I used to be oddly intrigued once I first heard about developer Timbo Jimbo’s Static Shift Racing final week. The premise was that it’s an open-world avenue racing recreation with a heavy ’90s vibe when it comes to automobiles and magnificence, and there’s an enormous emphasis on customization with 1000’s of elements and upgrades so each racer can trick out their very own experience simply to their liking. It sounded massively bold for what appeared like a fairly tiny studio, so I form of figured it might both be an enormous success or a serious flop when it lastly launched.
Properly, Static Shift Racing did launch globally this week and I’m completely satisfied to say it falls far more on the facet of successful. Don’t get me flawed, there’s a lengthy methods to go in lots of respects, however what’s right here at launch is majorly spectacular, and extra importantly majorly enjoyable. As talked about you’ll roam round an open world coming into into varied sorts of races, and that is one space the place the sport feels prefer it might use some increasing. The atmosphere isn’t as giant as your typical open world recreation, however it’s extremely detailed with numerous well-designed roadways that can act as totally different circuits within the varied occasions.
Then there’s the automobile choice, which is simply 5 to start out, however these 5 are fairly totally different from each other and have numerous customization choices to discover. Once more, the extent of high quality and polish right here places a lot bigger studios to disgrace. Every little thing is tied to an general development system on your driver in addition to your varied automobiles. That is the a part of the sport that has actually sucked me in. Incomes XP, unlocking new elements, tricking out your experience with the brand new gear, after which heading again out to race some extra is a really satisfying recreation loop. It’s like taking part in a loot-based dungeon crawler besides it’s a avenue racing recreation, and it’s superior.
Additionally value mentioning is that the racing itself is tremendous enjoyable. Very arcadey and really drift-focused. It might probably really feel somewhat wonky at first however when you get the cling of issues it’s extraordinarily satisfying to carve round curves utterly sideways whereas coloured smoke billows out of your tires and tunes blast out from the audio system. I feel the builders had been going for a really particular vibe with Static Shift Racing and I feel they positively nailed it.
With all these constructive factors does come some detrimental. In the beginning is that there simply must be extra recreation right here. Extra open world areas, extra automobiles, and extra occasion sorts. To be honest that is all stuff that’s supposedly already within the works and can be coming quickly, however I’ve seen far too many video games make guarantees they by no means adopted via with so the proof will certainly be within the pudding ought to stated pudding actually materialize. The second factor is that it is a very free to play recreation, with a ticket system for coming into races the place the tickets are on cool-down timers in addition to two sorts of in-game forex. To this point none of this has been a difficulty, however that’s at all times how they begin, proper? Long run stays to be seen.
All that stated the nice positively outweighs the unhealthy right here, and as jaded as I’ve turn out to be through the years I’d prefer to suppose that it is a developer that’s simply passionate a few very particular sort of racing recreation and needed to make one in every of their very own, and is simply attempting to barter the troubled waters of cell gaming as finest they’ll. What’s right here at this time is a really, very strong base to one thing that might turn out to be actually particular, and the truth that it’s free does at the least imply that anyone might attempt it out for themselves to see if Static Shift Racing revs their very own engines as a lot because it has for me up to now.
