Ford Mustang: The Legend Lives

Ford Mustang: The Legend Lives -- indiscrete marketing or just another excuse to make another arcade racer for the Xbox? Call it what you will, but now Mustang connoisseurs can hit the streets in the iconic and classic American car in Ford Mustang: The Legend Lives.

I couldn't help but feel a bit weary going into Ford Mustang; after all, a licensed racing game featuring only Mustangs strikes me as a thinly veiled vehicle to promote the Ford Motors company. However, after spending some time with it, I was pleased to find that there is an actual videogame under there, and a decent one at that. It features touchy arcade controls, with power sliding, style points and all those finishing touches we've come to expect out of the current generation of racers.

In fact, the controls feel almost too responsive, a bit out of synch with the way most top heavy Mustangs tend to feel. Even so, it's still a decent amount of fun, with enough polish to keep you entertained in spite of its simplistic design. It won't wow racing veterans, and it won't take the spotlight away from other superior arcade racers on the Xbox like the Project Gotham Racing series or the Midnight Club titles, but as it stands on its own, it's a decent amount of fun.

The visuals, likewise, are solid. Again, nothing will completely wow you with technical prowess, but what's here is certainly serviceable. There's a nice sense of speed that carries the game through the sometimes bland environments.

Really, what seals the deal on the package is the low price-point of $15 dollars. There are a lot of alternatives out there, but few of them can touch that $15 mark, making Ford Mustang a worthy title to check out if you're hard up for a budget racer.