Golden Age of Racing by Brain in a Jar and published by Midas Interactive Entertainment was released in 2005 for the PC and PlayStation 2. An amazing attempt to relive the glory days of the 1960s with Coopers, Lotus cars, Ferrari’s and so on. Indeed this is an amazing attempt; personally, the game feels unfinished and rushed to hit the stores. The potential seems to be much bigger, the cars feel not satisfying to race with, nor is the AI that great. One thing they did correct is capturing the atmosphere, somewhat, of the 1960s.
When you start the game, you instantly get into the 1960s vibe with a jazzy music vibe on the background while you look at Persuaders style video. Here you have the options for One player, profile and settings. Within the One Player mode you have several options to choose from; Challenge – Race – Championship and Trophy Room. The championships are not that hard to complete. You can choose several levels. The game does save your progression.
While racing you will find that, the music is nowhere to be found anymore. In addition, the surrounded sound is far away all you hear is the engine rev. up and down, squeezing tyres and that’s al. When you hit the barriers or go full of the grass you won’t hear any other sound. Neither hitting an opponent does so.
The graphics, especially for its time, are amazing if you ask me. The cars look still, 20 years later, detailed and the game works perfectly fine on widescreens. While the game feels sloppy, they did put many details in the car. Such as the drivers faces you can see, the details on the engine and the tyres. The tracks are boring and don’t really give the correct feeling.
While completing a championship i did not feel like any efforts was put in place to make something great from the game. The concept is great, look at Grand Prix Legends from Geoff Crammond. Yet, it just feels like oh we have an idea and just make something that looks like it. I don’t think there is an issue with not having the “original” cars in the game.
They could have done so much more with this game, yet it feels like we just had to make this game and published it without really putting a soul in it.
