SuperPixelRacers is basically a top down, super cute pixel styled racing game. 21c.Ducks, H2 Interactive and PQube have tried their best to bring back a feeling of nostalgia to those of a certain age with this release and do ya know what? They have succeeded for me.
I remember (back in the good ol’ days) playing the likes of Skidmarks on the Amiga. Just asking friends if they had the game and being able to borrow it from them always made people laugh.. “Do you have skidmarks”? I also spent countless hours playing on Micro Machines which unfortunately never felt as good in the latest incarnation as the original did. I was brought up with these top down racers which developers seem to have forgotten about now. Thank goodness someone has eventually brought back the excitement of the 80’s/90’s arcade racers.
As the title of the game suggests, the graphics are pixelated designs and they work extremely well. That coupled with a great 16-bit soundtrack was all I needed to fall in love with this game.
There’s no real point in going in to what the game is all about, firstly the above image tells you all you need to know and secondly I think everyone knows what racing games are all about. What I love about the game however is the simplicity involved in it. The controls are great. Acceleration is automatic which leaves you to concentrate on the steering and the 2 button commands of nitro and drifting. Performing the later of the two builds up your nitro meter.
There is a whole host of content included within the game to keep you busy for a long time.
Career mode consists of 6 race classes. Each class having numerous events to them. The events are a nice mix of variety too. The obvious races are in there as well as drift challenges, time trials, hunt, rally, land rush and takedown.
Takedown is a burnout-esque type event. Quite simply you have to boost into cars and make them explode. Each car destroyed awards you points and you have a target score to reach in the allotted time.
Land Rush is quite simple. Race around the track and be in first place when the timer ends. Whereas Hunt has you chase down a target car on the track.
Rally has you racing from checkpoint to checkpoint on a procedurally generated track.
The game starts off slow, but I mean that in a good way. You start with a basic car and through race victories you get the chance to upgrade the car and its components which inevitably speeds it up. Trust me, if I went into this game with a fast car I would have been struggling from the start. The further you progress within championships, the more powerful cars you get to drive.
Everyone loves a trip down memory lane no matter what age they are and this ticks all the right boxes for me. It achieves an overall score of 8/10 from me and I seriously hope it does well.
**Please note. AIR Entertainment were supplied with a review copy of this game from PQube. As per our review policy of always telling the truth, this has in no way swayed my opinion on the game**