Hanna-Barbera
Wacky Races

As far as Videogames and platforms are concerned, I find myself in a state of simultaneous ignorance. Perhaps it's because the multitude of ultra-technological and super cool consoles does not represent an absolute shopping and pastime priority for myself, or perhaps it's the high costs of the video game market that dissuade me from any purchase; the fact is that I'm mentally stuck with the old, dear, sweet Playstation One. I may sound like a cheerful old-fashioned gentleman who in the world of emails and Facebook longs for stamps, fountain pens, inkwells, and carrier pigeons, yet my hypnosis towards what today is a trinket not even saddest antiquarians would propose was obvious. All it took was a nice disk to insert into the console, and bam, you were rapidly entering the most perfect fantasy world. The era of Gran Turismo, Colin McRae Rally, and any electronic play version derived from and/or inspired by the vast catalog of successful cartoons and movies.

Wacky Races is, perhaps, one of the disks I've worn out the most by constantly inserting it into the console. Based on the Hanna & Barbera animated series of the same name, it presents the player with a huge number of crazy racers, each with a bizarre and hyper-technological racing car. In particular, "the evil" Dick Dastardly with the ridiculous dog Muttley are those who, by all means, especially dirty and "illegal" ones, try to snatch a victory that in reality is pure futility. In any case, within the video game, every car has its "dirty tricks" to deploy when needed: there are those who, driving a whimsical tank, throw bombs and other warmongering items to stun the enemy, those equipped with bat or pterodactyl wings to fly over the track, and some have the ability to spill slippery oil on the roadway to throw off the contender that is getting a bit too close from behind.

In short, it's a battle to the last bend, fought with the help of the most bizarre tools. Not only that: besides the typical and binding gadgets and strategies of each vehicle, the program offers the player additional tricks for achieving the final triumph, perhaps not entirely due to the winner's skills; these can be seen on the circuits several times appearing as "symbols" to collect simply by "running them over" with your car: guaranteed are high-speed tires, slippery liquid, dynamite, misleading signs intended to confuse the opponent, electric shocks, flamethrowers, mines, even beehives of angry bees.

The settings are fun but often "treacherous": canyons, caves, deserts, polar lands, metropolises, mountains. The difficulty increases with the progression of the game's level (if you choose the "adventure" mode and not single races or time trials) through the introduction of greater dangers, discomforts, and traps. Nonetheless, there are also "shortcuts" in both a literal and broader sense, requiring a good dose of concentration, a pinch of virtual imagination, gentle patience, and a healthy sense of defeat as nothing, or almost nothing, succeeds on the first try. Try explaining that to an impassioned player captivated by the adventure's charm?

For the player who has not yet had the opportunity to start the adventure (but also for those who have not saved their previously achieved results), the video game provides a vast array of "crazy cars", each with immediate pros and cons displayed on a personal sheet indicating the vehicle's key characteristics (speed, steering...) Except for the main "villains'" vehicle, namely Dastardly & Muttley, you can choose among the most famous ones like the Turbo Terrific of the handsome Peter Perfect, the Bulletproof Bomb of Sergeant Blast and poor Private Meekly, the Mean Machine of the gruesome Big and Little Gruesome, and the ancient but assertive Boulder Mobile of the prehistoric Slag Brothers. The choice of these roaring cars certainly concerns the player's aesthetics and their opinion on the possible performances of the same. It's advised, however, not to be fooled by appearances: the most discreet car to the eye would be capable of crushing any opponent thanks to its equipped "weapons", those collected during the course, all blended with a hint of luck, which never hurts.

I acknowledge the practical "uselessness" of this review, dedicated to illustrating an old and perhaps outdated video game. It's just nostalgia and melancholy of the magnificent world of the PlayStation One, before being overshadowed by its successors of the same design and brand and the various Wii (I'm not doing covert advertising, mind you).