REVIEW : Formula Retro Racing (PS5)
Formula Retro Racing is a retro arcade racing game inspired by famous arcade racing games from the early 1990s.
Formula Retro Racing retains the flavour of old school racing games with sharp low poly visuals, a retro soundtrack, and high speed action, as well as the quick and exciting gameplay that the genre is known for. To beat your personal best times and compete in the Formula Retro Racing leaderboards, race through a variety of tracks in various game modes.
When I first started playing Formula Retro Racing, I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I expected to ace it right away and that I’d be able to put it on Expert and beat the game right away. So I put it on the most tough setting, looked through the possible tracks, and discovered Monte Carlo – home of the Monaco Grand Prix, of course – and decided that this would be the game’s make or break.
And, much to my surprise, I didn’t even make it to the first checkpoint. As a result, I was forced to eat humble pie and go backwards. I didn’t want to lessen the level any further, so I went back to the first track. Even that required a few tries, but I gained a better understanding of how the game worked. You can gain tremendous turning traction by easing off the gas pedal, and you may even slipstream competing automobiles for a speed boost. But it was the mechanics of the manual gears option that truly caught my attention.
The amount of Virtua Racing that has been cloned here is incredible. The chiptune and synthesiser sound track are eerily similar to the beats that propelled us forward in 1993. The automobiles share the same low-poly appeal. The tracks, like Virtua Racing, are developed with the same design philosophy. There are hard obstacles that keep you on the racing track and away from the low-poly world outside, as well as a layer of uneven ground that will slow you down if you drive on it. When you drive over bumps, you can even see the same sparks shooting out from the back of the automobile. The position, the countdown timer, the speedo, and the track map are all positioned on the UI.
One component of Formula Retro Racing that differs slightly from its origin is the game’s handling. Despite the fact that the cars are travelling 45 mph slower than in Virtua Racing, they feel snappier and faster here. Slipstream drafting functions in this game as well, which was not the case in Virtua Racing for the home console.
Formula Retro Racing also has a larger selection of tracks to choose from. Unlike Virtua Racing, which had three tracks, this game had eight. However, only 5 of these tunes are available right away. To get the other three tracks, you’ll have to work your way via a unique progression system. You can race on the 5 open tracks in the Arcade and Grand Prix game modes. A number of points will be awarded to you based on your finishing place. These points are earned, and as you reach specific milestones, new licences and tracks are unlocked.
The eight tracks in Formula Retro Racing present a wide range of challenges. One of the tracks is shaped like a 0 in NASCAR, while another is modelled after the Monaco Grand Prix, replete with iconic sectors. Long-time Virtua Racing fans will recognise the three unlockable tracks as the most familiar. There’s a woodland and mountain route here that resembles their retro equivalents in many ways. You must keep the car’s engine revving inside the power band more than any other game because if you don’t, the game will end. As a result, you must keep the car revving in the orange segment of the tachometer at all times or you will be stuck in traffic. That isn’t exactly realistic, but if you’ve ever wanted a game to compel you to learn how to use manual gears, this is it.
Here, too, the field has been broadened. In Formula Retro Racing, there are 20 racers on the track, compared to 15 in Virtua Racing. You’ll start at the rear of the grid and have to drive your way through the pack, regardless of the game style you’re playing.
This is when my first genuine gripe with the game surfaces. Formula Retro Racing’s AI can be inconsistent and overly aggressive at times. It’s fairly uncommon for you to slipstream up behind a car and move to overtake it, only for the automobile to simply drive into you as you pass. Because there is a damage mechanism in place, similar to Virtua Racing, this could result in your (and their) car blowing into pieces, requiring a respawn from a standing start. The AI in this game does not appear to be sophisticated enough to recognise and react to the presence of the player. Instead, each CPU racer appears to be running their own race, and if you get in the way, you’ll be smashed into.
That isn’t an issue in the Arcade and Grand Prix modes (the latter of which can be played in local split screen multiplayer). A race can be simply restarted. However, the game’s third mode, which is by far the most difficult, can be wrecked by it. Each lap of the track improves the speed and intelligence of the contending cars in this mode. Each lap also ‘eliminates’ a car from the game (although they do still continue to race on the track however). As the field of cars grows increasingly difficult, the goal of this mode is to stay ahead of the elimination zone. On paper, it looks like a little variation on the eliminator mode you’ve seen before. In practise, AI can make this extremely difficult. It’s pretty much game over if you crash out and have to respawn. While I respect Repixel8’s goal with Formula Retro Racing, I wish it had gone further in modernising the game. It’s all well and good to recreate the pleasure of Virtua Racing in the manner we all remember it through rose-tinted glasses. In the process, they’ve increased the number of tracks and cars you’re racing against. Virtua Racing, on the other hand, is already accessible on newer systems, and the original version can be readily replicated. When you compare Formula Retro Racing to games like Hotshot Racing and Horizon Chase Turbo, which take a retro idea and build on it, it’s difficult to recognise the FRR as anything other than a retro-inspired game. It also lacks the functionality you’d expect from a modern racer. There are no leaderboards in the game, either offline or online. There is no multiplayer online.
