Ray Tracers (EU)

"A futuristic city is terrorised by Black Kaiser, an armed racer gang .Cindy Gibson believes the gang were responsible for her father's death and she wants revenge. inheriting her father's awesome racing cars, Cindy creates Ray Tracers and recruits the best racers she can find. Now the real battle begins in a search for the truth! Created in the best anime traditions, Ray Tracers is instantly addictive and immensely playable. varied scenery, tunnels, dips, sudden drops and obstructions just begging for you to decimate! the monster-fast, explosive arcade smash from Taito - Ray Tracers"

One of those games that got released in all three major regions and came out slightly different in each. Japan of course got the main version with Japanese narration. US got a strange version with a slightly lower resolution maybe to hit a higher peak framerate but it has no in game banter. EU/UK version played here is full resolution, only 50 fps of course but it is narrated in English. Not that you can hear it as Cindys voice is so low over the music that you cant hear it like its been phoned in! Unfortunately there are no in game controls to balance the voice, sfx and music in this version.

The longplay opens with the intro before moving onto the main missions. Firstly the four main characters and then the unlocked ones. Normally each time the game is complete the credits are played. I cut these and just let it play at the end of the video. I am playing the entire game in Hard mode although only Normal is required for the unlocks. Completing the game unlocks the movie player allowing you to watch all the in game cutscenes and I show the second intro you normally see if you leave the game on the title screen for a few moments. An extra racer is available to play if you beat him in any time trial.

The game plays a lot like previous Taito games from the Chase HQ series. There are 6 missions and in each you race against the clock to battle a boss at the end by smashing into them. There is no turbo option so you have to wait for your moment as the bosses slow down to hit them. A side attack is often better than a rear attack. Completing all missions rewards you with a character specific ending. Along the way during the mission other vehicles and objects will be encountered. These can be avoided or hit for a score bonus at the cost of a little time or car control in extreme cases. Completing the track in a faster time maybe more rewarding in the end.

Overall a great arcade style battle racing game on Playstation. The missions are short and with memory save you don't have to complete it multiple times in one session. I close the video with a look at the Button options which clearly shows a nitro button but this is not usable in the game anywhere. Maybe the game was originaly meant to be a Chase HQ game and this unused button was left in. Their are also some nice lighting effects on the cars themselves and the level loading times are great

I feel that this is an easier version of the game than the JP and US versions longplayed previously. Maybe that's due to a slower running timer, slower running game, I don't really know but the bosses seem notably easier and their weapons are of no real threat as they seem to shoot round you instead of at you.

00:00:00 Intro
00:02:00 Played as Blody (Green Buffalo Car)
00:24:10 Played as Sleoteel (Blue Hawk Car)
00:46:45 Played as J-Lang (Red Spanker Car)
01:08:10 Played as Asuka (Yellow Lynx Car)
--- Maki Unlocked ---
01:30:25 Played as Maki(White Vestal Car)
--- Kaiser Unlocked ---
01:49:22 Played as Kaiser (Black B-Vestal car).
--- Movie player unlocked ---
02:07:00 Intro 2 Movie
02:08:45 Time Attack mode as Maki (White Vestal Car) against Tsumuji (Purple Tsumujikaze Car).
--- Tsumuji unlocked ---
02:12:45 Played as Tsumuji (Purple Tsumujikaze Car).
02:31:48 Credits