Tonka Raceway

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Description:

Mud flinging, tire screeching, smoke gagging fun. Tonka Joe, now internationally acclaimed, takes you to Tonka Raceway, where you can hone your high speed nerves of steel on four different built-in terrains--Country, Tundra, Jungle and Desert. Or, if you have nerves of titanium alloy, construct your own gutsy raceway in any of the terrains, using straits, corners, ramps, cacti, snowmen and dozens of other obstacles . A two-player mode lets you race a buddy (including Tonka Joe and his side kicks) side-by-side. But watch out, crashing into your racing mates may actually prove more, fun than lapping them. Tonka Raceway has adult appeal in a kid-sized track.

Features:

• Select from more than 30, 3-D vehicles
• Four configurable terrains for nearly an infinite combinations of tracks
• Use Tonka Garage (sold separately) to build custom trucks and racing cars
• Win new parts to build even better, faster and tougher autos that can be saved
• Print trophies, certificates, vehicle designs and track constructions
• Race alone, or challenge a friend or any of 24 Tonka Town characters
• Hilarious pit crews

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

At first, the younger boy had a hard time with the default tracks, but designing a simple oval track helped him get up to speed. Designing a new track is mostly intuitive, but took a little experimenting to discover all the ins-and-outs without referring to a manual. The game at times goes from the track to the announcer box where Tonka Joe and a side kick discuss details about the race. This grew tiresome after the second time, but you can easily "escape" this by clicking or hitting ESC. After a few hours of normal and competitive racing, my boys branched into crashing excitement. The pit crew had them in stitches during their first dozen appearances. The boys especially loved running over the snowmen in the Tundra terrain, and that worries us. Fortunately they won't receive driver licenses for at least ten years, so they have time to work out these road kill thrills first with Tonka Raceway.

We don't have Tonka Garage, so no comments on how well it works with that package for building custom cars, but you have "access" to a small "garage" in the Raceway package after winning several races. The longevity of this program lies herein, as my boys are interested in obtaining better parts for custom race cars. The older has also caught excitement in building his own tracks, even if they aren't very "racy."

While Tonka Raceway may not be as speedy as other kid racers like Hot Wheels' Interactive Stunt Track Driver, it does improve longevity by offering features the others don't (2-player racing and a higher level of customization)

Raceway isn't the most educational, but it is a tops in recreational.