The racing genre is starting to pick up steam on the Xbox and two of the latest games give the system an extremely enjoyable title and its own original concept racer.

“Circus Maximus” is not your typical racing game. It’s loosely based on the idea of gladiatorial chariot races, so not only do you race around a track, you must also fight and defend at the same time. In the game, you select from a variety of drivers and fighters from different nations, as well as chariots and horses. The tracks consist of open countryside and arenas, all set in the lands of the Roman Empire.

The variety of the tracks and characters is nice, but too few in the long run. The countryside tracks are huge and really fit the feel of the game, each one taking several minutes to navigate through one lap with a variety of shortcuts and tricks. Arena tracks are too similar though and get boring after a few runs.

The single-player game is fun, but becomes dull after a while due to the nature of its setup. You replay the same tracks multiple times in order to advance, which can be repetitive. One or two runs through a single ten-minute course is all you really want.

The game’s controls are complicated, but work well with some practice. The fun comes in mastering them and trying to control all aspects of the racing and fighting. The multiplayer version lets each person take control of the driver or fighter for some extra variety.

The game’s visuals are fairly well done, but not as good as other Xbox titles. The models are well detailed and move fluidly, but it is the tracks that lack some detail. The sound serves the game well, with solid music and effects, but nothing spectacular.

“Circus Maximus” is certainly a different type of game, but one that ends up being enjoyable because of it. The lack of locales and repetitiveness of the single player game hurt its ability to absorb you for a long time, but the game is still excellent for short bursts of fun.

Racing games should ultimately be fun, and that’s exactly what Microsoft’s “RalliSport Challenge” is. The game consists of a variety of rally-style racing events and it sports excellent graphics, sound and gameplay to make it a thoroughly enjoyable title.

The events players compete in consist of traditional rally races against the clock. Races include timed hill climbing events and the rallycross races that combine rally-style tracks with bumper-to-bumper action.

Each style of race offers its own challenges and fun and really gives you a great variety of racing action. There are numerous tracks for this action to take place on and each one is well designed with plenty of twists, turns and hardships. The tracks even take you to a variety of locales from deserts and countryside, to mountainous terrain and tropical areas.

The game controls very smoothly and the action always stays fast and furious. There is a nice variety of cars to choose from, although there is little way to customize them for better performance.

The game’s damage model works great as your car takes all kinds of hits, although there is some annoying overreaction in some of the collisions and damage does not affect driving. The artificial intelligence provides plenty of challenge and multiplayer options keep you going long after that.

The cars and landscapes all look spectacular and have a great amount of detail. This really brings the game alive and creates a great realistic atmosphere around the arcade-style fun. The sound is equally good and the game even allows you bring in your own custom soundtracks.

“RalliSport Challenge” is really the best racing game available on the Xbox. It incorporates a great gameplay model with excellent design and beautiful technical standards. The only problem is all the tracks are short, but that is hardly a big enough complaint to keep the game down and stop you from having fun.

Chris Weishaar is a sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication from Bronson.