Music Racer

How do you make the rhythm genre big again? That's the question developers have been asking for close to a decade, with each one coming up with their own set of answers. They've tried subscription plans, full-motion video and even foldable guitars, yet nothing seems to work. I'm not sure the makers of the new game Music Racer have cracked the code, but I do know that this is one rhythm game I'm never going to forget. Unfortunately, it's for all the wrong reasons. This is an aggressively obnoxious mash-up that is a lot like playing Guitar Hero during an earthquake while somebody shoots a flashlight right into your eyeballs. Gaming shouldn't be this painful.

As somebody who has sharpened his teeth on both rhythm and racing games, Music Racer should have been right up my alley. I like the throwback vibe, vector-style graphics and most of the electronic dance music that makes up the soundtrack. All these elements look good on paper and even in a screenshot, but the moment you see the game in action, everything falls apart.

As the name suggests, this is a racing game mixed with elements from rhythm games like Rock Band and Frequency. The idea is to steer your expensive sports car into several different lanes in an attempt to pick up the notes that vaguely connect to the beats and instruments in the song. There are no other cars, but you will need to avoid walls in the lanes that are designed to mess up your combo. The goal is to complete the song with a high enough score to earn a bunch of stars and points that you can use to unlock new levels and cars.

What sets this game apart is the way the music is represented as you race. It's not just a thumping beat in the background, but rather light and visual effects that completely envelop the track. This can be conveyed by the action slowing down and then speeding back up with the tempo of the music or the course changing color the fit the mood from moment to moment. You can play all of the 23 songs in any of the 14 courses, allowing you to see how the music changes a number of different backgrounds.

The problem is that the developers had no self-control. This game clearly buys into the concept that if a few visual effects are good, then throwing all of them in there must make it better. I think the best way to describe Music Racer is to say that it's an assault. The effects aren't trying to punctuate the music, but rather beat up your eyeballs. The courses will violently shake and flash, making it impossible to see what's going on. Even as somebody who doesn't have sensitive eyes and am not at risk of suffering an epileptic seizure, I still found the whole thing impossible to look at for more than a song or two.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

Normally, this would be the point in the review where I wrap things up and move on to the verdict, but don't leave yet, because we haven't even scratched the surface of what's wrong with Music Racer. Even if you can get beyond the aggressive shaking and flashing, you're still left with a game that isn't good about showing you the upcoming notes. You'll generally be able to see a few notes ahead, but there are plenty of times when your vision will be completely obstructed by a hill or wide turn. This is made worse by the speed, which can make a lot of the notes hard to get to in time. Couple that with the color and lighting effects getting in the way of your vision and you have a game that often feels unfair.

It's also not a very good rhythm game. The notes you're trying to hit barely connect with the song. This isn't like Amplitude where every lane represents an instrument, but rather a mishmash of notes that feel like they were scattered around the level at random. Occasionally the notes connect with the song, but it's so infrequent that I'm pretty sure it's just a coincidence. And nothing happens if you swerve away and miss them. The song will keep playing no matter what happens on the screen, further breaking the illusion that the notes and music are related.

It doesn't help that the songs are way too long and repetitive for this type of game. The eclectic smattering of electronic dance tracks all buy into the notion that the longer a song is, the better it must be, resulting in songs that repeat the same familiar sections over and over until you just want it to stop. That said, there's a chance that I would enjoy these songs more if I heard them outside of the game. It could be that the aggressive visual effects and boring gameplay made any song over two- or three-minutes feel like an eternity.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

It's also worth mentioning that the game fails at even the most basic rhythm game functionality. A good example of this is how Music Racer doesn't keep your high scores or even show you what songs you've completed. In fact, the entire user interface is a real nightmare from beginning to end. It also wants you to replay songs multiple times in order to unlock new levels and cars, but I found that just letting the game play by itself was the easiest way to grind for points. Actually, now that I mention it, I'm pretty sure the most fun I had with Music Racer is when I put the controller down and turned away from the television. That's probably not a good sign.

Music Racer is a lot like trying to make out with a laser light machine at a rave. This is a title that somehow fails as both a music game and a rhythm game, leaving us with assaulting visual effects that will make your head hurt and eyes bleed. It's a punishingly frustrating experience with bad gameplay and note patterns that seemingly have nothing to do with the generic dance music you're listening to. Not even the cool throwback visuals can save Music Racer from crashing off of the vector-shaped cliff.