Speed Devils | November 18, 1999
Speed devils
Speed Busters (known as Speed Busters: American Highways in North America) is a video game developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio for Microsoft Windows in 1998. It was released for Dreamcast in 1999 under the name Speed Devils. The racing game features tracks with hazards such as dinosaurs, rolling boulders, and UFOs, set in exotic locations such as Louisiana, Louisiana Tornado, New York City, New York City Winter, Mexico, Nevada, Aspen Summer, Aspen Winter, Canada (presumably northern Quebec), Canada Light Winter, Canada Heavy Winter, Montreal Industrial, Hollywood, and Hollywood Disaster. The console version's career mode allows players to advance through the ranks of a fictional racing league. Colorful rivals challenge players with specific feats during races, and players place bets using prize money earned from competitions. The money earned is used to buy, upgrade, and maintain cars. The game also supports up to five players on a single Dreamcast console.
In 2000, Sega released Speed Devils Online Racing, an updated version of the game for Dreamcast that added online play.
The game received generally favorable reviews. According to the review aggregation website GameRankings, Speed Busters: American Highways and Speed Devils received positive feedback, while the mobile version received mixed reviews. GameRevolution reviewed the Dreamcast version, stating, "At the finish line, Speed Devils is an above-average racer, but not much more." The reviewer praised the game's graphics and appealing cars but criticized the poorly designed tracks that left players wondering how they ended up driving off a cliff. The two-player mode was also criticized for being boring and dragged out. Edge rated the same Dreamcast version 7 out of 10, stating, "While not outstanding in any particular regard, Speed Devils is good entertainment that should captivate anyone tired of realistic racers with its accessible and player-friendly arcade-like nature." Chris Charla from NextGen described the same version as "the best racing game you can find on Dreamcast today." In Japan, where the game was released on November 18, 1999, Famitsu awarded it a score of 29 out of 40.
Nick Smith from AllGame gave Speed Busters: American Highways three-and-a-half stars out of five, stating, "You'll have a fast and furious time with SpeedBusters— but only if you have a competent graphics card. If you've got a puny PC with little video memory, forget it." However, Jonathan Sutyak rated Speed Devils two-and-a-half stars out of five, commenting, "If you can overlook the obstacles, or even enjoy them, you may get a kick out of some of the races. Although the ability to run tracks in the opposite direction with some different obstacles is a plus, Speed Devils becomes repetitive due to the long laps of each track and the weak computer opponents. They may try to block you when you attempt to pass and will also ram into you, but ultimately, they do not provide an exceptional challenge."
