Everyone knows about Namco's arcade racing series Ridge Racer, right? But long before that, there were the Pole Position games, and from them eventually came the Final Lap games, and from them came the first Ace Driver, and this, its sequel. I was going to review both Ace Driver games, but since the first one only has one track, a graphically enhanced version of which is included in this game, I decided not to bother with it.
Ace Driver Victory Lap was released in 1995, the same year as Rave Racer, so although Ace Driver seems to have been mostly forgotten by history, it was running alongside its more popular sibling at one time. I guess the difference is that interest in Formula 1-style racing games had waned by the mid-nineties in favour of the street and mountain racing seen in Ridge Racer? Maybe that's also why Ridge Racer got home ports, but Ace Driver never did?
Anyway, you know how racing games go: you race around tracks, both against other racers and against a time limit that gets extended every time you go trough a checkpoint. There aren't any special gimmicks on display here, it's just a great-looking, competent racing game that's fun to play. I guess the slightly futuristic setting could be considered a gimmick, but it doesn't affect gameplay at all. There's no boosts or power ups or anything like that. Just a great use of colours (with an emphasis on purple, brown, and silver/grey that works surprisingly well) and a kind of eco-technological world with giant skyscrapers and machinery alongside perfectly clear skies and seemingly untarnished nature.
Unfortunately, I don't hve a lot more to say about Ace Driver Victory Lap. It's good, you should play it if you see a cabinet somewhere, or if you have a good enough computer to run it in MAME (and if I do, you almost definitely will, too, to be honest).
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