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Playing Slipstream really got me thinking about the past games I\u2019ve reviewed. There are many games I\u2019ve given decent scores, scores I still hold by, yet I feel no desire to return to them. So I kept wondering while playing Slipstream, \u2018would I actually ever play this game beyond my time reviewing it?\u2019 Let\u2019s take a look and try to find an answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take much more than a cursory glance to see that Slipstream has been inspired by Sega\u2019s Out Run. It has the same kind of sprite scaling effects. It even has a mode set up exactly like Out Run, with branching paths leading to different locations. However, it does try to expand beyond its source material with several other modes that include racing against other drivers rather than the clock itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Driving has been expanded beyond the arcade classic. You can now drift through turns and, yes, slipstream. While you can choose between manually or automatically drifting, I found that automatic was definitely the better choice, despite my usual preference for manual options in racers. Manual drifting felt sluggish and had poor control, while automatic drifting was tight and responsive, and with around 9\/10ths of turns requiring a drift to complete, you\u2019ll be glad to have the automatic drift on. As for slipstreaming, it\u2019s just plain great: your car will constantly gain speed with seemingly no cap as long as you\u2019re in a slipstream, and I had a blast trying to see how fast I could get.<\/span><\/p>\n

I really enjoyed these mechanics, but the game design itself presents some problems. Turns tend to start and end with very little advance warning, and I found myself constantly crashing because of it. Unless you have really good reflexes, you\u2019ll want to memorize the tracks or take ample advantage of the rewind feature, which may be the first rewind in a game that I actually enjoyed using. I usually find rewind way too cheap, but this one only lets you go back five seconds and then takes a short, but not\u00a0<\/span>too<\/span><\/em>\u00a0short, time to recharge before using it again. It even does a VHS effect while using it that\u2019s drawn really<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>well.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I could say the same for the graphics; they\u2019re pretty bland, though. I found most locations to be just plain uninteresting. As a result, the Grand Tour mode (cough \u2013 Out Run Mode \u2013 cough) was ironically my least favorite due to that fact; I had no interest in where I was driving. I am glad the game runs at a constant 60 FPS. While the sprites themselves are rather meh, the scaling is excellent; seeing hundreds of sprites scaling past you at high speeds is as stunning an effect as ever. The same statement about graphics goes for music: not terrible, just rather bland (though one track\u2019s a <\/span>clear\u00a0<\/span><\/em>knockoff of the Fortnite default dance theme- that one\u2019s terrible).<\/span><\/p>\n

The CPU opponents were a negative. They\u2019re just too easy if you\u2019re on the \u2018Light\u2019 or \u2018Medium\u2019 difficulties. But on \u2018Heavy,\u2019 they are\u00a0<\/span>all\u00a0<\/span><\/em>over the place. Some races are still too easy, and I never see them past the beginning. In some, they rubber-band constantly if I\u2019m in first, buzzing past seemingly no matter how fast I\u2019m going until they slow down, I catch up and pass them, and the process repeats. Other times they just get ahead and never look back. I\u2019ve had many times I was going my car\u2019s max speed, and the cars in front of me were\u00a0<\/span>still<\/span><\/em>\u00a0gaining distance ahead.\u00a0<\/span>So what am I supposed to do there?\u00a0<\/span><\/em>I just end up hoping either that they crash or somehow one of the opponents gets right in front of me so I can slipstream past my top speed to catch up. The \u2018Heavy\u2019 CPU just doesn\u2019t have a happy medium.<\/span><\/p>\n

The game as a whole also just feels uninspired. It\u2019s just a game based on Out Run and has a hard time getting anywhere beyond that. It does <\/span>try<\/span><\/em>\u00a0to have some personality, but many of its attempts come from making cheap references that fall flat. For instance, there\u2019s a track with gold rings and rather iconically shaped emeralds on it\u2026\u00a0<\/span>a good one?\u00a0<\/span><\/em>At least 10 of the 20 tracks are named after Sonic levels, and another one is clearly based on Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2\u2026\u00a0<\/span>ok?\u00a0<\/span><\/em>There\u2019s a rival (I haven\u2019t mentioned the rivals yet as they\u2019re kind of pointless) who is clearly based on Bob Ross. If you pass him, he\u2019ll even quip on how \u2018there are no mistakes, only happy little accidents\u2019\u2026\u00a0<\/span>does anyone actually find these clever?\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Yet, while the game does feel uninspired, the AI is all over the place, and the graphics and music are pretty bland, I found myself looking forward to playing Slipstream every time I picked it up. The main racing mechanics are just plain fun, and while I definitely acknowledge all of the game\u2019s problems and wish they weren\u2019t there, what is there can still be quite a good time. Whether you personally will enjoy it, I can\u2019t say; but as for me, I think I\u2019ll still be playing it here and there even after this review is posted.<\/span><\/p>\n