I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I had seen Hotshot Racing. The art style and gameplay layout were like traveling back in time to the days of my childhood. The oddly-shaped characters and cars with stark lines and daring colors blanket the game in a retro glow. Upon playing it I realized that it’s not exactly like the games I played back then. In some aspects, it’s better.

Gameplay

Firstly, the driving that has been created here is deeply satisfying. It’s like playing a game from the past but with finely tuned controls. If you want an added layer of control over how you can handle your car, you can switch between automatic and manual shifting. Each car has it’s own attributes and a different overall feel to it from one another. Drifting is smooth and especially easy to get comfortable with.

As you drift through races and ride slipstreams of competitors, you’ll build up nitrous that can be used to give you a boost. When you use a boost in most games it’s difficult to turn corners. The developers at Sumo Digital did a fine job of making it a fun thing to play with because of the ease of using it at all times. The entire experience is a ridiculously fast-paced rollercoaster ride.

Right off the bat, you’re given the entire selection of things to do within the confines of the game. There’s Grand-Prix, Single Events, Timed Trials, and a variety of multiplayer options. Everything available is pretty standard for a racing game of this kind but it does have a couple of things that add a unique flair to the overall experience.

Grand-Prix is the main singleplayer portion and each one is comprised of 3 races against 7 AI competitors. It’s the usual race to the finish with the added measure of hitting checkpoints to remain in the game. There’s no shortage of maps to race in during your playthrough of this game type. It indulges itself in the big set-pieces that we once used to see in games like this. Volcanos, ancient temples, and the like offer really enjoyable locations for you to weave through.

There are a few other types of races to play with as well. There are only 3 in fact and don’t seem to do too much to make it feel like a complete product. There’s a cops and robbers mode that plays kind of like zombie tag. As a cop, your goal is to hit the robbers’ cars until they lose all of their health bar. Doing this will then turn them over to the cops’ team.

As the robbers you’ll try to bag as much cash as you can that’s laid around the track. Your goal here is to get as much money as you can and outlast the 3 laps, making it across the finish line. It’s really not easy to be the robbers and it actually made me feel accomplished when I’d be able to outsmart the cops and make it out alive.

Next, there’s Explode which was kind of like a homage to the movie Speed. You’ll race others as the course demands more from you each time you hit a checkpoint. The speed gauge will require you to stay above a minimum MPH and staying under too long will decrease your health and eventually blow you up. Hands down, this was the most exciting racing mode of all. You really can’t try to drift because most of the time you’re barely staying over the minimum speed.

The last mode is the generic timed trials. Nothing extravagant is done here to make it different from the pack. What’s really fun to play is the multiplayer options. You can play up to 4-player split-screen co-op or 8-player online multiplayer. Here you can play just about every type of race aside from timed trials. You can even take your 4-player posse online with you which is extremely cool as we’ve never really gotten something like it in any kind of multiplayer game.

The game allows you to choose from a line-up of over-the-top drivers and powerhouse vehicles. You can change just about every cosmetic detail on your car, even making your way inside. Different clothing options can be applied to your drivers too yet it doesn’t really make all the difference as they can’t be seen at all most of the time. It was a blast to unlock more pieces for my car and costumes for my characters.

Just playing the game and doing better unlocks more and more as you go. It’s a pretty deep library of cosmetic customization options that the game throws at you. A lot of the items can also be purchased with money which is earned through racing. I’m pleased to see how generously the game is with dealing with money. I felt like a king with no limits on what I could put on my car at any given time.

Visuals

I absolutely love the design choices made for this title. It brings back those Sega Saturn vibes in just about every frame. Geometric shapes and shading sent me on a nostalgia trip. Everything looked familiar but new at the same time. It was like deja vu. Although it’s simple it definitely hits the goal of what it set out to do.

Audio

I was really surprised by the implementation of the character audio. It’s really funny to hear characters chit-chatting to themselves as you’re driving. Each person has their own characteristics and accents that really sell them. Little things like this added throughout were nice to hear. Most racing games don’t do things like this anymore. Superb job. The music has it’ own character built-in as during your race it will start to speed up as your progress through laps which picks up the pace, especially when you’re starting to fall behind.

Replayability

The most replay value is going to be in its multiplayer options and the unlockables. It’s the perfect game to play with friends and I believe that this is what' the game does best. The customization options while simple is very fun to toy with between races. Besides those examples, it falls flat in the overall scope of what you can do in the game.

What It Could Have Done Better

At launch, the game feels pretty weak in its offerings. It’s really a shame as this is one of the best racing games I’ve played in years. It’s cut short by the lackluster playlist of game types. Another thing I hated was the rubberbanding I’d experience when racing my rivals. No matter how fast I’d go or how well I’d maneuver the track they’d always find their way up to me and pass me for a seconds or two. It really broke my immersion and made my effort feel wasted consistently.

Verdict

Hotshot Racing is a project jam-packed with substance and character. It takes the old and brings it up to the standard of modern gaming. It does have some issues that affected my entire experience though. It fell at the feet of the small number of race types to choose from and the fact that the AI is artificially difficult. I’m in love with a lot of what it has to offer but there’s some things that could’ve been improved upon.