Absolute Drift

[quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]Overall Rating - Unplayable Trash ☆☆☆☆☆[/h1] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] While looking through games from my library, I was in pretty high spirits as I looked at Absolute Drift Zen Edition (AD). It's a driving title centered around drifting, which can be tricky to pull off depending on the racer, but when designed well, can make for an exhilarating part of a race, “Yes, I'm maintaining my speed and first place position because I executed a sick drift around the gnarly corner!” The key point being that it's designed well. Making that the hallmark of your entire game could make for a fun experience. It didn't. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Although the packaging would be different, this title reminds me of the Tony Hawk skateboarding games, in the sense that in any given location, you're presented with a handful of different tasks. Unless it's on a specific racetrack though, they can be really lame, such as drifting between two lampposts. Even I can manage that, in spite of being hamstrung by terrible controls. I understand that it's a mission from not very far into the game, yet it still demonstrates a fundamental error in the game's design. Completing random goals, with no real purpose behind them, and that can be finished in a few seconds, doesn't make for compelling gameplay, “Amazing! I just drove 30 inches at a slight curve and drifted between those two objects. Another mission accomplished!” https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464961702 [h1]Controls[/h1] I hate these lousy controls! Honestly, I prefer constantly screeching against the wall, making a horrible noise from my car being scratched to Hell, because it actually feels like there's any sense of control. You cannot make the slightest turns capably, and the game is designed around precise turns and angled drifts? What's even more mental is that people like it?! Every time I try doing anything it doesn't handle or respond in any consistent, coherent fashion, and it pisses me off beyond belief. Whoever added the zen edition subtitle to the game was having a laugh. [h1]Story[/h1] Shortly after starting the game, you run into a Buddha statue who drivels on about you becoming a drift master. Then he vanishes, saying you'll meet him again later. Sure, if you say so. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464961267 [h1]Visuals[/h1] If you've ever had the misfortune of seeing me draw something, you'd know I'm the furthest thing from an artist. At most, I've gleaned a few techniques such as how parallel lines help create the illusion of depth toward a horizon. Regardless, the idea of me explaining something about art to somebody seems a farce, but when it's this glaringly obvious (pun intended), I feel a need to speak up. Contrast is incredibly important with visual design, and it's sorely lacking in AD. Most of the background is plain white, and the vehicle you're driving by default is white. When spinning out, you create smoke, which is more white amongst all of the other white. As a white man, I can comfortably say there's too much white! Did you even play test your game?! Seriously, you never thought constant saturation of the same color might be a problem? I know the visuals aren't knee-jerk hideous, immediately making someone flinch. However, when it's so white even a polar bear would complain, it causes an issue that's just as bad, as it becomes blindingly bright. The only saving grace is how low the threshold for drifting is, with the car almost always skidding and marring the background. Congratulations, this quirk helps players from going blind. [h1]Sound Design[/h1] You can change the song you're currently listening to at any time with a button press, which would be the case if you were driving a real car, so that's a nice feature. The various tunes either sound inspirational, or like dance music, which made for fun listening. Even after I dropped the volume of sound effects to half though, the constant tire squealing easily disrupts the songs, which really undermines the whole point of having them there. Since those noises aren't helpful anyways, I'd just mute them all so the music can be heard clearly. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3464962072 [h1]Pros[/h1] 🌟 I thought the music was well composed and worth listening to. 🌟 The game has trading cards. [h1]Cons[/h1] ❌ The game claims to have a tutorial, but never does the simple act of explaining how to intentionally produce a drift. For instance something like accelerate for X seconds, start turning, push the button at this angle, and steer like so. They say those who don't know how teach, but the developer couldn't even manage that much. ❌ Drifting is more fun when there's a better reason for it, like a race. Just driving around with no control and trying to crash through things randomly isn't that interesting. ❌ What's the difference between the difficulty levels? Don't worry about it, it's only something else the developer failed to explain properly. [h1]Tips[/h1] 🔍 Maybe if you close your eyes and meditate, you'll play better. It's not like the controls respond properly anyways. 🔍 Find a real tutorial that explains how the drifting works. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] Maybe there's truth to the claim that you'll get used to these controls, and it'll start making sense given time. However, I simply do not have the patience for it. In my mind, I should be able to drive a car like this normally, where adding a bit of gas shouldn't remove the ability to make basic left and right turns without feeling like somebody greased the entire road. I've tried driving slowly, changing my speeds, accelerating or hand-braking through turns, trying to course correct my direction, and it just doesn't work the way I want it to. Nothing about how that stupid car handles makes sense or feels right, making me think the developer couldn't figure out how to make a driving game with good controls, and designed around that issue, “This was completely on purpose. See, it's about drifting, so it's not supposed to work right.” Everybody else can enjoy this game, I'll be playing something else with better controls, which would be almost any other game on Steam. [table] [tr] [th]PC Specs[/th] [th]Performance[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ryzen 2700 RTX 2070 16GB RAM ADATA SSD 1920x1080 [/td] [td]The game ran without incident on default settings. 💖 - AD is healthy [/td] [/tr] [/table]

Hard to get used to at first, but drifting is really sweet here, also love the night maps Would have liked to buy the soundtrack to support, it's chill game and a chill jam. Loving it all around

I came to review after I saw it had mixed reviews, because I think it deserves I higher rating. I played this game on PS4 when it came out forever ago on PS+. Got randomly reminded of it when I saw it on steam and got it to 100% it cause I liked it so much. At it's core, it's a game about learning it's drift mechanic. I don't know how they did it, but it really hits the simple controls with high skill ceiling that is really satisfying. It is probably 15 hours or so to 100% it on your first playthrough depending on how much you get into getting good scores. I think the visuals and audio design complement the overall game design as well. I would recommend getting it if the trailers or any of the reviews interest you.

A game i got for 1.99$ I figured it would be a drift game with a few tracks and free mode to mess around in but i was surprised to see there is a lot of things you can do in the game more than i had expected. It doesn't take long to beat if you put your mind to it but overall a very good game for the price i had paid! Beat it within hours on record. 10/10

This game is unplayable on controller. the steering, which is the whole point of the game is terrible.

Horrible. The devs have taken something that could have been so good and turned it into an exercise in frustration. Perhaps there is a difficulty setting that I have missed but there is currently nothing 'zen' about this game.

Great game but holy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god is this not for me. I have bad fine muscle control, when i want a 2 i can give anything between a 1 and a 4 and that is just such a bad fit for the gentle controlling needed for this game.

Fun satisfying drifting game. Simple concepts done right.

Takes a second to get used to the drifting controls. Once you figure it out, this game is really lot of fun. I love the art style. It makes the game stand out just a bit from other racers of the same price. This is the type of game you can just pick up and get into immediately. It's easy to play, but hard to master.

Good game. The top-down art style looks great and the driving feels tight. My problem is me: I'm bad at drifting and I don't have the hours to grind out clean lines. That's not the game's fault. If you have some time to practice, or you're just naturally good at this stuff, buy it. The core is solid and the fun is real once it clicks.