RC De GO’s camera perspective is neither from the normal first person or third person that we’ve been accustomed to. It’s hard to understand in words or screen shots, but the camera follows from a 3/4ths perspective in front of the car at all times, and is not far from the ground. It takes a few races to adjust to the rather radical change, but it makes for something different from the norm, though that doesn’t prevent it from having any problems. The worst problem is obvious seconds of starting a race: the camera being so close to the ground prevents the player from preparing for any turns or curves ahead on the race track. Taito has included a map in the lower side of the screen, but paying attention to a map while tackling such quick paced races (most races consist of four laps and the entire race is over in a less than a minute and ten seconds) is near impossible.

Fortunately, RC De GO’s design makes it so the camera troubles don’t result in too much frustration (except during one exception, but I’ll return to that later). In the career mode, RC De GO gives the player some basic options on how to start their vehicle, but after that, it is off to the races to earn money and advance. What makes up for the quirks in the camera is that all the races can be played an infinite amount of times, and each will forfeit the same amount of cash for placing in a certain spot. More advanced races allow more money to be made in one run, but the replayability of the races makes preparing for races by playing through them once or twice to get a feel for the layout and figuring out how powerful your vehicle needs to be a breeze.

It might seem like this kill off any chance of difficulty during the game, but that’s not exactly true. As you advance to the later tracks, it doesn’t come down to who has the fastest vehicle with the most advanced acceleration and turning ability (though that does help!), it comes down to who can navigate the tracks the best without running into the walls (which brings vehicles to an almost complete stop on the dime) and swerving through the competition.

Mixing up gameplay is the addition of an infinite amount of boost – but there’s a catch. The boost button can’t be held down constantly to give you speed through the whole race. Instead, there’s a sharp speed increase for a moment or two, and then the boost will build up for around three seconds before it can be used again. Your opponent’s never seem to use the boost, so it is always to your advantage to use it whenever possible. Thanks for the obscure camera angles, however, making use of the boost can be troublesome more often than not, since it is much harder to judge how to properly turn when running at three times the speed.

You’ll spend most of the game tinkering around in RC De GO’s championship mode, where much time is spent earning cash and upgrading your vehicle, and I’ll be darned if it isn’t fun to do. Customizing your own little racer doesn’t provide the most amount of options in the world, but there are enough to turn the vehicle into the type you want, whether it be one with insane amounts of speed and acceleration, or one that’s a little slower, but can take the turns sharper and without braking as much. Whatever the choice, there’s one option that is always there: the car’s body. At the start it seems like any ordinary vehicle, but once the money pours in, an enormous amount of zany options are present. It is possible to change the car into the shape of a Sumo wrestler or helicopter, in addition to a mound of other choices.

RC De GO doesn’t try to take itself seriously in any manner. This is a wacky racer, and it shows in every respect, from the visuals to the camera angle to even the cars themselves. As strange as it might seem, Rc De GO is actually bounds better than most of the racing titles that have hit the PlayStation and lately, and anyone looking for something slightly off the wall would do best to give Acclaim’s latest a try.