Xenon Racer

I just got 100% of the achievements so here are some of my thoughts about the game.
The game feels really good to play. There was a bit of a curve when you begin learning how to control your car properly, and then understanding that each car actually feels different from one another. Eventually you get to the point where you may have a favorite car that you perform the best/feel most comfortable with, and it becomes the main car that you use. It was really satisfying to feel and see myself becoming better with my car each time that I played.
All of the tracks feel pretty different from one another, and I think each track is really interesting, and has their own memorable sections. Once you get to the faster cars, it feels good to really nail corners and having to manage your speed during drifts. You definitely have to kinda learn each track if you want to beat the time trials, though with varying difficulty; I think I remember one of the Nevada variations being particularly tight. I found though that the time trials were still fun because it felt good to smoothly and quickly make your way around the track.
the AI/Difficultly is kinda confusing. Sometimes it feels like the AI are incredibly stupid (Semi-related: watching your own AI car after you win the race bumble around the track and hitting every wall is very entertaining), and other times it feels like they can put insane pressure on you and the only thing you can really do about it is body block them (In the very first racing series, which I hadn't gotten 1st place in til the very last achievement, has one particularly hard AI that I'm sure is there specifically to keep new players from winning immediately). I remember reading somebody commenting on the community pages about how the AI is very easy to overtake in the beginning, but if they overtake you at some point in the race, they're impossible to overtake again. Honestly, I completely agree with this.
Online is basically dead, as far as I can tell. Nobody ever had any lobbies going whenever I played. Luckily, the game lets you make lobbies with AI players, so you can get the required online play achievements, but otherwise I don't think you'll find anybody on. This is less the game's fault and more about how popular the game was and how old it is now (nearly 4 years old now, I think?). I had never even heard of this game before playing it, and it had just caught my eye when steam recommended it to me, and I got it because I like racing games lol. I just kinda wish I could play against other people to really gauge how well others can play and where I would fit into that. Instead, though, I guess my ego will be forever inflated by being able to have beaten all of the game's wacky AI.
---Minor Spoilers Ahead, if you care about that kind of thing---
The final sequence is a cool idea but I think it could've been better. This is really only a nitpick and mostly my opinion. Basically, the final race is against this small airplane/drone kind of thing. The idea is sick to me, but you only get to see this thing at the very beginning when they show you it, and maybe a couple times during the actual "race," since this thing races around the track, taking a longer path than you. I think it could be improved if there was maybe a smaller window somewhere on your screen displaying the drone, or maybe if the minimap for this specific race changed to show the drone and the path that it needed to take, with your track also to scale. In any case, getting ready for the race still felt cool and it was actually a fairly challenging level. It took me a handful of tries and even when I did beat it, it was so close that I didn't realize that I had won.
I'm not sure why I 100% this game, but I thought it was fun. I'm not very hopeful for a sequel, but if that ever came then I'd probably play it.

Starts out ROUGH! BUT!!!! I do mean BUT, if you use the tools available, like Free Roam mode, and get a feel for both the mechanics and the differences in the cars, IT IS WONDERFUL! I want a SEQUEL with upgraded graphics, the old tracks and a ton of new tracks. The difficulty is the heart and soul the developers put into this title. Underrated! Needs much more attention! Imagine a GT race mixed with Formula one, and street races mixed with nitro but not with Gas, Lithium Batteries that need friction to activate. A ZEN MODE racing game!

Xenon Racer
pros:
//fast game with modern day graphics with easy controls that moves from location A to B to C and so on
cons:
//a lot of difficult races
//AI opponents race at highest difficulty reguardless of difficulty settings
//AI uses rubberbanding so that you can never really get ahead in the races
//AI shoulder blocks you out of the race
//locked race events
//unlocking race events are a grindfest
//good game
Personal Suggested Purchase Price: $0.99 Or Less During Sale

Absolutely beautiful racing game, I'm not sure what other reviewers are talking about when complaining about the handling model because as long as you set up your car right the handling feels great and the AI isn't menacing once you get a good car setup.
- No real story to speak of, but there is a lengthy campaign championship to progress through that will having you utilizing a variety of different cars in different classes as you progress.
- 9 different tracks with multiple layouts for each track, could be better but definitely not bad.
- Numerous cars to pick from each with good customization options.
- Notably, how to unlock all the cars/parts is immediately available in game under "Extra" > "Unlockable Vehicles" which is extremely helpful and very appreciated, as you don't need to scour the internet to figure out how to unlock something you want.
- Soundtrack is alright, menu and loading music are great but note all the in-race music comes from Monstercat so its all electronic music
- The presentation overall of the game, the cars, and the world it takes place in is great and feels very polished.
- Handling can feel really bad if you don't have the right setup on your car. For the best setup, I recommend a high (60% - 100% bar full) drift stat and medium/high (30% - 70% bar full) handling stat for the best feeling handling, then as much top speed as you can get, since you can just boost for acceleration. Don't obsess over this though, just find what works for you and keep it in mind if you begin to struggle to progress through the championship.
- AI could be improved, has adjustable difficulty but seems to be on the easier side even when put on hard.
Easy 4/5, feels very well put together and I would recommend picking it up and playing it, takes about 30 - 40 hours to 100%, completely worth it.

If you like old Ridge Racer, this is the game for you...once you get used to the way it handles. I really like the atmosphere, the car designs, and some of the music is cool too. It's feature-complete and has, so far as I've played, very few bugs and it's only crashed on me once. We need more games like this, we really do.
Tracks are handled in a ridge-racer fashion with a handful of locations and a bunch of track layouts and running the tracks in reverse too. Pretty traditional. The tracks have some nice variety and a few gimmicks, and are filled with little animations and effects that make the scenery really pop sometimes (like the airport track.)
BUT, you'll hate this game unless you learn how to play it. The game does not explain any of this properly, or at all, and it can really make the game seem unwinnable, so as a PSA, let's talk about how to actually play this damn game.
A) The car setup is EXTREMELY important, and how drift works is important.
B) Drift in this game is handled like in the ridge racer fashion of being almost its own separate handling model that you NEED to master, the whole game revolves around this and nothing but this.
C) To enter "drift mode" consistently, hold the accelerator and tap brake + turn direction. Depending on your drift and handling stats, you can enter "drift mode" at very shallow angles, which allows you to build meter faster and more frequently.
So once you "start" drift, you have options to handle all the corners in the game. In fact, getting into "drift mode" before corner entry is key to also gaining a lot of boost. Drift mode also doesn't sap nearly as much speed as you would gain from correctly using it and boosting on straightaways. If you mess up, having the right angle due to drift also allows you to wallride to mitigate some of the slowdown from your crash (this is really important vs AI, who ...well, also forget how to drift in a lot of corners!)
The way I played (and I got all time attack golds, etc), is that I almost never let go of the accelerator. Instead, I would tap brake to enter "drift mode", and THEN I'd modulate the accelerator depending on how slow the corner was. Additionally, you can use "drift mode"'s natural braking effect to slow yourself down for chicanes, without needing to let go of the accelerator. The brake in this game is only for getting into drift mode, you do not use it for anything else but tap it to get into drift mode.
Try all cars, try all setups, but keep an eye on the HANDLING and DRIFT stat, make those as high as possible so you get the car to oversteer as much as you can. Oversteer in "drift mode" is EXACTLY what you want, so you can put the car sideways if you need to, but you can also enter "drift mode" in very shallow angles to build up boost before corner entry.
Not gonna lie, once I understood all this, I spent 4 hours 100%ing all I could, cuz driving was that much fun.

The AI rubberbanding does get a bit out of hand even on easy mode, but I still love the look and feel of this game. Handling wise you just have to get used to it, the drifting is almost Ridge Racer like where you need to let off the gas and press it again, but you also have a handbrake that can be used for those hairpin turns (there are quite a few on the later tracks). Tweaking your car's aero and ERS (boost) are essential if you want to make it out there. Recommended if you can take the time to get familiar with the mechanics.

I paid £1.50 for this and got ten hours of fun out of it so far. I really love this game. It's the next logical step from Ridge Racer 7. Once you understand how the cars handle, it's great fun. I think the game looks amazing on PC, the soundtrack is perfect and the game has an addictive pick up and play quality to it.

Hats of to 3dClouds, they made one of the best arcade racers you can play today.