Developer: Aquiris
Players: 1-4
Arcades reeking of smoke, coins clanking, kids yelling, but none of that mattered when I was sat in an Out Run machine or astride a Super Hang On bike, focusing on each corner, curve and the jagged approach of rival racers. Those days of stripy tracks used to generate the sense of speed are gone forever, but the spirit of those games makes the odd appearance, as with Horizon Chase Turbo.
Developed by Brazilian team Aquiris as a nod to them and the likes of Virtua Racer, Chase HQ, Road Blasters and many others, it has toned down those harsh just-one-more-go timers and roadside-fling-of-death mechanics into something more forgiving and fun for the modern age. In its place are super smooth detailed cars in a pixel-sharp environment that looks simple but has plenty of its own attractions, all at 60 fps oil-and-lube smoothness.
Horizon Chase Turbo still requires that players learn the tracks and master overtaking to get good lap times, and need a bit of luck to challenge for the win in tougher races. But the first few races are a good learning curve for anyone fed on today's complex racers that are buffed up by insane amounts of lighting effects and crash mechanics.
Taking the World Tour, there are suitably themed levels for each country on the map. Along the way, there's blue tokens to collect to get a maximum score, turbo boosts and petrol/gas to keep on running, with a top result winning the Super Trophy required to open up new areas. Hitting another racer or rattling off in the scenery, results in a quick flip, losing only an acceptable amount of time.
Green Light, Go
Even so, racers will need to be perfect to get a spot on the global leader boards as one bump often leads to another when racing in the pack. Running out of fuel leads to a slow and ignominious limp back to the pits, while being rammed by other cars, not the neatest way to handle that part of the game, if you're a newbie. But if you do screw up, give up and the near instant restarts will get you going again.With little quips from the drivers, changing weather and time of day, there's plenty of little touches to watch out for, but as advanced tracks with narrow lanes, off-road sections, tricky corners, eyes really need to be on the road for the more competitive races. Between regions, there are special upgrade races to win, to choose a gizmo for better handling or performance.
The range of looky-likey vehicles also grows, perhaps an expert will pick a specific car for a type of track, but they all feel reasonably suitable for the job. As the challenge gets tougher perhaps they play more of a role, but keeping the fuel topped up and staying ahead is always the focus, whatever the car.
Anchoring all this fun is a sterling 16-bit era soundtrack by composer Barry Leitch, who provided the tunes for the Top Gear series (not the TV show) that provided a lot of inspiration for this game. There's lots of epic tinkly tunes and sharp effects to keep players in the zone.
Playground mode is a new feature for the Switch, with changing race types to provide a fresh challenge, and there's always the fun of up to four-player splitscreen mode if you have enough controllers. Yes, while HCT is just going round similar looking corners fast, there is still plenty of challenge and the fun factor is pretty high, even for younger gamers fed on modern effects and whizzy multi-level tracks.
Not something I can play for extended periods, HCT is still great in short bursts of action for that one race where you really fly around the track before moving on to the next stuttering effort of bumps and bodywork bruises.
4/5
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