Star Racer

Editing up this review. The original review was at about the 5-hour mark. This one now is at the 18/19-hour mark, plus I've had a chance to communicate with the devs a little. Shortening up my thoughts from what I originally thought at 5 hours: Right off the bat, I could tell this was a great game. Especially for 10 dollars. I could tell lots of love and care went into this game, and I thought (and still think) that if you're a fan of AG racers, you should totally check this game out. Thumbs up, no question. However, the learning curve is incredibly brutal, and it can potentially be a turn-off for some folks. This game is clearly inspired by classic SNES F-Zero, but to just call it "modern SNES F-Zero" would be doing it a bit of a disservice. This game has some very unique mechanics that allow it to stand out as its own thing. Like F-Zero, you have an energy bar that serves as both your health and your boost, which can be used on the second lap and onwards. However, you also have a "capsule" bar. You collect small capsules scattered all over the track. The more capsules you have, the faster you'll go. However, when you use attacks, you'll spend capsules. Without capsules, you can…

This honestly feels like a really weird fever dream where the original SNES F-Zero decided to have a meet cute with F-Zero X and Star Fox. And to be honest, it kinda works? I only say kinda, because I think there's a lot of things this game does really well, and then others where I think the game could use some serious improvement. Mainly, when it comes to the stuff I really like about this game: - The worldbuilding is pretty intriguing; There's no other game out there with a character as cool as a name as "Thrash Whiplash"! - The bumpers (in the form of the cop cruisers you'll come across) are pretty fun to go up against, even if it looks like they don't hold up a fight. The bumpers in the original SNES F-Zero and Maximum Velocity are kind of like that, too. (If you don't count the explosive bumpers, of course) - The music is really good, especially the tracks done by GRANT KIRKHOPE HIMSELF. - The track editor. It's not as robust or easy to understand as FZEK's track editor, but it DOES get the job done. Now, to the stuff I'm not the most fond of: - The flying sections, while mildly original for a death-sled type racing game, I think could be improved. I find constantly having …

Scratched an itch I didn’t even know I had

Great game but have been waiting for multiplayer before jumping back on is multiplayer still coming out for the game?

Are you a fan of AG racing games? Are you still salty with Nintendo for sitting on F-Zero for 20+ years and doing nothing with it? Well good news, this will scratch your itch! It's like a solid mix of F-Zero and Mario Kart. You have the low friction of AG racers, combined with the drifting and flying mechanics in Mario Kart. Instead of items, you have spin attacks, and shoulder bashing on the ground, and lasers when flying. Honestly it makes for a great mix, and is executed really well. The game has a solid difficulty ramp up as well, making it a great challenge. Its good stuff!

If there was a neutral option for reviews I would probably would pick that, but since I lean more positively I'm choosing to recommend this game. To start, I like how easy to pick up this game is. As someone who hasn't really played racers since my days playing Mario Kart as a kid, I felt that this game eased me into it pretty well. I think the only thing I really had difficulty with was getting used to using the d-pad, since that seemingly offers better control than the joystick. As far as I can tell, the driving is designed pretty well for the most part, but I think handling can get pretty rough around tight corners, especially at higher speeds. In general, I feel like corners are easier to maneuver around while airborne instead of on the ground since trying to drift usually just results in me crashing into the wall anyways. On the plus side, aerial movement is really fun, both in the sense of jumping and flying. Finding ways to glide over the twists and turns of a track is really cool! I just wish it was just as enjoyable to navigate on the ground. In relation to the tracks, I think they're generally good, but I wish they utilized their own gimmicks more. It felt a little stra…