
It seems like every day the 3DS eShop is graced by another interesting or quirky budget title that bolsters its entire catalogue of games. Enjoy Gaming’s Race to the Line is no exception to this rule, as the traditional-style racer manages to pack some solid gameplay and visuals into a small but endearing package. While Race to the Line, with its ridiculously low price point and modest amount of content, is clearly not striving to compete with big-budget mainstream fare, it wins a checkered flag for focusing on the small stuff.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Race to the Line is the surprising amount of detail in its different settings that range from Europe to Asia to Africa. From the blistering heat of the desert to the mellow mood of a night-time backwoods country scene, players can almost feel the distinct atmosphere present at each track — hot air balloons take off in the distance, rolling hills illuminate a mountain countryside. Unfortunately, the graphical engine often causes distant backgrounds to fade in only when a player’s car drives closer to them, but once appreciated, it’s easy to tell that these scenes were lovingly rendered.

Experienced gamers may also feel that they are granted a bit too much time with which to appreciate all that detail, however, as Race to the Line moves frighteningly slow to be considered a serious racing game. While the later “Challenge” levels grant players the ability to use faster sports cars, these upgrades don’t help as much as they should, and even in these advanced stages, Race to the Line proves to be a noticeably slow game that is distinctly lacking in difficulty. In many instances, once first place is attained, things will have to go drastically wrong in order to fall into second.
A large factor contributing to the speed problem is the option to change your driver’s perspective. Three different viewpoints are provided to players: an overhead-behind 3rd-person perspective, a top-of-the-hood close-up, or a full 1st-person driver’s seat view. Sadly, with the exception of the very start of a race, when it’s necessary to accurately gauge your car’s distance from the competition, the 3rd-person option is all but useless. Bear in mind, this comes from a reviewer who will opt for a 3rd-person gaming experience in over 99% of cases. Strangely, Race to the Line’s 3rd-person runs far slower than the other two modes (and it isn’t just an illusion caused by distance from the road), but if you’re excited by the speed at which your grandmother zooms to the local grocer in her Cadillac DTS, by all means go with this option.

Despite the snail’s pace — less troublesome away from 3rd-person — that may infuriate veteran gamers, Race to the Line’s smooth, accurate gameplay make it a breeze to cruise along and enjoy the scenery. Left and Right turn movements on the circle pad are a bit on the sensitive side, but once players get accustomed to the controls, this reveals itself to be a fluid, distinct racing game with its own casual style. The various types of cars control differently and come with their own unique engine sounds and paint jobs, which makes for a lot of variety a small game.
While no one should expect a wealth of content from such a low-budget title, Enjoy Gaming has done a poor job of organizing what little content did make it into Race to the Line. Each difficulty level is composed of a small handful of stages, while a cup (the standard gold, silver, and bronze kind) can be won in each stage. However, the stages consist of only two tracks each, which makes winning a gold cup a rather meagre accomplishment. With only three stages and three cars per difficulty level, two tracks per stage, and a few of the tracks repeating in the various modes, organizing all of the tracks into one, much larger circuit could have masked the dearth of content. Instead, an already elementary game caters even further to less enthusiastic gamers by organizing a somewhat pithy amount of content into brief, easy-to-beat stages.
Lastly, although Race to the Line’s visual aesthetic is a smashing success, the same cannot be said about its music, which constitutes a grand total of about two tracks — one over all of the menus, and one over all of the courses. Cheesy, midi backbeats and dull, processed guitars comprise a musical score that is repetitive, bland, and does next to nothing to reflect the beauty in the graphical content. Of course, corners must be cut in a low-budget game, but such a wretched soundtrack is inexcusable, especially when more ingenuity in this area could have truly enhanced the striking visuals.
Conclusion
Although Race to the Line is a bit of a mixed bag, its combination of surprisingly crisp, lush scenery, along with reasonable gameplay and controls, make it an overall success with a few shortcomings. The game’s difficulty level (and especially its speed) leaves much to be desired, meaning veteran gamers will likely become frustrated with the lack of challenge presented by the courses, even in later levels. Poor music and a small amount of content round out the game’s problems, but anyone cruising the 3DS eShop for a fun, casual racer with plenty of eye candy could certainly do worse than Race to the Line.
Comments 31
Talk about mixed opinions. This same game got a 2 earlier here in NintendoLife.
This is how I feel about this game anyway, so I like your review better!
How can a two star review become a six, that's some name change. Or are the american and europe versions different in some other way.
a 2 becomes a 6 ?
why are you reviewing a game twice?
well anyway...a 6 still isnt enough for me
Huh why has the review changed, it still looks awful
@epylon Presumably different people reviewed the games. Opinions can differ quite wildly on sone games. (eg Kid Icarus)
The tagline should be : DON'T race to the eShop
What IS the best non-retail racing game on the eshop ?
Whoa, this has got to be the weirdest set of reviews on NL... the European one with the Chevy brand on it gets a 2, and the US generic version gets a 6... wut?
@Gioku seriously, I'm wondering what's going on
Looks like we have a mystery on our hands gang.

@Xtremetdifan Only thing I can guess is two different reviewers with wildly different opinions on the game... but it still leaves me wondering which one to believe... 0_o
I went and watched the trailer again after reading this second review and I gotta say, this still looks laughably bad to me.
It's bad but got a free online flash game like charm to it which almost makes you want to play it again.
**plays asphalt 3d and Ridge Racer**
@WhiteTrashGuy if you want something decent to drive. I recommend Asphalt 3d (retail) or Ridge Racer 3d (retail) I also heard that Need for speed on 3ds is good too. Asphalt 3d is my favorite and well worth the 10 bucks its been selling for in retail.
My favorite Eshop racer is ATV wild ride it has online multiplayer play and online rankings. ATV even gets a 2.00 dollar off sale every couple months but in my opinion is worth the 6.99. Really an underrated game. I think NL gave it a 6 and it blows this away.
@WhiteTrashGuy I also host online races every Saturday night at 6pm pacific time for ATV Wild Ride. Me and @knuckles_Claus have been the only ones showing up the last couple weeks
@Windy NL gave it a 5.
Eh. The worst of budget fare. While I appreciate it might be well done for the price point, I'll pass on this and put real money into a real game.
Is this a joke review? It's not April right I haven't been in a coma for a 4 months have I
What's going on, I'm guessing the reviewer has never played a decent racing game lol
Guys, just check out a video of the game on YT if you're confused about it, and judge for yourselves.
@Goginho I did it looks awful
@WhiteTrashGuy In my opinion drift street international for the DSIshop is the best racing game I played for speed. The games nitro setup lets you race in way where you can concentrate on speed and it does go crazy fast if you can manage. And the reflection filters on the car is a very nice touch to look at.
The trailer had music that was in Gran Turismo 4. I want to buy it... but it looks awful!
@Knuckles_Claus oh Yikes! I didn't realize it was rated worse.
@SheldonRandoms @Xtremetdifan @Gioku Haha, no confusion guys. Because of the difference in branding, the other reviewer, Martin, and I were tasked to write reviews for the UK and US versions of the game, respectively, and it just wound up being a difference of opinion. If you notice, both reviews mention a lot of the same things about the game, but we just had different takes on them.
@ChrisCostabile That's what I figured.
@Windy Need for Speed 3DS is indeed pretty decent. I have it and it's exactly the same as the Wii version, except for the 3D of course. In my opinion it is even better suited to a handheld than to the Wii.
You can get it for around 12 bucks/12 euros nowadays.
@ChrisCostabile No problem we figured it was just a difference of oppinion. Hey some of us Like some games that others do not like. Thats just the way it is.
2 goes to 6, only one way ..... NL taken a bung (again)
I still think ATV Wild Ride would be a better Racer because of the online options alone
Got it. Love it. You are so right. The pace is kind of slow, but the scenery equals great value for the money. Until we get Asphalt: Elite Racing on 3DS e-shop, this will do.
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