

All that said, the challenges to unlock cosmetics are usually a bit fun, such as drifting straight for an extended period. While I personally use Manual to better myself a racer and at shifting, there’s no shame in using Automatic, especially in singleplayer to unlock the cosmetics. It also might be a tad too difficult to use a Manual transmission depending on which car you chose, as their stats all focus on a different thing such a speed, acceleration, and drifting. Auto is substantially easier, but also slower than Manual. Choose your style of shifting, automatic or manual. Getting down to the racing, it feels as good as any other racer from the age. Nothing related to gameplay will be locked. If you’re not going to get super into the game, you aren’t likely to unlock much, but all of that would be cosmetic and nothing to really hinder how you play. Unlocking extra content will take a lot of time and a decent amount of skill, this is per character and vehicle on top of that. Each driver also having three different cars, all of which can be customized to your desire, although you need to unlock majority of the options. Over a dozen stages each with a mirror counterpart, eight characters, all of which have multiple color choices. This is arguably a bit more difficult to really market, as the zeitgeist always points towards pixel art and not the awkward introduction to 3D graphics.įurther pushing the statement from earlier, you’re playing what is essentially a lost sequel to Virtua Racing with a console release in mind. That is to say, this probably isn’t going to get any new fans of the genre, it’s aiming for a very niche group, those who have the nostalgia for games like Virtua Racing. It goes without saying however, if you didn’t really grow up in the era when something like Virtua Racing was state of the art, all of this will fly over your head and seem very passe. From the ugly yet beautifully nostalgic, non-textured artstyle to how it plays on the track, it really feels like a long lost sequel. Hotshot Racing might be a bit too similar to Virtua Racing for it’s own good.

You get a typhoon of pixel games trying to ape 8 or 16 bit games of the past, but seldom do games trying to throw back to games of the 32 or 64 bit era, or even Sega’s early attempts at 3D, in Hotshot Racing’s case in particular, the inspiration is Virtua Racing. In the sea of retro inspired games, it’s very rare to find games in the style of 3D Retro. Developed By: Sumo Digital, Lucky Mountain Games
