Racing Lagoon serves as an example of how undue reverence for curiosities and eccentricities can often undermine critical thinking. The game is endlessly covered by gaming blogs focusing on aesthetics and presentation but its own pitfalls as a racing game are treated like a hidden emarassment and rarely discussed.

The game is certainly unique: it plays like a JRPG where you control a diarama of a late 90s underground race car cruising around a Japanese metropolis at night. Passing by other cars initiates races where you compete in compressed tracks not disimilar to those found in the Initial D or Tokyo Extreme Racer games. The game has colossally stiff handling and feels like it is caught up between the genres of arcade and simulation without compromise. Given that I drive a late 90s Toyota in real life, there is a disconnect when I feel as though what I should be able to accomplish with my own car doesn't translate to the game. The game expects razor precision and the AI drivers are faultless, losing a race ensures one has to surrender an upgradeable part to your rival and as a result the pace of the game suffers.

It is telling that even in the most glowing video reviews for this game the footage accompanying the praise often features the player bumping into corners, barely making racing lines and generally playing very poorly. It's obvious to most people who enjoy racing games and I don't intend that as an example any kind of arrogance.


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