Rise Race The Future Switch Review: Racing Concept Cars In The Wilderness
Rise Race The Future is a game that needs to be on the Switch. This isn’t a brand spanking new title by the way, but it’s had a significant update that owners may not be aware of or those boasting friends who’d like a multiplayer for their Switchy-majig.
The update includes a vertical split-screen two-player local and runs at 60fps. Perhaps those who experienced firsthand picked up on the framerate (at 30fps, it runs very well), but the inclusion of a two-player mode was a good move.
There’s no bravado of enlisting members for a crew to take on underground racers a la Need for Speed, nor is there any of the depth of WRC 9. If you’re looking for a straight-up arcade racer that looks as good as it plays, read on.
Rise Race The Future Switch Review
The cars in Rise Race The Future are fictional and designed by Anthony Jannarelly – a concept artist specialising in automotive, among other industries, and they’re world-class. You’d be forgiven in thinking they were actual models. But the best thing is they don’t handle like hypercars out of the box.
Perhaps that’s more your thing, and you want the fastest experience from the outset. While Rise Race The Future is fast, it’s not as frantic as something such as Wipeout or F-Zero, which was perhaps the impression it gave, especially as they played an influential role.
Your car will travel over multiple terrains – notably over water, and the wheels will retract like a sumo wrestler double-tucking in his balls, but other than that and the modelling, that’s as futuristic as it gets.
When Metal (Or Fiberglass) Collides
Rise Race The Future is a racing game from VD-Dev, what more do you want to know? Let’s go over the difficulty. There are four levels; discovery, rookie, pro and legend. The default is rookie, but it’s a little easy and leading by a third of a lap isn’t unexpected.
Increasing the difficulty felt more of a challenge, though there seems to be an inconsistency with the speeds as hitting boost when overtaking an opponent sees them match your pace even though they aren’t boosting.
Emphasis on inconsistency, as this doesn’t always happen, but it’s a little frustrating when you’re doing so well and not rewarded for your mad skills. However, the collisions aren’t such a setback like in Hotshot Racing.
It was easy to capitalise on this and ricochet off others, but karma’s a bitch as it’s easy to lose the momentum and spin out, in some respects forcing a restart of a race to catch up. Fortunately, you don’t have to restart a tournament, just that stage.
Don’t Settle For Second Best
There are three main options in Rise Race The Future: Challenges, Championship and Time Attack. The last two are self-explanatory, where the first includes getting the best lap times, staying ahead of specific cars, never coming last, and so on.
These challenges can be on the more difficult side as spinning out to recapture first place is a struggle. However, that’s mostly on you and your racing lines as once you get the hang of the handling, it’s pretty rewarding.
Speaking of rewards, completing these challenges unlocks new liveries for your vehicles, so a nice little incentive. However, the real incentive is, of course, the gameplay.
0-60fps
The closest game that comes to mind here is Asphalt 9: Legends, and while they’re very similar in presentation, they’re quite different games, and it’s good to have the choice.
Races are just right in terms of pace, and the new addition of 60fps is a welcome one. The difference between 30 and 60fps wasn’t that noticeable at first, other than a subtle improvement in handling.
But unless you want to see the reflection of a birds arse on your bonnet, we don’t play the Switch for it’s cutting edge visuals. In that case, maybe opt for the PC version. That said, Rise Race The Future is one of the best-looking racers on the Nintendo Switch, without a doubt.
Two Can Play That Game
The two-player mode is perfect for those who prefer local play and entertaining friends at their homes (when you’re allowed to). It features a vertical split-screen mode that works perfectly as most homes sport widescreen now anyway.
There wasn’t any slowdown when playing with someone else and you can do the same challenges as the one player mode. Rise Race The Future is excellent in handheld mode too, but not in two-player. Not when it can go on the telly.
Other than changing the car physics stability and steering sensitivity, that’s more or less the skinny on Rise Race The Future. It delivers in terms of features, gameplay and presentation. I expected Pacer due to the future setting, but it was more comparable with Ridge Racer, only slightly less forgiving.
Rise Race The Future Review Summary
Arguably the closest thing to Ridge Racer on the Nintendo Switch, Rise Race The Future, is an enjoyable arcade racer for one or two players with the presentation and FPS being a highlight. Licensed cars are always favourable, but the selection here does a decent job as eye candy for petrolheads. Just try not to crash.
