. It takes a little time to get the hang of things, but after a while, you’ll be breezing through Breakneck’s menus and configuring it all to your liking.

It might be an odd comparison, but I had a strange feeling of déjà vu while racing through Breakneck’s levels (and let me tell you, Synetic has created enough tracks to choke a couple hundred horses, counting the mirror and other secrets), but it all seemed oddly reminiscent of Midway’s Crusi’n USA. All the sprite-based trees and inanimate objects in the background scrolling by at insanely fast speeds somehow gave the feeling of Midway’s popular arcade series Cruis’n USA. Other than the sprites, however, Breakneck takes Cruis’n USA’s visuals and breaks them over its knee. The great looking polygon backgrounds only help to showcase the detailed vehicle models. It also moves along at an extra speedy frame rate, though I did notice that from time to time the entire game would simply “freeze” and cease all movement. The sound would stop but not go mute, and within five seconds it would all start up again as if nothing had happened.

A game can have all the elements crucial to a successful racing game, but if the control and physics are messed up it can offset everything else. Fortunately, Breakneck is able to pull together the controlling aspect; all the cars turned and pulled power slides with ease. When it comes to the physics, however, things go down a bumpy path. Going off the slightest uphill edge can result in the car freaking out and turning over. It’s hard enough to keep up with the artificial intelligence as it is, and losing a few places because of a minor bump on the road is a royal pain.

The sheer variety of vehicles in Breakneck is mind-boggling. In arcade mode there are tons of vehicles available from the start, with the possibility of picking from over ten unique classes (with each of them containing anywhere from one to fifteen selections). Instead of changing the colors of each vehicle, Breakneck offers sponsors to choose from, and each of them has a different coloring scheme. Many of the cars are based upon real-life counterparts, but there are also quite a few that are there simply for fun (i.e. the racing kart and monster trucks). And as you advance in the arcade mode, there are even more cars that are unlocked. When it’s all said and done, there are so many styles to choose from that you could literally go on playing and mastering forever.

It’s hard to find a good balance of arcade and simulation on the PC these days, but SouthPeak and Synetic have been able to strike the nice balance by offering them in two completely separate modes. Both are fun in their own ways, and the incredible selection of vehicles and slick visuals are only the icing on the cake that is Breakneck.