Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing Gets Close to the Finish Line on Wii U

"This race is on fire!"

Ahh, I miss rc pro am. This looks fun if yo could collect letters and fire rockets

@samuelvictor I'd still prefer this classic over that uninspired game:

I actually really loved the genre, being terribly spoiled during my Amiga years. I hope this time EnjoyUp Games manages to pull a surprise pole position here.

I actually like the look of this. I like the particular zoomed out view here (gives plenty view of the track ahead, which is really important in these top-down racers), and the controls/gameplay look solid/smooth too in the footage.

I finally got enough streetpasses last night to try out the new Mii Plaza slot car game and it's fantastic. What I'm getting at is I didn't realize how much I missed these style racing games. The craze has been simulation style which is fine.. But these are great too. I'll wait for a review but my senses have been tickled. Still waiting on that colorful Outrun 80's style racer for 3DS too.. I need to check in on that...

@samuelvictor "Indy Heat" quickly springs to mind.

@TerrapinJess Yeah, I think what many modern gamers have forgotten is how much fun certain types of older games can be. They've become so obsessed with games being all realistic and simulationy that they don't even realise they're often nowhere near as much pure fun as just playing a more arcadey game. I mean, Sega Rally Championship was a joy to play; not that it was the same kind of top-down racer as this, but I'm just making a point about sometimes the more simple and arcadey games really can be a whole load of pure fun.

This doesn't look anywhere near as good as the older top down arcade racer we all ready have on Wii U, I forget it's name.

No please!! The first Rock'N Racing was unplayable. Cars handled as fluidly as a british tank in the desert. It was extremely buggy and the only way I could win a race was to wait for other cars to glitch and flash and get stuck in a different existential dimension. CPU cars magically teleporting back on track, it was ridiculous. It was one of the worst racing games ever, and they had the audacity to release a Deluxe version without ever patching the first one. I also doubt that the Deluxe version had any of these issues fixed...
I ADORE top-down racing games but this is simply not a well produced series. There's another top-down racer on the eShop which is an absolute belter of a game - TNT Racers - I highly recommend that!

...and if you watch the video at 0'28" - 0'32", the number in the bottom-left that indicates your position goes absolutely bananas for no reason at all...

@samuelvictor the same happen to me, i ended up buying both and being pretty dissapointed at first, but once you give them a chance and understand that the cars control way more realisticaly than the original off-road, the games are quite enjoyable imho... then again, i'm not saying those games are amazing, but driving while keeping in mind that the physics are kinda realistic, letting go of the gaz here and there, using the brakes at the right moment and it almost work like a charm, at least for me...

i'm definitly buying this one, maybe not day one, will depend on the pricing and if there something new in the eshop that look more convincing...

@spizzamarozzi i've seen that TNT Racers a couple of time and come close to buy it everytime some next time, i'll give it a shot!!

i love isometric racers

...what?.._{Grand Prix} "Rock 'N" _Racing? ..I guess for 8 bucks there will be no great music like this Rock'n'Roll Racing..(..1min in..ahhh..good times)..

@samuelvictor yeah mate, I almost bought the DX version - I thought, what the hell, it only costs a couple of quid - but then I had the brilliant idea of asking on Miiverse if they fixed anything and when I got no reply I decided not to buy it.
TNT Racers is superb. I know it doesn't look like much on video but the cars handle extremely well. I've never played a top-down racing game before where the camera doesn't follow you but the car in first position (and if you get outrun by the screen, you basically die) but it's incredibly fun once you get the hang of it. Let's say it's a combat racer in the style of R.C. Pro AM, and there's a weapon that lets you knock your opponents out of the track - everybody loves using that.
The only thing missing is an online vs mode, but if you happen to have a bunch of mates around, you just have to uncork a bottle of wine, open a bag of crisps and play this in 4 player mode and you'll have a great night.

Yeah not sure how realistic it is - I'm pretty sure my car goes way faster in reverse...btw had they re-skinned the game as a fishing boat racer, it would have been a lot more realistic = Cod'N Pollack Racer. I think I could never go past the first Cup. And I got really frustrated because when CPU cars get stuck they teleport back on track but if you get stuck then god help you, you basically lose one lap, minimum...

Probably a bad sign that the game seems incapable of keeping track of what place you're in. A game like this would have to handle magnificently in order to work well and I have my doubts about that being the case here. I'd love to be wrong about that, though.

@samuelvictor Yeah, after all the comments I'll not jump the gun too much.

As for topdown racers on Wii U, the really good ones are on WiiWare:

• Konami's Driift Mania (which is much like Super Sprint, and it can be played with 8 players simultaneously, you only need 4 Wiimotes and 4 Nunchuks),
• and Senile Studios' Dreamcast port RUSH RUSH RALLY RACING (which is much like Micro Machines) that can be played with 4 players in splitscreen.
• My favourite multiplayer action racer on WiiWare is MotoHeroz (from RedLynx) though. This is just so original and so much fun with 4 players. Great track design and physics. Back in the day it was the only racing game that could compete with Mario Kart Wii in terms of fun party game nights, and it's one of the five WiiWare games I rated 10/10.

On Wii U I got TNT Racers and F1 Race Stars. Both are good as well and can be played with up to 4 players (but they're more like Mario Kart).

The Rock 'N Racing Off Road series were the games that should have filled in the gap for games that are much like Super Off-Road, but instead they were barebones, slow, and disappointing.

@SKTTR Yeah. Every Wii and Wii U owner should check out Driift Mania. It's a great game!

Can't have "Rock'N" in the title without having "Roll Racing" afterward. Just make another one of those with midi versions of King Diamond tunes as BGM.

Looks pretty cool I may check it out.