[quote][h2][b]At the moment, Pretend Cars Racing is a bit of fun for a couple of hours or two, but with the addition of visible leader boards in the next update, this should increase the longevity. The next obvious update would be online play which I hope is on the road map. [/b][/h2][/quote]
[h1]🎬Gameplay Video🎬[/h1]
https://youtu.be/YjSyldJ8_cY
I like a bit of Micro Machines arcade action and this is what attracted me to this title. There’s quite a lot of content with twenty-six tracks, three AI difficulty levels, five different car classes, a career mode, fastest lap, and options for two players, or a mixture of player and AI, to play against each other through split screen locally, or with remote play. Unfortunately, there’s no online play currently.
It also plays on the Steam Deck.
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[h1]🕹️Gameplay🕹️[/h1]
[h2] 🏁 Career Mode 🏁 [/h2]
This is where you’ll probably spend most of your time. In each car class, race three different circuits against AI opponents and finish in the top three, out of a field of seven, at each venue to continue on to the next class. There are five different race classes, each getting faster as you progress.
Three difficulty levels exist, but once you complete the career mode on one difficulty, it will unlock it for all difficulties. It would have been nice to lock the tracks under each difficulty to give you some sense of achievement, as completing most of the classes on beginner is quite easy, and after that was completed, there wasn’t much else to aim for.
I actually preferred the slower to medium paced cars, as the faster cars are too fast for the very narrow circuits and tight bends. In the Formula One class, I found the long chassis created lots of over steer, and for some reason when you came up to a corner, the camera would zoom in giving you little time to react. A new mini map has been introduced recently, but it’s in the wrong position on the screen for you to see whilst driving. It needs to be placed more centrally.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2946721324
If you go off course, your car becomes very difficult to handle, and it is sometimes quite difficult to get the car back on the track. This doesn’t seem to happen to the AI vehicles though! If you get stuck on a barrier, you can reverse, but using reverse was inverted. It just went in the opposite direction to where I wanted, so an option in settings to have it one way or the other would be nice.
Racing on the hardest difficulty was manageable, and a top three position is easily within reach. There wasn’t much clean overtaking going on. You’ll find you are constantly barging into other cars, although this doesn’t seem to matter much as you don’t see cars flying off the track through collisions. It’s all part of the racing experience, and more like bumper cars than racing cars.
Every so often there is a checkpoint on the circuit which you must drive through, or the lap does not count, effectively putting you out of the race. Depending on where these are, there are obvious short cuts between them which you can take to gain positions and time, even though going across the grass does slow you down. You can cut massive corners in some places, although there are tires and barriers on most of these to stop you doing this, but there are still opportunities to cheat.
[h2] 🏎 Hot Lap🏎 [/h2]
Once you have unlocked all classes in the career mode, you can race any circuit with any car, and compete on the leader board for the fastest lap time. The top ten fastest laps are recorded but currently you cannot see the leader board, you just get notified of where you were placed. I read on the discussion board that visible leader boards are to be implemented in the next update, with boards for each car and track combo, which will really help increase play time for single players. I hope they add friends and global boards, but at the moment, I think it is global only.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2946721406
[b] I am a little worried that players will find shortcuts on the tracks to post ridiculous times though. [/b]
In hot lap you get twenty laps to get on the leader board, and after each lap, you race against your best performance and ghost, which I really enjoyed.
With twenty-six tracks and five different classes, that’s a lot of leader boards to compete on.
[h2] ⭐ Other Modes ⭐ [/h2]
You can compete player against player on split screen locally or through remote play, and you can even add the other AI cars and both race against the pack. Obviously, an online mode would be hugely welcomed and I hope this is on the road map.
A randomized option is available for those who find it difficult to make any decisions, which will throw you into a random track with a random car.
You can pick between eleven preset designs for your car but are unable to pick your own colour and decals.
[h1]🍳Conclusion🍳[/h1]
[quote][h2][b] [i]Pretend Cars Racing[/i] is quite a fun little game if you like arcade micro machine type racing games.
The career mode is relatively easy to beat, and will only take you an hour, so the introduction of new leader boards will be very welcomed, and this is where you will spend most of your time in the future, if you like competing on them.
There are still a few issues to iron out, but it’s definitely on the right track.
[/b][/h2][/quote]
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