Homie Rollerz (DS) Review
Posted by Ty Huston on 03.28.2008
A poor choice of franchise and a mixed bag of controls are inside.
Presented in English and in Spanish. Surprised? Me either.
Homie Rollerz is a game based in the “Homies” universe that was created by a fellow named David Gonzales. Gonzales is an artist, and began creating pint sized 2-inch figures back in 1998 that depict Hispanic characters is a gang-life type of environment. The brand has grown since then, including just about every race you could think of, but like with the original Homies – it’s all about stereotypes.
Now, as far as franchises go, I’d say that this one is a very poor choice. I mean, I understand that the little figures are popular and whatever, but the underlying tones just open an entire can of worms where you don’t want to go. In fact, this game has been shunned very hard and blasted profusely in what reviews it has gotten for that reason combined with others.
I’m not here to give my opinion of what is stereotypical or racial; my job is to review videogames. Therefore, if you want to battle it out over the Homies franchise being a social issue, take it to the forums.
As I started with my last review, there is one word to describe this game.
That One Word is … Disappointing.
Check it, y’all. You could be as fly as these homies, vato.
The videogame – Homie Rollers – is actually a subgenre of the Homies line. You see, an entire line of little toy Hispanic gangsters who cruise around in their low-riders and drink soda pop (yeah, right) has been on shelves for a while now.
So what does one do? Well, they pick up the Homies franchise and instead of having crazy interracial parties of stereotypical kindness towards one another, they figure that if you’re living in Compton and you have a low-rider then you need respect. And apparently, the only way to earn respect in the ‘hood is to race other racially profiled stereotypes.
Choose your character wisely. Or not.
Gameplay
In the above screenshot, you can see the selection screen where you get to choose who you want to be. Alright, starting from the top left we’ve got an African American with a ‘fro, a pissed off chili pepper who wears gun belts and a bandana, a Hispanic female who dresses like she just came off night shift on 1st and Federal, a crazy muscled up psycho Hispanic gangster, a dude that if he had a downgraded wardrobe and cornrows he’d be Snoop Dogg. On the bottom from left to right, a crazy green dude giving either the Dr. Spock’s “Live Long & Prosper” signal or Big Van Vader’s “IT’S VADER TIME” signal, the guy whose design is that of every single 15 year old Hispanic kid that takes your order at (insert fast food restaurant name here), a guy dressed up as the joker – not the one from Batman - the one from a deck of cards, an Ethiopian gangbanger and Gimli the dwarf.
Pick one, any one, because frankly it doesn’t matter. If you are the crazy redneck biker, you still have the 25% chance of actually winning a race due to the control mechanics not functioning as well as the CPU opponents’ difficulty level. Translation: This game is really, really hard. I’m not talking about “use your head and think of a way to get past this level” difficult, I’m talking about “why the hell can’t my guy ever go the direction I point him and not run into crap the entire race which puts in between 4th and 8th every time” difficult.
Then, you go ad you talk to some gangbanging wizard from the ‘hood and ask how you get what you want. Everybody is different, but the answer is the same. You want to start a revolution? Join the race and earn respect. Eat free at Taco Bell for life? Join the race and earn respect. Kill the wizard and takeover the land of Oz? Join the race and earn respect.
Carnack says – “Join the race, tonto!” .
The control are very stiff, to the point where you’re lucky if you ever place higher than 4th. I had a good run or two where I hit 2nd often, but the game is a lot of rinse and repeat since you are forced to place 1st in a race before you are allowed to unlock the next race.
And unfortunately, as far as reviews go, that is all there really is to say about the game. It is built on a n insulting franchise, with terrible controls upon which makes it tough to even race and the opponent’s difficulty level is so far advanced from you it is unreal. There is nothing left to this game. Pick one of eight racers, tuck your head between your knees and kiss your … well, you get the picture.
Honestly, I am not a fan of the racing game genre and it is games like this that I feel that way. Destineer has made some decent games, but this Homies license is both very one dimensional and not anywhere near being politically correct. Catering to a specific audience is not anything new, but you have to look at what the product can bring to the table. It looks like it was either this racing game with low-riders or gangbangers hanging out at strip joints, dealing drugs and shooting innocent civilians. Oh wait, we already have that game. It’s called Grand Theft Auto.
Graphics
The graphics are nothing to write home about, but you can at least see who you are and watch in disappointment as you consistently get whomped on by the computer who, you know, can actually control their ride. However, there are a ton of other games out there with much better graphics for the DS.
Sound
It’s a DS game, so the sound isn’t great. The music is boring during the racing and you get to hear a lot of crashing and bumping in the game due to running into other players and the environment. A lot.
Lasting Appeal
Honestly, I see none. The game is short, to the point, and really quite irritating.
The 411
Destineer can make a better game than this. Dozens of cheap handheld games at Wal-Mart have the quality this game has - and I don't blame it on their abilities. I'm currently reviewing a second Destineer DS game with tons more potential than this one. It just appears to me that more time was spent on making the graphics and animations in this game match the Homies franchise, than was spent on making a good game. I think they were rushed on this and they ended up with a subpar product. That's unfortunate, because most independent studios can't take too many financial failures.
Graphics
5.0
Nothing innovative, but good enough to get by. That's pretty much it.
Gameplay
1.0
Terrible, terrible gameplay. I don't know how, after this game was already delayed before, they could let it go gold with such a broken control scheme.
Sound
5.0
Poor music, but good sound effects. Won't win any awards, but it helps to ehar the scraping of metal when you're getting smashed into by another junker.
Lasting Appeal
1.0
There is none. The game is way short, one dimensional, and if you've played any really poor racing game then you've played Homie Rollerz.
Fun Factor
1.0
I didn't enjoy any of the time I put into playing this game to write this review. Destineer has done better and will do better in the future I'm sure.
