Hotshot Racing
Hotshot racing is a fast-paced arcade racing game available across multiple platforms. It is a light game with options for single or multi player races. Being an arcade racer, the controls are fun and easy to get a hang of. Its animations are exaggerated and over the top, which can be expected from this genre of games.
Hotshot racing in many ways is a refreshing game to see and play. With the car racing genre having been moving in the direction of more and more realistic graphics and handling, true arcade racing games had been thinning out in the market for the last few years. While this shift toward realistic sim racers is good to see, and fun as its own standalone genre, it affected the number of such light hearted, just fun to play games. Why is it sad such games are becoming rarer and rarer? well, this is the kind of game that you’d simply pick up the controller, play with yourself or a friend, and get in a quick few races and have a good time- the perfect game for a party as well.
With multiple game modes-both single and multiplayer- Hotshot racing makes sure you won’t get bored doing just simple races. For example, there is a cops and robbers mini game mode where you can play as either a cop and chase the robbers or have the roles reversed. Though these modes are fun and add variety to the game, even the simple races are more than enough to keep you entertained for hours on end. Multiple maps, multiple cars, multiple races all keep you hooked. The races are short and quick, allowing you to explore various different maps without getting bored or without it seeming like a tedious task. Maps are well designed, and colorful to give a retro race type feeling- hues of purple, blue, orange and the sort lighting the tracks. The maps are set in various types of terrains and locations- jungles, cities, towns, mountains, et cetera.
When it comes to cars, the game provides you with multiple options to choose from- drift focused, speed focused, agility focused, or balanced which is a mixture of all but with slightly lowered performance in each field to level the playing ground. The more races you complete, the more parts for customization you unlock, and the more you can improve your car of choice. Each car comes with its own driver who has a distinct personality, my personal favorite being the British driver who has reached the racing scene by using “daddy’s money.” The different drivers make different little statements during races. For instance, the British driver, whenever he gets hit by another car, talks about his dad will get mad for that.
During the course of the race, you need to drift to collect ‘boost’ which is a small period of time that you can make your car achieve exhilarating speeds. The more you drift, and the longer you hold the drifts for, the more boost you get, and the higher your chances of winning get. The drift mechanism is fun and adds a different aspect to the game that has been mostly ignored since the days of Mario Karts. On the topic of Mario Karts, this game, to me, is reminiscent of a modern day retake on Mario Karts, with the above mentioned drift-to-boost mechanism, funny animations, the various maps, and the distinct drivers and cars- all of which were characteristic to Mario Karts.
Graphically, the game chooses to go with a simplistic art style, which is part of the appeal of the game. While games with realistic and more scenic graphics are stunning and amazing to see and play around in, that shouldn’t take away from these games who have achieved exactly what they aimed for- a light, fun experience without any heavy focus of making the game resemble real life.
All in all, the game works well and the developers are constantly working on it, and have pushed out free DLCs (Downloadable content) and updates. It is an enjoyable game that scratches an itch for this particular type of game, which as I have mentioned have reduced in number. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys racing games like I do, especially the simplistic retro racers.
