Pacer

Of course, visuals are stunning. Speed sensations are actual too in Pacer (ex-Formula Fusion). But there's no more support, no mods, no nothing to it anymore. Nobody plays online, no relevant activity on the Discord. I had fun for a couple of hours, then, at higher levels in campaign, gold medals are unobtainable. Because you have to kill 8 competitors in 5 minutes, which is more than 1.5 per minute, pretty high expectation. On tracks where you get ammunition too rarely, that's frustrating. No solution found on the mighty internet, apart from the classic "use this or that loadout" or the resigned "that's impossible, I've moved on". Besides, this particular mechanism differs pretty much from the original it tries to revive : you get to choose the weapons prior to racing the track. When you race, you can only find ammunition or speed boosts. Some will likely embrace that idea, but I prefer the original, I find that one more challenging (because you can't rely on fire power to win races) and, obviously, the mixed weapons add up to gameplay's interest. On top of that, the power-up pick-up box is too tiny in Pacer, you'll get frustrated often by missing them by only a few inches. At that price point (40 €), you should consider BallisticNG because it's a way better and much cheaper option.

I don't know how you make one of the most stylish, and exciting sub-genres (see: AG Racing) into a flavorless experience, but Pacer absolutely achieves that. This is sadly another game that sat in Kickstarter development hell for years, before it was hastily finalized and unceremoniously dropped on steam and consoles with no fanfare, in the hopes that nobody would notice it exists, so the developers could move onto better things. Playing this game is just very unsatisfying. The game allows you to tune your racer however you'd like, which means that any hyper-powered sled can handle like an anti-gravity cinder-block, or a ♥♥♥♥♥ out rabbit (and for whatever reason, these seem to be the only two ways that your AG racer will handle). While some of the tracks have fun moments and spectacles, they're really underwhelming, even when compared to some mobile games out there (AG Drive comes to mind). I could go on, but the bottom line is that if you're itching for some old school Wipeout/F-Zero action... there's plenty of other, better options. Two Redouts, Fast RMX (on NS), BallisticNG, AR GPX... or you know... Wipeout on the playstation :p. Just, do yourself a favor and avoid this one like the plague. It's like someone took a box of Wheaties and made it into a game. :p

Another Wipeout xl clone. On sale price it gets the job done and I give you my consent to get it... if you like Wipeout clones that is. A lot of content if you enjoy the gameplay loop of the genre.

AG-Driving gamers will enjoy this game, but the game has a very unclear user interface and/or severe bugs that ruin the fun of the game. The developers have thrown in the towel, there will be no more support and/or patches. In addition, the game is expensive, damn expensive for the lousy quality of the code, because every now and then the game crashes completely. So it's a complete ♥♥♥♥ game that only hardcore AG racing gamers should buy because of the Wipeout history. To the developers, just a little bit would have been missing and this would have been a really good game, but to sell it at that price with the bugs is a bit cheeky...

Unfortunately, as an avid fan of the AG racing genre, I can't recommend Pacer. Even with the very short period of time I played, the game almost instantly felt off to me. Unlike the series it was inspired by, the game lacks the "punch" that it's predecessor and even competitors like Redout have managed to capture. The lack of customization, extremely similar teams and craft performance, and poor music choices (along with the sound mixing) make the game feel flat. Mechanically, it's excellent, the game is silky smooth, and looks beautiful in Unreal. The dev's hearts were absolutely in the right place, but as it stands, the game is abandoned, and simply doesn't have the same "feel" that AG veterans will be craving.

the game is overall pretty great i love the game but it has a super serious bug in it where if the game crashes on some occasions the game will delete all of your game save data with no hope of getting it back. this bug has happened to me three times and i cant see myself playing it any further because of that risk of losing hours of gameplay and save data.

[h1]Intro[/h1] This game was a many year journey to witness, it ultimately has left 0 mark on the niche it set its sights on revolutionising, and the management behind it continually and repeatedly torpedoed their own project with marketing buzzwords and huge promises. The final product is a palatable racer that is quickly forgotten amongst its peers. [h3]Formula Fusion[/h3] I followed Pacer during its development as Formula Fusion - R8 games was founded officially by Andrew Walker (remember this name) in November 2014. A Kickstarter was created for Formula Fusion in April 2015, with the reception being overall good, and the game receiving £79k; well over its £35k goal. By the end of 2015 and into early 2016, it seems R8 hired several people, as public records show numerous of the credited developers and artists having shares in R8 given to them, amongst what seem to be a few investors. During this period R8 also appointed Marcus Matusiak as a director in February 2016. Marcus is of note, as it seems he was responsible for most of the coding on Formula Fusion - he resigned his director status shortly after in August 2016. During this period there is not much information I can gather, development and early access builds seem to come gradually. This was until June 1st 2017, where Formula Fusion released. This date is noteworthy, as Wipeout Omega Collection released on June 6th. R8 games clearly rushed their game out the door in some attempt to ensure that they were first to market, and the results weren't great. The reception to Formula Fusions release was lukewarm - most of the Kickstarter promises were not fulfilled and features cut. Backers also had several of the higher reward tiers not fulfilled, which from my recollection R8 also never addressed. The game was clearly in a pretty rough state - it was playable and perhaps even enjoyable, but not the game that was promised, nor what backers or players were expecting. Public records show that at the end of 2017 R8 had racked up £567,222 in net liabilities. [h3]"From The Developers Of Wipeout"[/h3] Now I will touch on something key to the identity of Formula Fusion and Pacer. Andrew Walker, the founder of R8 was a level designer on Wipeout 3. He resigned his director status in R8 on July 31st 2017, the day before Formula Fusion was released. As far as I can gather after searching all credits and public information on the game, Andrew Walker was the sole "Wipeout Developer" on the project. The only other credible factors to this claim are the inclusion of CoLD SToRAGE for the music and TDR for the visual direction. To call Formula Fusion/Pacer a game "from the developers of Wipeout" is not only a half truth, but I would call it an outright fabrication. Furthermore, TDRs page on Formula Fusion indicates that they themselves aren't fans of the Pacer rebrand. [h3]Pacer[/h3] After Formula Fusion flopped in the face of Wipeout Omega Collection, R8 went mostly silent. The game then officially rebranded on the 4th of April 2019, along with many new promises. At year end R8s net liabilities had skyrocketed to £1.3 million. R8 and Pacer were clearly receiving sizeable investment. The Pacer name itself appeared to be done at the suggestion of a marketing agency, along with much of the wider marketing, it seems R8 truly believed the secret to success was throwing money at exposure rather than refining the core product. Its clear that Pacer was trying to (in the words of the executive producer) 'punch way above its weight'. They were haemorrhaging money on a product that was being managed by people that clearly had no idea where to steer the ship. The focus always seemed to be on marketable buzzwords. R8 remained effectively radio silent for the entirety of Pacers development, despite constantly assuring users that 'we will begin doing monthly updates'. It did not instil confidence in the team. One notable piece of drama, amongst others, such someone claiming that students of Teeside University were being used for cheap labour. R8 at their peak of unpopularity decided to verbatim implement some HUD alterations drawn up by one of their community members. A Discord user named eLhabib drew some HUD changes, which R8 took and implemented, without messaging or credit. This was quickly settled with eLhabib, but highlights R8s lack of candour. This marked the umpteenth nail in the coffin for R8s PR. Eventually Pacer was released and on day 1 had a bug that crashed the user to desktop about 8 races in, blocking all progress. R8s management had, by all measurable standards, done everything in their power to sabotage this game. [h3]The Endgame[/h3] R8 shut down almost immediately after release. a few years on in 2023 Long Tale Games purchased the rights to Pacer, and shovelled the game onto their own proprietary launcher. LTG has a history of purchasing dead IPs, seemingly to pad the roster of the launcher in efforts to push crypto/Web3. Even in death Pacer would not be devoid of drama though, as during this period the Xbox version of Pacer was delisted, and an unknown user messaged on the LTG and Pacer Discords stating that there was ongoing litigation between someone at R8 and Long Tale Games regarding the IP. [h1]Positives[/h1] The physics are at least a unique take on the AG racing formula, and depending on the track, can be fun or not. It feels slippery and floaty which makes nailing corners satisfying. The tracks have pretty nice environments and the art team did a good job giving each one a unique style - the tracks developed specifically for the Pacer re-release feel more refined than the earlier Formula Fusion layouts, with the exception of the track Niagra, which plays great. The ships feel mostly interesting, The liveries are great and the customisation is interesting in concept. Overall I'd say the art stands out, the iconography is a weird cyberpunk interpretation of the sort of style TDR did for Wipeout. The music is actually quite good and the total list of tracks is huge. [h1]Negatives[/h1] While the physics have the capacity to be fun, most tracks do not leverage them well at all - the key detriment to Pacers physics over all other AG racers is the sheer amount of slowdown that occurs when cornering. You slow down to a crawl as you try to fight your own inertia, it makes the later speed classes feel incredibly strange as you constantly slow to a near stop and then speed up after every corner. Most tracks do not feel designed for these physics and are simply bland in layout. Pitching (a core part of most AG racers) is totally absent as a mechanic here. The customisation is totally underwhelming and not leveraged by the game in any meaningful way and the weapons are incredibly unbalanced - its very easy to set and forget your loadout. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] R8's management promised the world with Formula Fusion/Pacer, took on huge investments, and ultimately could not deliver the product they promised, despite the claimed expertise and heritage of their team. Upon totally obliterating trust in their product with the shoddy release of Formula Fusion, they doubled down with Pacer and continued to promise they would deliver, and more, whilst refusing to engage, or seek feedback, in any way from their most dedicated users and backers. The sole defining failure of this project was its inability to admit it was an indie title, and develop it as such, instead seeking to wear the suit of a AA/AAA game, with none of the capability. The game itself is symptomatic of this, with the soundtrack, visuals and iconography being expansive and pretty high quality, backed by weak core physics and tracks that do not leverage said physics adequately. Further weakened by an in-depth customisation system that the game itself doesn't really use in any meaningful way. This game can only be recommended if you have truly exhausted all other AG racers of enjoyment - this is not your successor Wipeout.

The career mode was enjoyable up until the "Elite" series, which is just way too fast (and I'd argue F1000 was barely manageble as it was). The vehicles are simply uncontrollable and the AI are on rails so it's pretty much impossible and I just quit there and then. Happy to accept it's a skill issue, just know what you're getting into at the "Elite" level.

Played this game in VR using my quest 3 and UEVR (free unreal engine mod) as it is an unreal engine game. Plays great in VR. This game is really fast and fun. It looks great and is a blast to play in VR. Highly recommended if you have a VR headset. It reminds me of a cross between wipeout and pod racer, which I loved back in the day.

A high-quality anti-gravity racer akin to Wipeout! Really enjoy the progression, customization and career content. Worth full price.