It's a bold design move on Takara's part (or maybe call it fairly misguided, once you've reached the double-digitted iteration), but every Choro-Q game starts off handling and controlling like garbage. The pace is sputteringly slow, the turn radii is appalling, and there isn't an ounce of tire grip anywhere in the game, which constantly skids you into walls and knocks you awkwardly into the air with the slightest bump. That's probably where 80% of players stop and start their Choro-Q experience.
Stick with them, though, and soon enough you'll be zipping around tracks with jet engines thrusting, drifting like a pro, bat wings for a spoiler and a Devil Engine roaring under the hood, and you'll actually feel like you've
earned it. It's the same as with any rpg -- it takes getting knocked around and humiliated by piddling little slimes and insects for a while to make you really appreciate effortlessly slaying bigger beasts.
That said, the series has admittedly always straddled a very thin line between rewardingly difficult and abject crap. I've put more hours than I should probably admit into Everywhere Road Trip, and think Road Trip: Shifting Gears is easily the best, most full featured and diverse racer on GBA (honestly, above Mario Kart and Wai Wai), and yet I don't at all feel like spending another minute with Road Trip: Arcade Edition (the Gamecube's version). I'm really looking forward to seeing what this new one's got to offer.
But really, before you write off the series altogether, at very least track down
Road Trip: Shifting Gears. It's ChoroQ done right.
