The graphics in Woody Woodpecker Racing are strictly average. From the relatively plain tracks (with an occasional glimmer of graphical brillance here and there), to the absolutely drab menus, there is little visual appeal in WWR. You won't find yourself cruising around aimlessly looking at the stuff on the sides of the courses, because there's really not much here. The various vehicles are quite cookie-cutter as well, with not much variety at all. The character designs are properly cartoony, but there's only so much you can do with a woodpecker and his friends.

The music in WWR is quite solid, with some upbeat tunes that get you in the driving mood. The sound effects, on the other hand, go past 'possibly annoying' into the realm of highly annoying. Yeah, I know that that Woody Woodpecker 'uh uh uh eh eh' bit is necessary for the game, but there's a certain thing called restraint that can really help in situations like these. I found myself reaching for the mute button on the remote not long after booting up the game.

And, if I didn't have to review the game, I would have been reaching for the power button. Woody Woodpecker Racing offers absolutely nothing new to the highly crowded kart racing genre, and its insanely difficult gameplay will turn off all but the masochists. It's definitely not a game for the younger set, and those of us who are older know a bad game when we see it.

There's a Quest mode, of course, and doing the Quest mode unlocks new 'stuff'. There's a split-screen Two-player mode (but no four-player mode). There's Time Trials, and Single-track races. And there's a grouping of characters to pick from when you want to race. This has all been done before, and done better elsewhere.

Then you get to the actual game. There are all of your standard weapons from your kart racing experiences -- front attacks, seeking attacks, back attacks and shields -- plus the ability to attack someone on either side of you at any time. This seems like a cool feature . . . until the computer starts to use it on you. Every time. You'll fail the first time you race around the track, and chances are good that you'll fail the next few times as well. The difficulty is simply off the map, and it makes the game damn near unplayable.

There are speed-ups and whatnot scattered liberally around the map, but those don't really help. The computer seems to have the ability to magically speed up whenever they need to pass you up, and they'll inevitably hit you when they zoom by, causing you to get kicked to last place. Whee.

I could go on, but there's a real simple way to describe the way that Woody Woodpecker Racing plays. Take a good kart racer, jack up the difficulty, and take out the 'special stuff'. There you go.

Insane is a polite way of putting WWR's difficulty. You'll find yourself losing, and losing again, and losing again after that. Winning a race is akin to beating other kart racers, and there's always more tracks for you to lose in. The AI is simply way too vicious, using side attacks and special attacks every chance possible and in general making your life miserable. If this were configurable, it wouldn't be too bad, but as it is, the game is pretty much unplayable for its target age group. Hell, it's almost unplayable for me, and I've been karting it since Super Mario Kart.

The basic controls of the game are simple enough, although getting used to actually using all of the shoulder buttons takes some time. Analog control is necessary, and even then the karts/jalopies/whatever don't control as tightly as they should. Prepare to be frustrated by the way the game works, as the computer will pass you up consistently and regularly, despite not being able to do so fairly. They'll also attack you unerringly. There's something to be said for challenge, but there's something to be said for sanity as well.

PS2: The game works fine with both the 'smooth' and the 'fast' settings on. The graphics are marginally improved, and the load times are a little better as well. Neither makes a great deal of difference, however, and it's just as 'easy' to play on a PSX as it is on a PS2.

Previously I thought that Renegade Racers was the bottom of the barrel when it came to kart racing. But now there's a new 'champ' -- Woody Woodpecker Racing. With lackluster graphics, uninspired gameplay, and an AI that is damn near impossible to beat, WWR offers nothing of value to the gaming world, kart racing fans or not. Unless you enjoy playing bad games, or absolutely must have every kart racer released, you'd do very, very well to stay far away from this stinker.