There’s a fashion of arcade racing that has basically been misplaced to the ravages of time, for the reason that closest we get to the style’s hey day is with sim hybrids just like the Forza Horizon sequence. Nonetheless, fairly a number of smaller studios have been choosing up the slack the place massive corporations like EA have left franchises like Burnout and Want for Pace to languish. Tapping into the old-school fashion of arcade racing—the sort we used to see on the unique PlayStation and PS2—is Genki with its newest launch, Tokyo Xtreme Racer.
Now, don’t get me mistaken; Tokyo Xtreme Racer isn’t a model new, contemporary IP. Quite, it’s a revival of a surprisingly previous franchise which has roots all the best way again within the Nineteen Nineties with its first title having come out on the Tremendous NES. Whereas the sequence has been dormant since PS2 title Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 again in 2005, the franchise is again after having basically been forgotten about for nearly two total a long time.
“The Shuto Expressway that you just’ll be racing alongside has a terrific number of curves and sharp turns, together with loads of straights you can blaze by way of, and also you’ll hardly ever need to robust the brakes, even if you happen to see a giant flip arising.”
The strangest factor about Tokyo Xtreme Racer is simply how old-school it actually feels. Now don’t get me mistaken; the manufacturing values, particularly on the subject of visuals and audio are fairly nice. The sport isn’t wanting backwards by way of time for its visible id both. Quite, all the pieces round these facets feels decidedly old-school, from the core racing gameplay, to navigation by way of the menus, and even how the sport has been general structured.
The core racing leans closely on the arcade fashion of gameplay. The Shuto Expressway that you just’ll be racing alongside has a terrific number of curves and sharp turns, together with loads of straights you can blaze by way of, and also you’ll hardly ever need to robust the brakes, even if you happen to see a giant flip arising. The gameplay is quick, and most significantly, emphasises a way of velocity and rewards fast reflexes in the way you dodge site visitors all through your races.
Regardless of being an arcade-styled racer, Tokyo Xtreme Racer doesn’t draw back from giving gamers some customisation choices, nonetheless. When you get the correct of upgrades, you get an entire new set of sliders to mess around with to additional positive tune the efficiency of your automotive. For instance, getting a brand new transmission system permits you to change up your gear ratios. Getting a brand new suspension system, then again, will open up your automotive’s peak adjustment choices.
“Your entire story mode revolves round you driving across the highways of Tokyo, Japan, taking over any racers you may discover alongside your routes in 1-on-1 dash races.”
The primary gimmick powering the gameplay in Tokyo Xtreme Racer is its SP Battle system. Your entire story mode revolves round you driving across the highways of Tokyo, Japan, taking over any racers you may discover alongside your routes in 1-on-1 dash races. These races are additionally structured otherwise from different racing video games because you’re not precisely making an attempt to get to a end line earlier than your opponent. Quite, the objective is to get sufficient distance between you and your opponent that their SP bar – basically a well being bar – drains all the best way to zero. Should you’re caught behind your opponent, you’ll equally need to catch up earlier than your SP bar drains to zero and also you lose the race.
The SP Battle system types the core foundations of racing in Tokyo Xtreme Racer, because you’re inspired to maintain driving alongside the freeway, regardless if you happen to win or lose, to tackle extra challengers. Successful a race provides three core rewards: CP that may be spent to purchase new vehicles, half upgrades, and liveries, BP that may be spent on unlocking the possibility to get new vehicles, perks, and passive bonuses like extra SP or larger rewards from races, and development alongside the principle marketing campaign.
Simply in regards to the entirety of Tokyo Xtreme Racer takes place on Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway. You begin out in your storage, from the place you need to decide your targets to race in opposition to earlier than you’re then thrown into the world within the acceptable lane of the Shuto Expressway as shut as you probably could be to the closest goal. You then get to drive as much as your goal, and with a flash of your headlights, you enter a race. Issues don’t actually get extra sophisticated than that; ending a race leaves you continue to driving alongside the freeway until you hit a narrative threshold, with the sport outright encouraging you to race so long as your tyres will allow you to, after which you then need to carry an finish to that evening of racing by going again to your storage.
“The story in Tokyo Xtreme Racer is minimal, however the little bit that’s current is sort of charming.”
Your major opponents all through the marketing campaign in Tokyo Xtreme Racer are varied racing groups who you need to defeat earlier than in the end ending up in a showdown in opposition to that group’s chief. Every group is a part of certainly one of three distinct storylines, which every even have their very own major boss that triggers progress within the general story.
Talking of which, the story in Tokyo Xtreme Racer is minimal, however the little bit that’s current is sort of charming. It faucets into basic Japanese avenue racing fiction, with the principle plot revolving round you taking over progressively more durable racers in a bid to develop into the most effective racer alongside the Shuto Expressway. You aren’t actually going to get advanced character arcs or deep storylines right here. The truth is, the story within the recreation does little greater than get in the best way of your racing time, since story triggers will immediately pull you off the street and ship you again to your storage. There additionally aren’t actually any cutscenes; reasonably, a lot of the story is advised by way of static pictures with dialogue containers such as you would anticipate from a PSOne title.
There may be positively a good bit of allure, nonetheless, because of the melodramatic weight positioned in your progress by way of the varied racing groups. After beating a boss, for instance, you’ll typically be met with scenes with fancy text-only narration proclaiming issues such as you being “captured by the mystique of the Shuto Expressway,” or the few characters you meet forming “the sunshine of a soul emitted solely by those that tread into the abyss.” This type of writing, together with characters with names like Completely satisfied Chappy, Rolling Man, Crimson Boy and Cinderella Previous Midnight did nothing in need of bringing a smile to my face at any time when I used to be enjoying.
“These early recreation development points are additional harm by the truth that, when you begin driving, you may’t actually quick journey or change to the opposite lane”
Nonetheless, regardless of all of this allure and the simple-but-fun racing gameplay, Tokyo Xtreme Racer definitely has its points. Considered one of these is the principle development system. You may solely purchase upgrades on your vehicles when you’ve unlocked the suitable improve in your ability tree, for which you want loads of BP. You additionally have to spend BP on different issues, like getting some passive talents like elevated well being or SP injury. The truth is, you may’t even purchase new vehicles until you unlock them by way of the ability tree. Whereas this basically stops being a difficulty when you hit the late recreation elements and may get loads of BP by way of a single evening of racing, it’s definitely a serious ache within the early recreation the place you’ll typically be starved for BP simply because there aren’t that many racers to problem in a single evening.
These early recreation development points are additional harm by the truth that, when you begin driving, you may’t actually quick journey or change to the opposite lane; you’re caught going within the course you picked at first of the racing evening. One occasion the place this was an apparent downside for me was after I had a single boss battle alongside one lane of the Shuto Expressway, and a single different race within the different lane, which in the end necessitated 4 distinct loading screens earlier than I might wrap these tales up.
On the brilliant aspect, Tokyo Xtreme Racer seems like an extremely well-optimised recreation. Taking part in it on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM and a Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU at a decision of 1440p let me hit my desired body charge restrict of 144 FPS fairly simply with somewhat tweaking within the settings screens. Whereas I couldn’t crank the title all the best way as much as Extremely with out giving up too many frames, it nonetheless seemed nice on the Excessive preset whereas making certain quick, responsive gameplay because of excessive and steady body charges.
“Finally, it would be best to mute the sport’s music and arrange your individual playlist on the aspect”
The audio aspect of issues are decidedly much less spectacular. Whereas the automobiles sound nice, and Tokyo Xtreme Racer even goes so far as precisely modelling the screeching you’d hear when utilizing the brakes at excessive speeds on a automotive that’s principally utilizing inventory elements, and the engines sound nice too. Nonetheless, the music is a little bit of a let down. The primary few hours are nice, for the reason that bass-thumping digital music with a number of bars of steel guitar riffs swimsuit the environment fairly properly, there simply isn’t sufficient selection within the recreation. Finally, it would be best to mute the sport’s music and arrange your individual playlist on the aspect if you happen to don’t need to go insane from listening to the identical EDM monitor for the thousandth time.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer is an odd title that feels prefer it was lifted proper out of an alternate universe model of 2003 the place the PS2 is as highly effective as our fashionable gaming programs are. The excessive body charges and visible constancy definitely match the extra fashionable presentation we see in video games right now. Nonetheless, the menus, the gameplay construction, and even the second-to-second driving feels prefer it belongs in a bygone period the place brakes have been thought of an elective element of a racing recreation. Nonetheless, I can’t deny that it’s enjoyable.
The sport doesn’t really want you to have been a fan of the long-running franchise, and even to have been conscious of its existence. All you actually need to take pleasure in on the subject of having enjoyable with Tokyo Xtreme Racer is fast-paced driving gameplay, a way of hazard, and a love of campy storytelling that desires to reward the grandeur of moving into races alongside a metropolis’s freeway community.
This recreation was reviewed on PC.
