Retro-styled modern games are a genre spanning clique I feel I play or write/talk/think about a great amount. This is in part I’m sure to growing up in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras and the memories attached to that period. I’m drawn to them like a moth to a night light. There’s something about playing games that ten-year-old me would have loved but don’t suffer from the power of the machines I was playing on at that age or my lack of coinage for the arcades. Some of these modern retro passion projects can miss the mark but some just hit it so well they invoke the feel or those old games without you noticing how much they’ve modernised other aspects of the game. Hotshot Racing makes a very good case for itself being in the latter by blending parts of a few of those excellent early polygonal arcade racing games with some of the extras more modern racers bundle up.
The look of the game is striking, a cacophony of Sega Blue Sky and polygons. For those who remember the first time they saw Virtua Racer, Daytona USA or Ridge Racer in the arcade, it’s quick to try and conjure up those feelings. Even its drivers feel like characters that were pulled out of an unfinished Tekken knock off, full of slightly dubious national stereotypes and flamboyant ‘pick me’ action poses – all very fitting. The low polygon look, while adding to the retro-stylings, also adds the benefit of clarity while traveling at speed, which this game likes to do. During the 360/PS3 era there seemed to be a trend to try and take the Forza/GT realistic looking cars and scenery over to the arcade racers, and while I understand the thoughts behind it, for me removing the more striking contrasts these games had made for muddy background effects and the occasional ‘where-did-the-road-go’ moments. Hotshot Racing lets you fly through the courses with an almighty sense speed but the track ahead and all the gubbins at the side is always clear, it’s just the driving that you need to concentrate on.
And, much like its looks, the handing and driving in the game is quite the sum-of-its-part affair. After playing a few hours I went back to try out few of the games it drew from and it sort of straddles a several, drawing in bits of this and that from them all. Each driver in the game has four car varieties: balanced, acceleration, speed and drift. While this in itself is not a particularly novel thing the care to the balancing of these cars is great and for me they feel a bit more like a different retro racer was the parent to each (but I could be wholly adding that myself, nostalgia is a powerful thing). With four tracks to each cup, especially on the hardest difficulty setting, it seems there is a track best suited to each of the four car types so picking the one that works the best on that tough track of the group can pay off. As the handing of the car becomes more settled I found myself learning to not just drift every corner every time (a bad habit of mine forged by any game letting you drift – in my mind it’s the only way to turn). The races work around a boost mechanic, built up by drifting and slipstreaming other racers and later in the game these boosts are vital. In the harder difficulties the AI drivers are aggressive and fast and my cruising around to victory with ne’er a boost used in the easiest setting was quickly forgotten. The to and fro against the AI seems like a fair hustle and they bump and hamper each other as much they target the player – I’ve not yet felt a loss was a bit cheap.
Outside of the standard Grand Prix and Single race format there are few extra game modes. Cops and Robbers is a last man standing mode with a slight twist where you can still win even if you get converted from a robber to a cop. Drive or Explode is the Speed style, keep over an ever-increasing speed or your car blows up kinda thing. Each is fine against AI, not worth much more than a few rounds, but seem much more re-playable locally or online with humans. Speaking of which, there is an online match matching component but as of writing I have yet to find a game – strange as there seems like there were a few people who picked this up. While this is frustrating, for me arcade racers are about the solo or maybe pass the pad to beat my score type play so I’d probably not engage too much there anyway.
The game outside of the online mode seem to run great, I played it on PC with a 1050ti and it never dropped below 60fps – can’t speak for the console versions but with Sumo’s previous work I would think they should be well crafted. They tie in a load of unlockable cosmetic items, most of which are easily obtained if, like me you want to go through the game few times with each driver and car. And completing the package is the sound design. First there are some bangin’ driving tunes by Jason Heine – ooo, and they do that thing where they are all the more beaty on the last lap. Second, the various drivers have some exceptionally silly but suitable quips they continually throw at you – nice. Third, the checkpoint announcer’s intonation is just… …just perfect. To throw in one last mention of the lovely little touches, the drivers each have their own little, slightly nonsensical end cut scene that brought back all the completing Tekken feels. Chef kisses all round.
Arcade racers are games I’ve played in a bit of a bubble – they were the games I didn’t really know anyone else who was massively into, and the few I did drifted over to the more realistic racers as soon as they came along. So, I do worry I might have developed some acquired tastes when it comes to them – particularly the modern ones. But I really like this game, and I think this game is very well made too – I’d have little trouble recommending it to anyone who likes the genre, and would definitely recommend it to someone looking to try out arcade racer for the first time in a while. Horizon Chase Turbo felt like someone got out there and remade Top Gear/Lotus Turbo recently, Hotshot Racing feel like someone made a ‘Best Of’ mid nineties racers and I am very grateful for it.
