After testing the ground with their All-Star Fruit Racing, the Italian guys from 3DClouds. are ready to churn out their new title: Xenon Racer, a racing game to be released on 26 March of this year su PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 e Xbox One. We're back to get our hands on the title, after our test at the Games Week in Milan a few months ago, thanks to the open beta available on Steam, getting a juicy taste of what will be the main course later this month.
Fasten your seat belts and get ready to go, we are ready to sink the accelerator pedal.
The strong features of the cars that we were able to test in our beta suggest what, in effect, is a game projected towards the future: Xenon Racer indeed is set in 2030, a year in which technology has long allowed automobiles to abandon their aging tires to fly to their destinations.
In this climate, very different from today's one, a championship has been organized between much more traditional vehicles that are firmly on the ground, where they can whiz and make thrilling overtaking: we will in fact witness a tournament between roaring electric cars, ready to do battle thanks to the boosts guaranteed by Xenon gas.
Xenon Racer, through the menu item "Garage“, Allows players to deeply personalize your vehicle, choosing from the most banal - and purely aesthetic - colors and spoilers, to components that can improve the classic parameters of car racing games. Superfluous but necessary to underline how attention to the balance of each statistic is fundamental, especially in this title where exaggerated speed and drift to the limit will be the masters.
The modalities "Fast race"And"Online”Allow you to test your modifications on the field, that is a burning asphalt on which we will find ourselves skidding in search of victory. The passing of the years and the technological advancement have not managed to make, unfortunately for us, the cars indestructible and you will need to pay attention to the damage suffered by your machine, under penalty of respawn at the center of the track - with consequent restart from a standstill - upon reaching 100% of the damage sustained by the vehicle (available from an indicator placed at the bottom left of the screen). A penalty that is, on the whole, acceptable and, perhaps, not very punitive towards those who fail to conduct “clean” races.
To travel at even greater speeds and possibly increase the gap with our pursuers, or reduce the gap towards those in front of us, in the tracks there are recharging points for our auxiliary batteries of the technological system mounted on our vehicles: the ERS. Along the lines of the ONGOING made famous by the Need for Speed brand, we can use the power stored by the ERS to guarantee a boost in the acceleration of our car. Of course, so much power must be dosed with parsimony and conscience, under penalty of loss of control of the car that will struggle to execute difficult corners at very high speeds. In addition to the charging points it is possible to increase the charge of the batteries by exploiting the kinetic energy accumulated thanks to our drifting in the race, with the drift along the curves which are a fundamental component of the title that must be mastered quickly in order to compete for the victory.
Graphically, the title is solid and even the on-screen rendering of the detailed cars on which we will board offers a pretty good glance. The same artificial intelligence offers a good level of challenge even at the lowest difficulty of the three available, requiring a little training before being able to take home the first, sweaty, victory. We close with the title soundtrack, varied and in theme with the dynamic style of the game, also thanks to the collaboration with Monstercat that provided 20 tracks coming from artists of the electronic scene.
The premises of Xenon Racer are interesting, and this open beta has given us the opportunity to experience firsthand a taste of the 3DClouds racing game. We are very curious to try the work in its entirety, confident that the game still has several surprises in store. In the meantime, we postpone the appointment to March 26, the day when Xenon Racer will be released on the market.
