Rapid Racoon WipEs out on DS

Friday 3 August 2007
We were quite surprised when we opened the press screenshots of new DS racing game Rapid Racoon. On hearing the name and learning it was due to release on DS in February next year, we had images of a Racoon in a canoe in our heads. Sadly that wasn't to be. What we've got, however, appears to be a game that's essentially WipEout with a different name. Life's full of surprises, isn't it?

The game features futuristic hovercraft racing through futuristic industrial, forest and space-themedenvironments, with weapons pickups in the track. There are several racing teams in the game andeach one has a mascot... and one of them is a racoon. Oh.

The screenshots look pretty basic, although that might mean it runs very smoothly and quickly. Butwhen the press release dwells on three levels of difficulty as a major feature, we don't hold out much hope for the game's quality. But you never know. Hit theImages tab and see what it looks like in action... then try to work out why the racoon here got the title. We're stumped.

Above: This is the titular racoon. Mascot for a man... picking his nose?

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.