I've kept a keen eye on Victory Heat Rally ever since it was successfully crowdfunded back in 2020. Promising a revival of Sega's legendary 'Super Scaler' arcade games from the '80s (most notably, 1988's undulating Power Drift, which got the 3D Classics treatment on Nintendo 3DS a few years back) this cute racer has been in development for what feels like forever. Now that it's finally here, we're pleased to report that it's jolly good fun – if a little on the shallow side.
At the heart of Victory Heat Rally is a drift system that's clearly inspired by Mario Kart. By holding down the right shoulder trigger you place your vehicle into its "drift" state, building up a boost meter at the same time. This has three stages, with each giving a progressively larger jolt of speed at its conclusion.
Mastering this mechanic is instrumental to success in Victory Heat Rally, and it's also a massive part of its appeal; there's some genuine satisfaction to be had from sliding around corners and overtaking rivals after executing an inch-perfect drift.
All of this is accentuated by some gloriously colourful visuals, great music and effective sound effects – and I also appreciated the fact that the career mode offers some nice variety thanks to its mix of standard races, grand prix events and novelty challenges, such as avoiding obstacles, popping balloons or drifting through gates.
The circuits are also excellent, taking you through plenty of fantasy locations such as deserts, forests, castles and even a rollercoaster – all set against beautiful blue skies, just like Sega's classic coin-op racers. You've got 12 drivers to play as, too, most of which are unlocked as you move through the career mode.
The single biggest issue with Victory Heat Rally is that, while it's a lot of fun to begin with, it's perhaps a little too shallow for prolonged enjoyment. Unlike Mario Kart, there are no weapons to use, which reduces the scope of its appeal (you can, however, smash lapped cars off the course by hitting them at high speed, which is amusing but has no tactical purpose). Once you've finished the career mode – which will take around four to six hours, depending on your skill level – there's little reason to return outside of the (admittedly great) four-player split-screen mode.
Still, while it lasts, Victory Heat Rally is undeniably entertaining and does a good job of paying tribute to the arcade classics of yesteryear – just don't expect it to offer much in terms of depth or longevity.
Comments 18
"Unlike Mario Kart, there are no weapons to use, which reduces the scope of its appeal..."
I am SO glad there are no contrived weapons that turn this into YET ANOTHER Kart Racer. Arcade Racing can exist outside of a weapons set
I don't find it shallow at all either, it's all about the controls. The drift system is deep and flexible. I find half the fun is figuring out how to best bank and maximize boost use, and which combinations of vehicles and parts to use on any given course. The depth is there if you look for it, but different strokes, I guess.
I've personally found that it's a Time Trial players dream. There's 46 tracks in the game, and they're all super high-quality, and I find that quite insane to have at launch these days. If you like competing against yourself - or against friends - with legitimate racing, then there are multiple reasons to come back. I've clocked the Championship mode, done some Time Trials and I'm sitting at about 9 hours so far. I haven't really stepped into the GP or Multiplayer Modes yet either.
If you miss legit Arcade Racers, not just from the arcades, but 32-bit style racers too, then I reckon Victory Heat Rally will be right up your alley. It's a true-blue Arcade Racer, and the best Arcade Racer in an age, in my books.
Game looks good but like with most games like this emulating another game, I rarely see the point to play these tributes over just playing the originals.
I think I’ll give this one a shot though.
The visuals remind me of an arcade called buggy boy. They might have incorporated elements from it by having bizarre track obstacles and jump ramps, something to amp the craziness since it is styled for it
@NinChocolate There's things called Joker challenges that do amp up the crazy! It's things like avoiding vehicles, collecting balloons, drift challenges all that kind of stuff. They're very much in the vein of some of the stuff from OutRun 2's Heart Attack mode. I specifically love the Moonshine Mile Joker challenge toward the end of the game. I don't want to spoil it though!
I have to agree with you AJB83, I'm also glad that there are no weapons in this game. A title like this is based around drifting and speed.
It think it's kinda ridiculous that people are expecting weapons in every game that has some sort of visual similarity to Mario Kart.
Weapons completely ruined what would have been a great bunch of titles with the Sonic All Stars and Team Sonic Racing titles. Others have equally suffered because of it.
I don't play PC games these days, so holding out for a Switch release. If it does come to be, I will probably buy.
As you mentioned, this is the kind of racer you play for Time Trials, etc. Or, you play for the joy of racing ala Sega Rally and Daytona on the Sega Saturn.
@Pigeon This is the perspective that is missing these days.
I don't understand why Arcade Racers can't exist just for the joy of it without all the extras? I mean, they have stopped selling all that much anyways after becoming kart racers or huge open world things anyways, apart from a couple of mass-appeal juggernauts.
Arcade Racers would be much easier to make these days than back then, and don't need to last forever in a Campaign sense. Victory Heat Rally does it right, and I hope to see a million others following their lead, because personally, I feel like my gaming tastes are being properly catered to for the first time in a long time
It looks like a lot of fun for fans of arcade racers. I'd like to pick it up for Switch whenever it releases.
@AJB83 Arcade racers and Kart racers evolved from very different routes along very separate paths, one is not a subgenre of the other. Also neither detract from the others' existence, they've had separate paths the entire time. The death of the arcade racer happened as a very separate event.
@AJB83 okay interesting, I watched a video review and that mode wasn’t mentioned
@NinChocolate They are challenges spread throughout the Championship Mode. There's around two per Championship
@AJB83
I like that Cruisn Game on the Switch very mutch and it has no Weapons.
Missed such games
This here has very nice Grafics and does stand out, maybe i'll give it a try
Agree that it seems weird to criticise this for a lack of weapons. That's a plus for me.
@Azuris Yeah, Cruis'n Blast is great! It's definitely one of my go-to's on the Switch
I backed this when it was originally shown to have Power Drift style tracks. Somewhere along the lines (after it was funded), it was changed to flat style tracks. Then they announced PS4/Xbox versions were on hold.
Glad the game came out in good shape - but I was pretty disappointed tbh.
@Soupbones You can change it back, there's a 'loggle' mode. It is an .ini tweak, however. Found that info in the Discord
@Soupbones Mmm likewise pleased this has turned out well but I was really disappointed in the Kickstarter campaign and the way it was handled.
Long periods with no updates on the KS page, incredibly late delivering (sure game development is hard but at least keep us in the loop) and then the biggest kick in the teeth delaying the PS and XB versions - personally I wanted it on PS so wasn't pleased.
Still they have said they'll try to follow through on getting the game to those platforms and providing keys for them - but how long will that take!?
@bring_on_branstons Same - I backed the PS4 version. They did refund me after asking a few times - so there’s that. I wouldn’t hold my breath for the later versions - doesn’t seem like a priority for them at all.
@AJB83 Wow!! I’m surprised they didn’t advertise this more. That Power Drift design is what got them funded in the first place - really strange decision to make it a hidden feature when that seemed to be one of the reasons they were so successful.
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