Outracer

A decent F-ZeroX clone for Linux+SteamOS (which is rare). Because I am specifically looking for such-a-game, my review will be a comparison of the two (graphics excluded). Setting up the controls is a bit janky: I tried a generic controller (Nyko AirFlo Ex) and I it would not recognize my Joystick-Right motion while many other games recognize it just fine (Momodora, To the Moon, Jotun, Psychonauts, etc). All preset controllers would leave me spinning in circles. Trying the keyboard controls: Rebinding the space-bar is 'almost' non-functional as it does register as a keybind but reactivates the keybinding act for whatever action you just bound (but it can be 'tricked' to work quickly clicking to a different action in-time). It is actually tied to whatever key is associated with the "ok" confirmation action. Finally I tried my XBoxOne-S controller (as an XBox Preset) but my joystick outright didn't work. However, rebinding it did correctly recognize the joystick-directions and I was finally able to play this game. Handling feels twice as slippery as F-ZeroX. In F-ZeroX I used the left/right attack bumper for strafing left/right on the track and that is simply not present in Outracer. Also, hitting a wall results in a substantial bump in the opposite direction that seems much bigger then in F-ZeroX. While I am not very far into this game, I have no idea how to attack. I don't even think that is implemented in this game. Vehicles bump into things and take damage. That seems to be all there is. I can't begin to explain the fun I've had in F-ZeroX, destroying just about every car on a track (while racing) just because I could. That does not seem to be present here. As a programmer, I feel as though the developer(s) got this game to a runnable state where everything worked fine for them and released it without further testing or improvement. It's sad because it is very close to being a polished game but it seems like theres one little annoyance in every single corner of this game where I just could not outright recommend it.