Power Drift meets Penny/Gadget Racers, with retro sprite visuals and simple arcade mechanics.

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3367091040

Anybody who thinks that sounds like a blast.

Anyone who wants an extremely long game, anyone who doesn't enjoy that style of drift-and-boost arcade racing, anyone who wants an extremely stiff challenge, and anyone who wants a deeper or more nuanced racing experience.

• Satisfying drift-and-boost style arcade racing
  
• A bunch of unlockable drivers
  
• Decently lengthy tour mode (Championship mode) with overworld maps and optional challenges
  
• Ghost time trial mode
  
• Separate arcade mode with fully adjustable difficulty
  
• Catchy, thematically appropriate music
  
• Fun character designs
  
• Just plain fun, for me anyhow

• Can be completed fairly quickly, outside of the optional challenge modes like time attack
  
• Unlockable racers don't feel necessary to complete the game, leading to a sense of lack of progression and reward to some degree
  
• May be a tad on the easy side for some people's tastes

This game's demo really hooked me when it landed on Steam, and I'm pleased to say the final game is a ton of fun.

It's a very simple arcade racer with a focus on drifting around corners then releasing to boost at ideal moments. Mechanically it's very simple. Two buttons and steering. Accelerate and drft. That's it.

The world tour mode, which is called Championship mode, consists of a series of races and optional events on an overworld map, separated into distinct locations and themes.

Races start out fairly straightforward and easy, and towards the end will see you trying not to fall off hairpin overpasses and struggling to pass opponents. It ramps up with a nice sense of pace and challenge, while never being hair-pullingly difficult.

The optional challenges range from things like trying to pass a certain number of cars without crashing into them, to more silly goals such as trying to pop a certain number of balloons. They can get surprisingly tough. I struggle to even get silver on some of them.

That said, the tour mode can be completed in a few hours with concerted effort, and it's far from the most challenging racing game I've ever played.

Unlocking the game's many racers was an enjoyable task, and the character designs are lighthearted and distinctive enough that they were fun to see get revealed over the course of the game. They're all imbued with a cartoonish sense of personality.

I was able to complete most of the world tour mode with a single racer (Krissi, to be specific) and never felt much like I needed or benefited significantly from the unlockable racers, however.

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3361436368

The final Championship mode unlockable race event was challenging due to track layout, but I was able to complete it in a few tries nevertheless. Again, with an earlier racer, not one of the later unlockables. And even this final unlockable racer doesn't feel like the "best" option to drive with in the game, though they do have one stat that's maxed.

This sense that the unlockable racers are more about preference than performance may contribute to a feeling that you aren't rewarded for success as you progress through the game for some players.

I did use a couple of the later unlockable racers for one or two particularly tricky events I was returning to in the post-game to try to earn enough credits to unlock the last few racers after completion. But beyond that, as stated, the racers seem to be more about playstyle and taste than significant benefit. Which is fine, but something to be aware of.

At least in Championship mode.

Where the unlockable racers do shine however, is in the time attack and Arcade GP modes. In time attack you can race against your ghosts and thus pit different racers against each other more rigorously, which does reveal that some are better on certain tracks than others. And it makes for a fun challenge.

In Arcade GP mode, you race in the same major Grand Prix series races as in Championship (tour) mode, but in a more one-off arcade format, and can set difficulty much higher. This is the mode for those seeking a tougher racing experience, in my opinion. This is the only part of the game where mastery, rather than simply competence, actually feels kind of necessary.

All in all, I really enjoy these extra modes, and will probably spend some more time in the game racing against ghosts to improve times as I often do in games like Mario Kart.


If you like games like Power Drift and Penny/Gadget Racers from back in the day, I recommend giving it a try. It's a simple enough game you can definitely get a feel for it within the refund window so there's minimal risk in giving it a shot.