I used to be oddly intrigued after I first heard about developer Timbo Jimbo’s Static Shift Racing final week. The premise was that it’s an open-world road racing recreation with a heavy ’90s vibe when it comes to automobiles and elegance, and there’s an enormous emphasis on customization with hundreds of components and upgrades so each racer can trick out their very own trip simply to their liking. It sounded massively bold for what appeared like a fairly tiny studio, so I type of figured it might both be an enormous success or a significant flop when it lastly launched.
Nicely, Static Shift Racing did launch globally this week and I’m glad to say it falls far more on the facet of successful. Don’t get me improper, 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 getting 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 a number of well-designed roadways that can act as completely different circuits within the varied occasions.
Then there’s the automobile choice, which is simply 5 to start out, however these 5 are fairly completely different from each other and have various customization choices to discover. Once more, the extent of high quality and polish right here places a lot bigger studios to disgrace. All the things is tied to an general development system in 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 components, tricking out your trip 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 road racing recreation, and it’s superior.
Additionally value mentioning is that the racing itself is tremendous enjoyable. Very arcadey and really drift-focused. It could possibly really feel a bit of 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 unfavorable. Initially is that there simply must be extra recreation right here. Extra open world areas, extra automobiles, and extra occasion varieties. To be truthful that is all stuff that’s supposedly already within the works and will probably be coming quickly, however I’ve seen far too many video games make guarantees they by no means adopted by means of with so the proof will certainly be within the pudding ought to stated pudding actually materialize. The second factor is that this can be a very free to play recreation, with a ticket system for getting into races the place the tickets are on cool-down timers in addition to two sorts of in-game forex. Up to now none of this has been a problem, 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 into over time I’d prefer to suppose that this can be a developer that’s simply passionate a couple of very particular sort of racing recreation and wished to make certainly one of their very own, and is simply making an attempt to barter the troubled waters of cell gaming as greatest they’ll. What’s right here at the moment is a really, very stable base to one thing that might turn into really particular, and the truth that it’s free does a minimum of 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.