If you are the type who enjoys arcade-style games with a unique 90s aesthetic, then boy, do I have a game for you! Hotshot Racing, by Lucky Mountain Games, Sumo Nottingham, and Curve Digital, has drifted right out of a retro arcade screen and skidded across your television screen. With face-paced racing, an electrifying color pallet, and a tight collection of game modes, this is definitely a title to add to your PlayStation Library.
Story
In Hotshot Racing, you can select from one of 8 unique drivers, each competing against one-another in the four different Grand Prix circuits. They each hail from a different country with their own unique goals and still-shot cinematics to give life to their colorful backgrounds. Each character has a number of aesthetics that can be unlocked, including different color pallets for their outfits and a menagerie of different parts for each of their four vehicles. It’s easy to get hooked on completing the different goals and conditions needed to collect all the available unlocks. There’s no better feeling than snagging that hard to achieve Bobblehead after completing the different circuits in each of your chosen racer’s cars.
Gameplay & Mechanics
Hotshot Racing is fast, tight, and easily akin to a game you would find in an arcade hungry for your quarters. There are several mechanics working together; drifting, drafting, and boosting, that are easy to learn, but difficult to master. Once you do, however, you can chain all these stills together and blast into first place from all the way in the back of the line! Boosting is the easiest way to overtake other racers! In order to boost, you must fill at least one level of your Nitro Gauge, which can be done so by drifting around tight turns, drafting behind opponents that are ahead of you, and chaining these combinations one after another.
Hotshot Racing also offers several other whacky game modes to keep the fun fresh. Play Cops & Robbers where you evade the police and collect as much money as possible, or be the cops and take down the thieves for a huge cash bonus. Or play Drive or Explode where you have to constantly keep above the increasing minimum speed limit, or else your car will literally explode! Regardless of how you play, each race will award you with Cash so that you can head into the Race Shop and buy that new paint job or spoiler you just unlocked. While the gameplay loop is enthralling, it’s hard not to crave just a little bit more. Bigger explosions, faster boosts. Developer Sumo Digital truly hit the mark for the style they were going for. Even so, it almost feels like Hotshot Racing could have been pushed just a bit further.
Aesthetics & Sound
Hotshot Racing is a pixelated sugar-rush straight out of a 90s arcade machine. From the low-poly blocky art style to the old-school computerized infomercial synthesizer, Developer Sumo Digital does an amazing job transporting you and your friends right back into those bulky 8-person racing pits in the downtown arcade. The colors are bright, HD clear, and in your face. Watch as you leave the world behind and reach absolutely silly speeds while tearing away at the track.
Summary
There is a lot of fun to be had with Hotshot Racing by yourself or with friends. It’s the type of game that causes others walking by to stop in their tracks. Hotshot Racing offers an addictively competitive gameplay loop that will cause you to lose track of the hours going by. On top of that, collecting and unlocking items is such a fun and rewarding experience, you won’t want to stop until you’ve acquired everything possible. My roommates and I couldn’t get enough of this game. I would have loved to experience a little more over-the-top gameplay or aesthetics, like hitting crazy jumps, cars popping wheelies when they boost, or even different colored nitro depending on how full the gauge was. Even so, Hotshot Racing is definitely a game worth a try. Be Careful, though: you might easily race through your entire day.
7/10
Check Out the Hotshot Racing Trailer:
For more information, please visit: http://curve-digital.com/en-us/games/featured/49/hotshot-racing/
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PlayStation 4 Review
As the (self-proclaimed) King of Casuals, I'm always seeking out new titles to play and experience across all platforms. Eventually, I have ambitions to take the many different styles of this medium to create titles that will wow the masses in fresh, innovative ways.
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