XF Extreme Formula

TL:DR - XF Extreme Formula (XFEF) tries really hard to be F-Zero GX and it succeeds in some key areas but fails short in others. I'll still recommend it for those F-Zero fans that will find a lot to love here, but what could have been... The full skinny... I'm a fan of the F-Zero series going back to the SNES days of old. F-Zero GX is still the best in the series IMO although F-Zero X is a classic. Seeing XFEF was like a blast from the past especially considering Nintendo has no desire what-so-ever to make a sequel to GX even though Sega reportedly was excited to team up with Nintendo again to make another. The only F-Zero Nintendo cares about these days is F-Zero 99, which looks insane from what I saw of it, but that's not the F-Zero I want to play. XFEF has a lot to make F-Zero fans happy. The 30 cars on the grid are there, the speed is there, the music is overall great, many of the tracks I raced on were good and there is a good bit of content available. The game looks like F-Zero, it feels like F-Zero, this is probably the closest we're going to get to F-Zero on PC short of emulation. So yeah, initially I was happy...initially. My problems started with the controls. XFEF doesn't offer any customization options for the controls but I fell back on Steam Input to attempt to salvage some issues I was having. See, the problem is the devs copied the controls of F-Zero X/GX wholesale, warts and all. Some fans may call blasphemy on this but bear with me. F-Zero X/GX has always had a really aggressive sensitivity and a strafe that could be suspect at times. Some would argue that this is necessary due to the speed of the game but WipeOut would beg to differ. The controls were fine in 1998 when F-Zero X debuted. It was all we had for F-Zero so fans got used to it. In 2026, this control setup is suspect. We've all been there. You're coming down a straight, fast. You see the turn, you try to ease slightly to glide your car into the turn keeping your racing line but the sensitivity sends you right into the wall. Worse if you let go of the gas. You try to adjust, the sensitivity sends you into the opposite wall. It's infuriating. XFEF copies this direct from F-Zero X/GX. The strafe only kinda sorta works which has always led me to believe that air brakes in WipeOut were better and more reliable in practice. In 2026 these control mechanics suck and it's made worse because there are no options in-game to customize. In order to win in XFEF you have to play like it's 1998 or 2003 (when GX debuted). It was awesome back in the day. Not so awesome today. BallisticNG came to mind while playing XFEF. Ballistic is a shameless copy of WipeOut but it's really fun to play with a lot of great ideas in it. One of the things the devs for BNG did that's fantastic are the wealth of options to customize the controls. Meaningful options that allow for more nuanced control at speed, making the racing really satisfying. That made a good game, great. XFEF isn't there but to be fair, maybe it will get there in future. But as it stands, It's no fun playing any game that requires you to fight with the controls. Nostalgia only gets you so far. So yeah, I won a few races, did a few time trials, completed a number of challenges in the Proving Grounds. It wasn't bad, it's just XFEF didn't feel as good to play in 2026 because the controls felt dated and I couldn't change anything. Even with that said, I'd still recommend it though. In it's current state the game isn't for me considering the laundry list of anti-grav racers I've played over the years, from WipeOut, to RedOut, to Fast Fusion (Now THAT was a lot of fun) and others. But, I could definitely see people loving XFEF that never played F-Zero before or people that just want old school F-Zero on PC. The other aspect that kinda turned me off was the story mode. I get it, F-Zero GX had a story mode too and it was over-the-top with characters that looked like they stepped straight out of a comic book. The only thing about that story mode is F-Zero GX never lost focus on what mattered most. The racing. In XFEF when I started fighting thugs in the sewers and robots were shooting at me, I was over it. I don't really care for the story because it's taking me away from the racing and the characters I've seen so far aren't designed well enough or are written interestingly enough for me to care. I just want to race.

I've been looking for a worthy successor to F-Zero X and GX for ages, and XF Extreme Formula was exactly what I'm looking for. Very good racing mechanics, super smooth controls, great sense of speed, this game just has it all. I loved my time with it.

First ever review I'm giving! I was looking for a new racing game to pick up and found this one through Spark 3, and I wanted to try out some more of Feperd's stuff. For reference in terms of playtime, I just finished the story. However, I will absolutely be putting in more hours because this game is awesome! Not only does the racing itself feel incredible and insanely well responsive, the OST is amazing (and I will be listening to it regularly now), and the sci-fi environments and characters of this universe are very creative and unique. It's absolutely perfect for any space lovers. You will require patience to play this game, and I think that's a good thing. You can't easily hop right in and win races, you must spend time learning essentials and practicing. With the right amount of practice, the majority of the story is easy, with some exceptions. Some races towards the end will require several attempts and may be frustrating, but stick with it! There are a few bugs here and there, including some regarding the No-Go zones I've seen mentioned by others. The fact that the only other issue I noticed was minor typos in the English is insanely impressive for a solo developer. Definitely one of the best gaming experiences I've had recently, and I highly recommend you try it!

holy sh*t ! finally a real f-zero sucessor, if not even better... this is the real deal atm. if your into anti grav racers, totally recommended. edit: after playing a while and make some progress in the story mode... the devs know what they did, they know want they wanted, race mechanics, (unique) track design, soundtrack, it´s nearly perfect and you feel the afford, passion & love they put into this. well done... it`s good stuff. and no rubberbanding... a real big +

F-Zero GX is my favorite game and this game is a great spiritual successor. The price is worth it for the arcade mode alone of you love racing games. I haven’t tried story mode but I dig the calendar and time management idea.

this is the best F-Zero GX styled experience ive ever played (eschewing GX itself), thanks feperd :D

Not too far into the game yet, but the racing is very fun / satisfying, probably the closest we'll ever get to another F-Zero. The beat em' up sections are kind of whatever, not a huge fan of them. Soundtrack is very good.