Horizon Chase Turbo

When I was a kid, we didn't have racing games with hundreds of licensed cars and real world tracks. What we had were simple games with bad scaling effects and unrealistic car physics. And you know what? We liked it. No really, I still genuinely enjoy racing games like OutRun, Super Hang-On and Rad Racer. So when you tell me that there's a brand new console game that evokes the spirit of those old speedsters, you better believe you have my full attention. Horizon Chase Turbo is more than just a fun throwback experience, it's a legitimately great racing game that perfectly marries old school thrills with new school technology.

I'm not going to lie, I went into Horizon Chase Turbo a little skeptical. I've been down this retro racer road before, and it often leads to disappointment. And the fact that it was originally released on mobile devices certainly left me with a few concerns. But these worries were completely unfounded, as I was hooked right from the first race. This is a great game with a cool art style and an almost obscene amount of content.

At first it looks like a remake of Rad Racer. It's in the way the game moves, the alternating track colors, the simple backgrounds and the arcadey gameplay. But where Rad Racer and most driving games from that era were about racing through checkpoints until time runs out, Horizon Chase Turbo adds the structure we're used to with more modern racing games. It reminded me a bit of the Top Gear franchise on the Super NES, which is just one of the reasons why I found it hard to put down.

Horizon Chase Turbo is not the kind of game you beat in a single sitting. The world tour has you racing through more than one-hundred stages that are spread across locations as diverse as California, Brazil, Greece, South America, Iceland, India, Japan and more. I love that each of these states and countries have a unique flavor and multiple backgrounds, along with some devilishly challenging courses to race.

The idea is simple enough: Come in first. But while you're trying to do that, you'll also want to pick up the coins laying on the track. You're also going to want to grab those gas cans, because you only have so much fuel to play around with. If you're not careful, you'll end up running out of gas halfway through an event, leaving you in last place. This isn't a big deal early on, but it's only a matter of time before the lengthy stages force you to pay attention to the fuel drops.

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On top of the usual races, there are also a number of special events that are tied to upgrades. If you're able to come in first in these events, you'll be able to add some permanent perks to all 31 cars. You can also unlock new cars by earning enough points, winning tournaments and completing all the events in a single country. And if that wasn't enough, there's also an endurance mode you can unlock that will add an extra layer of challenge. There's a lot to like here.

Unfortunately, there are a few minor issues that hold this game back. For one thing, it's extremely easy to hit a wall. I don't mean a literal wall (though, it's easy to do that, as well), but rather a progress wall. The game will only unlock new locations if you have enough points, so you'll spend a lot of the time grinding old levels for more coins or a slightly better time. I've never been a big fan of games that lock away the content like this, and it's especially annoying here.

The truth is, the game often forces you to replay the stages. This is one of those racers where it's almost impossible to come in first until you've either unlocked new vehicles or upgraded the ones you have. I don't know, perhaps there's a way to beat the computer the first time out, but it always felt like I would come up short, even after a flawless run. It's fun to go back and stomp the competition after you've unlocked a few new cars, but it would have been nice to do that from the get-go.

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Nitpicking aside, I found Horizon Chase Turbo to be a real charmer. A lot of this has to do with the stylish graphics, which perfectly updates the old school look. And it's not just in the different backgrounds and obstacles, but also the weather and time of day effects. The races will often start during the day, but will gradually turn to night as it progresses. It's these little effects that end up making a big difference, and I can't imagine anybody being disappointed with the way this game looks. Or sounds, for that matter. From the graphics to the music, the presentation left a big impact on me.

Horizon Chase Turbo is more than just a fun throwback game, it's also one of the best racers I've played all year. This is a surprisingly long game filled with great graphics, a killer soundtrack, dozens of cars, tons of locations and extra modes that will have you playing for weeks to come. Horizon Chase Turbo is one of the few modern racing games to get old school nostalgia right.