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First impression
I remember few great racing games back in the 90’s, such as Top Gear and Mario Kart on SNES -console. I’m not sure technically how they were made, but they basically have no 3D elements. The area is completely flat and everything is painted on the base, creating the illusion of 3D surroundings. I got my eyes on a game released last year Horizon Chase Turbo and it promises the 90’s experience and all the nostagic fumes. Numskull Games released a physical version of this game on Nintendo Switch 26th July and PS4 September 2019.
Story
This is a racing game, without a plot or story.
Gameplay & Controls
I like how the gameplay works, but it truly needs super focusing and extremely fast reaction time. I literally just stared the TV screen barely blinking my eyes. The cars move very fast and the turns might pop up any given millisecond. It helps that the cars move little bit autonomously when it comes to the following the track. This works in Horizon Chase Turbo surprisingly well, meaning the game doesn’t have the greatest realism, but I think it is supposed to be more nostalgic and fun.
I could choose many gameplay modes from Campaign, Tournament, Playground and Endurance. I mostly played the Campaign mode, which I needed to compete in one country with three different tracks and get the best results to collect certain amount of points to ulock another country to go on. Every country has a special track that can be unlocked and racing it at least third place rewarded you with an upgrade to all of your cars. The game also rewards player with new cars.
The gameplay truly needed certain cars to certains tracks, because some of them were very tricky and each car held different specs, such like better steering or speed. They weren’t just for the show, they truly had meaningful purpose.
Graphics
Everything looks simplistic and high poly in Horizon Chase Turbo and that’s very good choice for a game like this. If they would’ve gone very detailed look it would’ve got messy and hard to focus on anything. Plus, it gives more cool retro-arcade look to this. All the backgrounds was mostly missed because I had no time to look anywhere else than the track, but when I checked them, they were beautiful and true to the countries’ culture and nature.
Sound
I would love to get the soundtrack of this game! I’m not sure what the style/genre is, but it reminds me of those arcade games (but with a new take). I can’t explain and picture it to a text form, but hey, who could? The soundtrack of Horizon Chase Turbo is one of the rarest I would buy on CD, that works as soundtrack on a video game. Here’s one example:
Difficulty
Towards the end of any mode, the game is getting tricky and hard and some of them I was lucky to even get on third place. Horizon Chase Turbo has some strategies and tricks, such as using the nitro speeds in specific places/times, using certain car on certain track, buying upgrades that gives the best advantage. Some modes player can choose the difficulty to match their skills and I mostly used something between. I still would say Horizon Chase Turbo isn’t a game for anyone, it’s really fast paces and true to the old arcade racing games. What is hard in this type of “flat” ground is the fact that player can’t see very far and it was basically just waiting for the next curve to appear, really hard picturing the track in 3D.
Last impression
I haven’t played a racing game in at least a decade and Horizon Chase Turbo was one that really got me hooked. I couldn’t stop playing it and wanted to win and open next location and see how far I can go and how hard and tricky the racing tracks gets. It was very hypnotic when I focused on the race, memorized the tracks and really trying my hardest to win. If something, Horizon Chase Turbo gave me the nostalgic fumes and memories from the 90’s. I played this so much that my thumb got sore from pushing the directional buttons like crazy— that must be the most nostalgic thing :)
For someone who wants the memories or are just interesting to see how racing games used to be, this is the best example and well-made ensemble. What comes for the physical release, this will find its way on my shelf.
Review copy provided by the publisher
RELEASE DATE: (Initial) May 15, 2018
GENRE: Action/Arcade/Racing/Multiplayer (Local)
DEVELOPER: Aquirus
PUBLISHER: Aquiris
PLATFORMS: PlayStation 4
Nintendo Switch
Xbox One
Steam
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One More Level 