If you've got a similar history with slot car racing and your own relatives, this WiiWare take on the same storied pastime might just appeal to you. If you don't, or if you've never played with an actual, physical slot car set, you'll probably just think this game is another waste of space in the Wii Shop.
Family Slot Car Racing is the fifth release in Aksys Games' "Family" series of five-dollar WiiWare downloads -- and that's concerning, right from the start. The four Family games to hit the Shop before this one were all terrible. From the awkward controls of Family Glide Hockey to the totally luck-based randomness of Family Pirate Party, the series has consistently offered offensively below-average efforts that have only served one purpose -- lowering the reputation of the WiiWare service as a whole, by lending support to the stereotype that nothing but shovelware ever ships to the Shop.
Interestingly, though, Family Slot Car Racing seems to turn that trend around. (It had to happen eventually, right?) This isn't an incredible game, or even one that's all that good -- but it's not bad. And not bad is a big improvement for the Family series.
You start off by selecting a car. The selection is fairly varied, offering a good mix of different body styles with different ratings -- some choices have better acceleration, others better top speed, and each one also has a rating for grip on the track, too. You'll also get three different color options per car type, and the cars have cool names like Wave and Shark. Not bad.
You then jump into the tracks, and the game eases you into the races by offering a couple of easy ones that are impossible to crash on. The basic control is a simple, single button press -- you hold down the A Button on the Wii Remote to go, and let off of it to slow down. If you want a bit more control than just "on" or "off" for your acceleration, you can use the Nunchuk controller -- its analog stick offers a slightly more natural simulation of the squeeze triggers from actual slot car sets.
After that, it's all about racing for the finish line. If you're unfamiliar with slot car racing, the premise is pretty simple -- you try to keep the throttle of your little electrically-powered racecar maxed out as much as possible, while your racer weaves through the twists, turns and hills of the plastic track. The track has a little groove in the center of the lane, into which a metal connector on the car fits -- as long as that connector's in the slot, the juice is flowing and making your racer run.
The trick, though, is to not get too overzealous with the acceleration -- because if you keep the pedal to the metal and your car's going too fast when heading into a turn, its momentum will cause it to sail off the track. Losing the connection with its source of power. And probably putting you way behind your opponent while you get the car reset.
Family Slot Car Racing, as a video game, removes a common inconvenience of normal slot car competition -- you don't have to run across the room and physically pick up a car that's gone off the track here. The game does it for you, saving a lot of time and frustration. (Though sending a car sailing off the ping pong table is also a big part of the fun of an actual slot car set, so it's a tradeoff to not have that aspect of the activity represented here.)
The game also introduces an extra element to keep races from getting to be too one-sided. If you're lagging behind your opponent, the game will grant you Turbo boosts every time you complete a lap. These boosts can help you make up a lot of lost ground quickly, since they push your car's speed past its normal maximum and also prevent you from flying off the track while they're activated. If you're a little bit behind your foe, you'll get just a small Turbo charge to use. But if you're way behind, your Turbo meter will be completely filled -- and you'll get to scream around the track in hot pursuit of first place.
Family Slot Car Racing isn't all that deep, as a more fully-featured simulation of slot car racing would definitely have to include a track editor. And the multiplayer here is limited to just two people at a time, which is a bit of a blow since it's a "family" game -- it would have been cool to see some four-lane tracks and support for four players at once.
What is here, though, is still fairly robust for an investment of five bucks -- there are nine different tracks across three difficulty levels, and then you can unlock a reverse option for all of them (which is a pretty legitimate boost to a total of 18, since me and my brothers always did the same thing with our set). Then there are extra cars to unlock, a trio of bonus rounds and single-player time trials too. Not incredible, of course. But not bad. And not bad is, again, pretty good for an Aksys Family game.