Title: Horizon Chase Turbo
Genre: Action, Casual, Indie, Racing, Sports
Developer: Aquiris Game Studio
Publisher: Aquiris Game Studio
Release Date: May 15, 2018
Horizon Chase Turbo is a turning point in a lot of ways. The idea of mobile games getting ported to PC via Steam has left a sour taste in the mouths of many –myself included. Horizon Chase Turbo is one such game, but it does the port to PC right, so much so that others can learn a thing or two.
Horizon Chase Turbo is a classic arcade inspired racing game that is best described as a spiritual successor to Cruis’n USA and other 90s racing games like OutRun. It’s so delightfully simple and old-school to the point of pure nostalgia overload.
Aquiris Game Studio didn’t cut any corners with this port. in fact, it may not be even fair to call Horizon Chase Turbo a port of the Android original. The developers have rebuilt the game from the ground up with the PC in mind. The pulled out all the stops in terms of options and features that a mobile game simply couldn’t handle.
They removed the FPS limitations, added gamepad support (how I played), let’s you rebind those controls, and offered up a plethora of video options. If you didn’t know about the mobile original, you’d be mistaken for thinking that Horizon Chase Turbo was a PC original.
The team even put together a new soundtrack for players to enjoy. All of this just shows how much this small team really cares, not only about their product, but of the fans that are going to be experiencing it. This really does feel as much a love-letter to the arcade racing genre as it does a love-letter to fans.
Gameplay is really simple with tight controls. If you remember Crusi’n USA, you’ll know exactly how Horizon Chase Turbo plays. It’s a two-button affair with gas and brake and moving left to right. Nothing fancy here, and you can’t even reverse, but it all works so well. Sometimes, as they say, less is more.
The driving is all about winning the race. To achieve this you you can mildly drift and learning the line of the track is essential for better placement as a mistake may screw over your entire run. In this regard the game plays a little more like OutRun than anything else. But there’s more than simply slamming on the gas the entire race.
Horizon Chase Turbo adds some features missing from a lot of arcade racing games and are more at home on a mobile platform. Strangely enough, these actually work to make the game better, even on the PC, and that’s not something one can usually say.
Each track has collectible icons that you need to, well, connect to help you get the best score and earn upgrades to your cars. They aren’t needed to advance but they help upgrade and unlock new rides by upping your score. Often times you’ll ignore these until you learn a track, so they give a nice incentive to come back and race again.
On top of that you’ll also need to keep tabs on your fuel gauge as you can run out while racing. This becomes more a problem as the game progresses, so make sure to learn where the gas icon pickups are and make sure not to miss them.
And finally you have the requisite nitro boosts that you can use to get you out of a sticky situation, or to help make that pass on the final stretch of the track. Outside of these pickups you’ll also have to contend with weather that will affect your traction, making things really intense, especially on the tighter tracks.
And there are a lot of tracks to experience in Horizon Chase Turbo. Each race area has three sub-areas that contain three tracks, plus one main bonus track to unlock. That’s 10 tracks per area with a bunch of areas to play through. The game has a lot to keep you busy.
Each of these areas are based on real-world location, so every track has a unique design and slick look thanks to the great graphics. Everything is very clean with some lovely simplistic polygons making up the world. Think early 3D of the N64 and PS1 era, but done in high-res. It’s a stunningly beautiful experience.
Horizon Chase Turbo plays like a dream, as long as you understand that this is an arcade racer. There’s a lot of bumping, crashing, and restarts, but that’s par for the course with this genre. It’s about the experience and fighting for every win.
On top of everything the game features online leaderboards, ghost races, and four-player splitscreen for gaming sessions with friends. And while there are no licensed cars, you can clearly tell what each is based on, including some famous movie ones.
Horizon Chase Turbo has some surprising depth when you factor in the upgrades you have to unlock to make races a bit easier to complete. It’s just so hard to find anything really wrong with the game, and this is coming from someone who hates every, or at least finds a way to nitpick everything.
If you are looking to ditch the complex simulation racers that have taken over the past few generations and let Horizon Chase Turbo take you back to a simpler time where no-holds barred fun was the name of the game, you’ll love the heck out of it.
“Horizon Chase Turbo is the most refreshing and pure, unabashedly fun racing game in years.”
Final Score
4/5
*A copy was provided for review*
About Author
