Victory Heat Rally

Aiden Cid leck Eier

Short game, but it's very fun. Everything about it oozes fun. The character designs, the sound, the driving, all of it. It's also got splitscreen if you like that.

Wanted to get my two criticisms out of the way as I believe these can be easily fixed: 1. I'm wondering if there's a memory leak or something happening in the backend, because after playing a while, I notice a bunch of stages have framerate drops. I know for a fact it's not a hardware problem on my end, so I don't think it's a stretch to update the game and address the framerate issues; 2. Time Attack allows you to randomize the time of day when you select a track, but it always starts with the daytime filter; you'll only see the sky change colours when you reset [i]after[/i] starting the race. Kind of annoying. All that said, VHR is an excellent retro-styled racing game, proudly wearing its [i]Daytona USA[/i] inspiration on its sleeve. Because drifting is an essential mechanic, most characters are at their best when you max out Acceleration and balance Speed and Handling (unless you play as Pepe). But since you're having so much fun drifting through the Japan tracks, unlocking the incredibly attractive female characters and all your car colours (I am biased and I don't care), I doubt the 'lack of variety' in car builds will deter most players. Certain kinds of 'people' tried to cancel the VHR developers because they don't think killing someone over political opinions is a good idea, and that's why I ended up buying it in the first place. After playing to 100% completion, I can say for sure you will have a great time playing this game. (It even has local multiplayer!)

Muito divertido, nesse jogo tu nem chega a encostar no botão de freio, quanto mais drifts tu fizer(encher o medidor) mais rapido tu vai, a arte do jogo em ser pixelada com objetos 2d é muto massa. Sobre a história, [spoiler] ela é legalzinha, mas bem curta, basicamente é só fazer as turnês e tirando x1 com outros competidores,[/spoiler] modo coop local é mt bom, da pra jogar no teclado e controle simultâneos. e é fácil de platinar 10/10

Retro arcade perfection

I love this so much. Challenging but never feels unfair. Very satisfying, even in small “bite sized” races.

This is the game that made me realize that I love rally-style racing games. You'll be immediately drawn to the aesthetics, but you'll stay for the gameplay.

This game kicks ass. One of the best 1-player campaigns I've seen in an arcade racer. Drifting feels great, and has a great sense of speed. The game feels very fair and love that it has some arcade racer aspects like boosting, but no offensive/defensive items. The soundtrack is really awesome, and the art and vibe overall is a breath of fresh air

--Mixed Review-- This is a nice retro themed concept that really nails the visual, environmental, and sound design, as well as having a good sense of speed, and these are the strongest selling points. However, the rest of the game is let down by missing so many basic features it’s a bit baffling. [h3]Lack of Info:[/h3] For starters, the biggest frustration is just how little info the game gives you w/ your race results: 1. You only know what place/medal you got by the color of the Goal! text. 2. You never know how close behind 2nd was when you finish, or the finish times of any other ai for that matter. Additionally, if you’re doing a rally (time-trial) or another side event that is scored, it won’t even tell you how close or far you were to the gold medal. 3. In the world map, you don’t know how many stars you have for the event until you drive your car over to it. All of these decisions are genuinely baffling and I cannot comprehend how a game released in 2024 refuses to communicate this basic information to you. [h3] Handling and Ai: [/h3] Regarding Handling and AI, I think its decent, it’s similar to drift boosting in Mariokart but w/ some changes. Chiefly, you don’t actually get your driftboost until your car is straightened out, this means that on some “S” sections you can very briefly let go of the drift to change directions and continue charging, however, you don’t get your driftboost until your car straightens out, even if you’re not holding the drift. This makes tight “S” sections feel pretty good but other shallower or drawn-out sections feel pretty bad. As for the ai, they are braindead for the first ¾’s of the career and don’t really get close enough until the final cup and aren’t a challenge until Rallymania (the very final piece of the career) and I really feel like the ai should’ve had better difficulty scaling. Not to mention that even once the ai becomes competent the main challenge of the game either comes from being on a bad car or avoiding the walls. Tapping a wall, even for less than half a second is incredibly punishing as it erases your entire boost gauge as well as a good chunk of speed which also ruins your entry into the next several corners. It’s so bad that even falling off the track is less punishing. On a side note, the camera can get really disorienting on some corners on certain tracks. [h3] Announcer and Rivals: [/h3] Lastly, I think more should’ve been done w/ the announcer and rivals. For starters, the announcer only has 2 sprites and only exists to give a chatgpt summary of the cup, and the rivals are practically non-existent and only have 1 or 2 lines at their introduction and when you take their car. And throughout the cup it points out to you which car is the rival’s but in a grand prix (finale of the cup) when it shows the results screen for the gp standings it only lists them as Rival in a field of Player1,2,3 etc. It just feels like the bare minimum. [h3] Overall: [/h3] I think the aesthetic is great and the core racing combined w/ the sense of speed can be fun but everything else around it just does not hold up. If you’re not fully sold on what you see on the store page then you’re probably better off taking your money elsewhere.

The game is really fun, pick-up-and-play friendly. Everything is honestly good: The controls, the artstyle, the character+stage designs, the music, all good and acceptable. I do got to say I really loved the Rally tracks the most. They were the most enjoyable tracks in the game. I do wish the characters had more time to shine. They look cool and cute but they just have one text and voice line of personality. Maybe more of a VN storytelling or something like XGRA/Star Fox where they have lines and reactions to what you're doing could help them shine more. I'm happy to support a game and idea like this. The main story mode is pretty easy and does only take around 4 hours, though I skipped almost all the side paths, I couldn't even unlock the one character(Lucy) I wanted the most lol. So if you're not truly hooked it could be a hard buy when not on sale.