Screamer

This game is so so good. In a world where arcade racing is pretty much limited to Forza Horizon and indie titles, this is something that actually feels very well developed and polished, as well unique and interesting. This game is such a breath of fresh air in this stale fart of a genre. This game takes risks, has a well written story (just get passed the 1st prologue chapter, I promise) and well thought out combat mechanics with driver passives that will have you actually playing differently base on which character you choose to play as. The gameplay is solid but it does take some adjusting to since it handles pretty differently from any other racing game I've played. The best I could compare it to is Redout with the twin analogue steering. The balance between drifting and fighting, as well as the active shift mechanic really add a lot of depth to the races that I enjoy. Having the team races not just be decided by placement but also total knockouts is a fantastic idea, as the race for first is just as important as the chaos of the pack and its tendency to turn into a meat grinder. The soundtrack kicks ass, lots of varying genres with songs that feel like they fit the characters well. Anaconda Corp is particularly interesting to pay attention to, I feel like they real have that sinister vibe that gives a little hint to each characters true intentions. This game deserves so much better than it got. I know $80 is too high, I waited til the deluxe went for $50 and thought that was fair. The quality is so good, I just pray that there's enough interest and buzz for a sequel for them to take another stab at it. Act 3 is wild, I NEED a follow up.

I like this game. It's fun, unique, colorful. I play on an Xbox controller it works great. I like this game's creativity and all the different factions. HOWEVER! I wish this game offered additional background information on all the different drivers. It would have been cool to read about each person with a short description before starting the campaign, and this could have easily fitted in the gallery section. I like this story although I feel like the story had the potential to be the succulent meal but it was watered down due to the lack of background context to help explain the setting of the story. I would have liked to see more cutscenes, I think the art style looks amazing. But, this is a racing game so I need more racing than cutscenes to balance it out. I grew up playing a lot of racing games, I find this game hard to compare to different games in the genre which I like personally. I would only buy this game if it's on sale, which I did.

Stra divertente, ma la curva di apprendimento è bella tosta.

In my honest opinion, this game's nailed fecking everything. The characters, the story, physics, tracks, overly complex controls, sense of speed, soundtrack, vehicle desing, aesthetics... Man, I genuinely thought I'd never see another good arcade racing game that wasn't a kart racer, like, ever again

Really wanted to like it but after playing for 60+ mins I was still working on tutorial shenanigans and the storyline wasn't hooking me. I was expecting an anime burnout paradise experience from the trailers so i was bummed out. Might be for someone but it isn't for me.

Screamer blares forth with shrieking engines and a high-octane campaign... but doesn't have enough staying power to keep itself in the race. What drew me to this game was the anime vibes, the corporate cyberpunk narrative, and the sheer coolness of just drifting whenever. The art direction is top notch, and the fact that each character is fully voice acted, has their own theme music and unique car, goes to show that Milestone wanted to create something that had unmistakeable pizzazz. The gameplay at its core is quite fun to get the hang of, though you will struggle at first. You'll go banging into walls as you get adjusted to the twin stick drifting, or you'll just straight up explode the first time you learn how Overdrive works. What I did is intersperse the main campaign episodes with an arcade race so I could get the hang of the game more quickly. Speaking of that campaign, it's good but extremely linear. The point of a tournament arc as the main driving force of a campaign with unique teams is that you want each team to have a fair shot at winning. But I think due to budget constraints, they had to focus more strongly on the Green Reapers. They tried their best to highlight the other teams and their personal narratives too, though. But for the ending... without spoiling anything, besides a grand reveal, it feels rushed and any more interesting plot developments are left for a potential sequel. At the ending of the campaign, I also paused for a moment. Did I want to dive into the multiplayer? Become a Screamer Legend? And that's when I realized that I was rather full and I'd gotten my fill. I don't know if Screamer is worth the 60 euro price tag, but it was a fun experience while it lasted.

This review is a bit of a strange one for me. I did enjoy this game, but for the most part I believe it's because I'm a sucker for story games. This story was difficult to follow in the beginning. It felt with each chapter that I was grasping at straws trying to commit everything to memory as it was being shown to me. I get that this sort of thing is inevitable when you have multiple teams, all with their own motivations, stories, and pasts, and then put them all together into one tournament. It really feels that they tried to have an explanation for EVERYTHING in the game, whether they expand on it or not. Like the universal translators. They were applied inside the citizens, and that's about all we get of it. Apart from the fact that Gage also has a "dog" setting to understand his dog Fermi. I will say that as the teams lessened and the story started to come together to a point, it was getting better and better. I was surprised towards the end how the story of the game was constantly raising the stakes and anticipation until the climactic finale. It did make it seem like struggling to hold onto all of the story at once was worth it in the end. One of my favorite things about the story is how they wrote the "unbeatable" character: Noboru Sato. Absolutely brilliant and I loved seeing him overcome his struggles with trauma in real time! His car was my favorite to drive and felt the best for me, which makes sense considering the best Screamer likely would have the "best" car. The way they wrote him off of the tournament felt natural enough and made sense. They did not give the main characters some ridiculous or unearned powerup to overcome the unstoppable. I also really enjoyed the concept of the Screamers' reactions to dying and reviving via the Echo. It's never some insignificant event and brings both terror and exhilaration. Furthermore, I loved that each Screamer had their own unique ability that was unlocked by their Echo reacting to them. -------------- Now for the actual gameplay: This does feel like an arcade racer, and I truly enjoy the drifting and boosts that each car has. You can FEEL that each car has its own purpose. I had to take a while to get used to the handling of the cars after playing another game that focuses on drifting: Inertial Drift. Of which, that is still my favorite for drifting mechanics. I have yet to try online play, mostly because when I attempted to play online I was stuck waiting 5+ minutes for it to find me a lobby before deciding to call it quits. The designs of the cars themselves are BEAUTIFUL. Seriously some of the BEST designs I've seen for cars in any game I've played! Each and every car is a marvel in its own right for their amazing designs. All in all, I'd say this game is like a 7/10. It was very fun for me going through the story mode, but now I don't know if I'd replay it much.

Non un brutto gioco, ma mediocre se considerate aspettative e potenziale. La storia risulta noiosa e tirata per le lunghe. I dialoghi rallentano il tutto e spesso risultano anche abbastanza imbarazzanti: banali per un pubblico adulto, volgari per uno minore. Il sistema di guida può risultare macchinoso e per quanto cambi lo scenario in sottofondo, anche le piste sono abbastanza tutte simili. Qualcuna ha qualche tornante in più ma poco cambia dall'una all'altra. La personalizzazione delle auto è estremamente banale, e anche molto limitata. In sintesi: divertente inizialmente, ma stanca anche abbastanza rapidamente. Giochino che non consiglio a nessuno a prezzo intero. Può risultare divertente per 20€ per una serata tra amici...