Xenon Racer

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!

I like everything about this game, except for having to start in a hoop-dee that can't drift.

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

This game takes old arcade racing and mixes it with futuristic science-fiction theme and surprisingly it is kind of fun.
I just bought it for 90 percent off and i think its pretty good but the cartoon style kind of throws me off. I can live with it for two bucks but i think most people will have most of their fun and then not play it ever again. The fact that it has online is pretty nice and more than you can expect from most other indie developers. Thumbs up for the discounted price but dont buy this at full price.

This is quite arcadey (I did expect this). It seems I've lost the taste for arcadey racers after all these years. The speed readings are a joke (120 kmph feels like around 60 kmph). The focus mechanic is drifting (which is also a kind of a joke; I'm the kind of person who never learned to drift consistently in Assetto Corsa (with G920)). "Easy" difficulty is not easy at all — the AI is cheating (probably teleporting n' $#it). I don't know why a lot of reviews are referring to Ridge Racer (it's probably an age thing — I'm 35). Not only the vibe, but even the soundtrack (drum n' bass) tries to emulate a way older game from the PS1 era — Rollcage Stage 2. Definitely not worth more than 4-5 EUR. Even with all the flaws, you could squeeze a few hours of fun like I did (with a DS4 controller + DS4Windows). Also, taking up only 5,27 GB of space is always a win, at least in my book.

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.