REVIEW : Formula Retro Racing (PC)
Formula Retro Racing is a retro arcade racing game inspired by famous arcade racing games from the early 1990s. Formula Vintage Racing retains the flavour of vintage video games with sharp low poly visuals, a retro soundtrack, and high speed action, as well as the quick and exciting action that the category is known for. To surpass your personal best times and participate in the Formula Retro Racing leaderboards, race across a variety of circuits in several game modes.
To unlock the very next race, you must achieve a certain number of instances in previous races, and you may earn points through winning in higher positions. You can acquire every circuit very fast because races are only a few laps long. After a few hours of playing, you’ll have all eight tunes at your disposal. In addition, each race has three difficulty levels to put your talents to the test. The tracks range from simple ovals to challenging circuits, one of which is a very realistic reproduction of the famous Monaco circuit. There’s also an automobile selection. But it’s really just a colour option, and there are a lot of them.
The first and most important step is collision detection. There are instances when you accidently rub up against a wall hard enough that the game should crash, but it just doesn’t. Then there are occasions when your front tyre rubs against a wall and all four wheels fall off or your automobile comes to a complete halt and becomes trapped on the wall. Alternatively, you may back wheel a car that is somewhat slower than you and lose all four of your wheels. Then there are times when you can do any one of these things and nothing occurs to your automobile, not even a reduction in speed. When the game senses my minor bump into the back of the seat, it’s exceedingly random and really annoying.That isn’t the worst part, though. When your automobile re-spawns, it’s the worst. There’s a 75 percent probability or greater that your car will re-spawn against a wall on tracks with a lot of tight curves! This is the first time I’ve ever seen a game accomplish something like this! While your automobile is flashing, the steering is approximately half of what it should be if it isn’t facing the wall (invincible). Yes, you read that correctly. If you need to make a tight bend while your automobile is flashing, you’ll only be able to do so if you drive very slowly.
This is most likely a glitch, as your car’s handling restores soon the flashing ceases. Finally, there are a few minor gripes. One is exclusively for individuals who are of a certain age. Switching too soon or in too steep a gear has huge speed repercussions that make no sense. If your gear is too high for the pace you’re travelling, you won’t be able to accelerate as quickly in a real automobile. If you try to accelerate with just one gear higher than you should be in this game, you will lose a lot of speed and other vehicles will overtake you. This is only true if you accelerate. You’re alright if you’re in too fast a gear but merely coasting.
As soon as you step on the gas, your automobile accelerates fast, forcing you to change down numerous gears (usually three) to keep it moving.
Despite how frustrating this was, I was able to remember to always stay near the red line before shifting up. Another minor gripe is that there is no other option to leave the game other than by pressing Alt-F4. Seriously. There is no stop game dialogue box, and the ESC key does not work. WTF?
So I requested a refund since this developer does not have a strong track record of really correcting bugs with their games, and I am not sure that the developer will repair the game’s apparent faults in the future. This game has a lot of potential, but it still requires a few more coatings of gloss and extensive testing. Simply said, this game is just too expensive. It’s not a horrible game, but the amount of stuff you receive in it is way too little, especially considering that it’s based on old arcade racing games, but all it does is give you a time restriction, as far as I can tell. That is all there is to it. There are no other vehicles in the game, the tracks are simple and short, and the gaming elements are constrained. I’ll admit that the driving experience is excellent; it is by far the greatest feature. Everything else, on the other hand, is significantly missing, with an art style that resembles the beginnings of a model rather than the finished result. When I think of arcade racing, I think of outrageous tracks, wild vehicles, and turbo boost.
Graphically, this is low resolution, low polygon, and extremely nineties, as you can see from the trailer and images. It’s a style of painting that I truly enjoy… That is, for a game that is a tribute to nineties racing. Formula Retro Racing is characterised by its simplicity. Pick a car, pick a course, and away you go, just like in the arcade… You don’t have to constantly insert coins to play, though. The races are simple checkpoint races, similar to arcade racers of the time. You have a lot of time to complete the race and pass checkpoints for bonus time. With fast-paced, furious action, this is as basic a racer as you can get.
You’ll find a variety of various modes here. Of course, there’s the typical arcade racing, and if you’ve ever played a nineties arcade racer, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. The arcade mode does exactly what it claims. Then there’s elimination mode, in which you start at the bottom of the grid and work your way up. The AI vehicles improve their speed with each lap of the race. If you finish lower than 10th place, you are eliminated. I have to say that I do not suggest this game since there is so much to like about it, and it isn’t just the aesthetics. The arcade mechanics are excellent, as is the visual response of your car’s suspension at each turn. The vibration feedback provided by the controller is quite accurate. In straightaways, the sense of speed isn’t the best, but it’s great on tighter courses like Monte Carlo (which is actually Monaco).
