Reviewed: January 29, 2007
Reviewed by: Justin Nixon

Publisher
Activision Value

Developer
Eutechnyx

Released: November 28, 2006
Genre: Driving
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

2
6
6
3
3.9

Supported Features:

If for some reason you have been living in a hole for the past 5 years and haven’t heard of it, I’ll sum it up. The show takes complete pieces of junk and ‘pimps’ them out. By which they add new paint, new interior, and usually a few televisions. They also had a unique ‘something’ to match the owner’s personality. For example; in one episode the owner was a DJ so they put a turntable in the trunk of his car; things like that.

The host of the show is hip-hop performer and actor Xzibit. He always seems to crack at least a few jokes about the owner’s ride before they ‘pimp’ it out. Not only has the show been a success in itself but it also has increased the popularity Xzibit. More people know him for Pimp My Ride than his music career. He has become a sort of icon for the show. He is the one that goes to the owners’ houses and surprises them and then takes the car to the shop.

Eutechnyx decided to try and drain as much cash out of the series as possible by releasing Pimp My Ride the game. The racing genre is already flooded with games that you fix up cars and race them against other fixed-up cars. I guess there is always room for one more. I mean look at all the Grand Theft Auto want-to-be games. Unfortunately, like the cars in the series, this is just a heap of junk with no possibility of getting ‘pimped’ out.

That may sound like it doesn’t make sense. Why would you fix up a car to crash it into other cars? There is a simple explanation for that. When you crash into other cars gold coins pop out and then you can use those coins to fix up the next automobile. Still doesn’t make any kind of logical sense? Well, that’s Pimp My Ride.

There are other ways to get cash. There is a mini game called Ghost Riding the Whip. This is where you cruise up to a group of people and get out of your car. While your car is still ‘ghost riding’ next to you, you must dance up the street by hitting buttons that appear on the screen as fast as you can. This is not only very easy, but it also is very disturbing. THE CAR DRIVES ITSELF! How does that make any sense? Well, that’s Pimp My Ride.

There are a few more mini games but the easiest way to get money is just crash into other cars, and there are a lot of cars to crash into. You can also hit designated signs, pick up special tokens, or hit parking meters to get money too.

After you get the required amount of money a timer starts and you have to get to the icon on the map indicating the home of the person that you’re going to surprise. Actually, it doesn’t matter if you get there within the time limit or not. You’ll hear Xzibit rushing you along, but if you don’t make it in time it just starts the cutscene like you had made it. There is absolutely no reason to have the time limit because there is no penalty for not making before time expires.

Once the cutscene does start you get to see the automobile that you will be ‘pimping’ out. You meet the owner, who is always very happy to see you, a little too happy. Xzibit cracks a few jokes about the ride and then you take the keys and another timer starts. You are given a fixed amount of time to get around town to different shops that specialize in certain parts. Some of the shops are hidden and not marked on your map. Finding these is just shear luck.

Once you arrive at a shop you choose the upgrade and then you play a mini game to try and get the upgrade as cheap as possible. The mini games are easy and most of the time you’ll get the upgrade for a lot less than what it is listed at. To add to all of this, you are competing against someone else. You must do a better job ‘pimping’ out the ride better then your opponent. At the end the owner picks the one they like best, and it’s on to the next ride.

The map is pretty big but navigating through it can be irritating. The controls aren’t very smooth, which is not really a problem because when you hit other cars on accident coins pop out so you can’t loose. But seriously, the controls are bad. It doesn’t matter what you’re driving; it won’t be fun.

The automobiles themselves aren’t very detailed even after being ‘pimp’ out. They aren’t licensed so they may look similar to actual cars but they aren’t. Xzibit looks good in the game although sometimes it will seem like you are watching an old kung-fu movie in English where his lips don’t match what he’s saying. This is the same for the other people in the game too.

At the same time the people that you surprise sound way to excited. I understand that getting your car ‘pimp’ out is a big deal, but after you surprise about twenty people that all have the same reaction you won’t want to knock on another door. Another thing is that all the engines sound the same, with no variation. You think that they could have made each one unique but they didn’t.