Created by a small development team and published by Ultimate Games S.A., Electro Ride: The Neon Racing is just as much a driving game as it is a racing game. Mixing Outrun gameplay with Tron visuals, the goal is to be the first to cross the finish line but with an interesting boost mechanic. Instead of picking up an item box with a Mario Kart-like weapon inside, the player can grab a pink, blue, or yellow icon to change color to activate a speed increase when driving over a specific portion of track. For example, if your car is yellow and you drive over the yellow boost pad, your car will gain speed. If your yellow car drives over a blue boost pad, there is no bonus. As interesting as this gameplay element is, the staggering high difficulty and touchy turning can become this downloadable title’s biggest opponent.
There are many unlockable vehicles, each with different stats, but most have floaty steering. It is easy to over compensate turns, resulting in collisions or slow downs, especially since the numerous racers can clutter the track. To remedy this, breaking is an important skill to master but slowing down often results in loss of positioning. The only way to unlock the next track is to earn first place in the current one. Tracks also take a few minutes so it can quickly become frustrating when you lose your first place position at the last turn, forcing a full restart. Even on the easiest difficulty, gameplay is always highly challenging.
Eventually the player can participate in a time trial run or a last man standing competition, and split-screen multiplayer is available, but the touchy controls and brutal AI leaves the track full of skid marks. The synthwave soundtrack fits the mood of the futuristic visuals and the sense of speed is nice if you manage to pull off a few tight turns in a row but the overall fun factor is limited at best.
Also available on PC Steam.
SCORE: 5/10
Also Try: Hot Shot Racing
Better Than: most other Ultimate Games S.A. titles
Wait For It: Disney to revive the Tron series… again.
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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