09-10-2016, 06:25 AM
(09-10-2016, 05:50 AM)Surge Wrote: The music begins, an aggressive but methodical buildup, the world around you screams out with eye catching colors and shapes, the announcer counts down as the strange arrangement of geometry in front of you shifts in anticipation. The countdown reaches zero and the music melts away to a purposeful but non-intrusive beat as 8 craft rocket off the starting line, a few collide and are sent careening into walls as you soar past with the speedometer passing 600 in moments. Welcome to Redout.
Redout is a game that aims to bring back the best of old school arcade racing, with hyper stylized hovercars shooting around holographic tracks at nonspecific speed units well in excess of what is reasonable, the game comes at you at such a pace that you can be excused for getting lost on the very linear tracks. There is a very tight and intentional method to this madness though, Redout is the kind of game where taking your foot off the gas is a sign of weakness, weakness that the game will exploit. It gives you every tool you'll need to carve a line through any corner at max throttle, and in time you'll slot into a groove doing just that and then boosting out to take the lead from your opponents. Said opponents are notably ruthless though, well timed applications of all the different tools at your disposal is crucial to even stand a shot against the AI, the learning curve here is steep.
Redout is one of those games that could probably be content to simply rest on the laurels of what a raw experience it is, with a dozen some tracks to blaze across and half a dozen different ships to pilot, it seems there is a lot to enjoy, but Redout is not quite done, with different modes, power ups, and different tiers of ships allowing you to crank the pace up even further or turn your race into one to the grave. All of this content is locked behind progression gates, playing in "career" mode awards money and XP to spend on new ships and power ups, as well as unlocking new tracks. Once you feel burned out on the merciless AI you can take the hypersonic bumpercars online and compete with other players, or just go into a time trial and learn the track while trying to crank out the fastest time possible.
Capturing the nostalgia of older gamers is a popular tactic in indie games right now as many new developers are those older gamers, but Redout manages to be a game that can stand on its own merits, a fast paced and challenging experience that provides a sensory feast with tight controls and relatively straight forward mechanics. It can be found on Steam for a modest $35.
I don't even like racing games all that much but this sounds pretty darn fun.
I must ask though - is that motion blur in the image what you see constantly due to the high speeds? If so, then dang it must be hell to navigate.