Ever since the 80s, 3D arcade racers have been one of the more popular game genres. While these days, the more open world releases like Need For Speed and Burnout have dominated the market, many still love the track-based old school arcade racers inspired by the likes of SEGA’s classic Out Run. So it’s no surprise that it’s the latter that gives inspiration to Speed Factor, the latest release from Ratalaika Games…
Overview
Speed Factor is a retro-styled (namely 16-bit) arcade racer, and just like its predecessor Steel Racer, instead of taking a true 3D approach to the visuals, all of the cars and trackside objects comprise of scaled 2D sprites just like all the old classic racers found on the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and in the arcades in the late 80s and early 90s.
There are a total of 50 tracks, split over 5 themed terrains. Each track comprises of varying numbers of laps and it’s you against 19 other CPU controlled cars. Depending on your final race position you’re awarded cash and a trophy for placing in the top three positions. The ten tracks in each theme can be raced in any order but the final one can only be raced once you have come first in a set number of the earlier races. Win this and the next set is unlocked.
Game Progression
The first time you start Speed Factor you’re presented with a set of three save slots you can use and then moving into the game properly it begins in what can be best described as a huge warehouse-sized garage. Instead of selecting everything from a series of menus as you would expect from most racing games, you control your driver who can walk freely around the garage and deciding how to play the game. Resembling a platform game, the main part of the garage has platforms connected by ladders, each with a series of doors, with a race behind each of them. Simply walk up to them, push up and you race on that track.
Before you enter the door, if you stand in front of it you’ll be presented with details of the race including a course map, how many laps it is, and your best lap and overall race times. Depending on how well you have done, you’ll also see if you’ve managed to secure a trophy for first, second or third place.
Race Time
I already mentioned the race structure briefly, but these are fairly straightforward. While you try to navigate your way through the pack of other drivers, you’re provided with a limited supply of nitro boosts that will give you an all important burst of speed. You can pick up more as you race as well as randomly placed instant boosts that activate automatically.
As well as this you will need to keep an eye out for fuel cannisters scattered around to make sure you can reach the end of the course, and cash (again spread out randomly). As well as the cash pick-ups, you’ll get an additional cash bonus depending on your final race position.
Once you’ve build up enough cash, this can be used in the shops that can be found at various locations in the garage. Each shop has a selection of items that can be purchased to upgrade your car, ranging from increased nitro capacity, higher acceleration and top speed and other enhancements. Finally, in addition to the new areas that are unlocked, new cars are unlocked along with each new themed stage, each with a new look and different handling.
Speed Factor – A Case Of Deja Vu?
A cursory glance at the screenshots here may give you the impression that this is nothing more than a re-skin of Steel Racer and not a brand new game. In fact, I thought that myself when I first looked at it and watched the trailer online, and even on my first play through of it. With the same development team behind it – with the exception of the composer – it feels as if all that has been done to Steel Racer is tweaks to the graphics and sound and the design of the cars. Even the tracks themselves have been duplicated.
Fortunately, when you start playing, it’s evident that some work has been put in to add some new twists to Speed Factor to make it a new game in its own right. Multiple cars are now available instead of different paint jobs and each of these handle differently and while the car you start off with feels like it steers like a cow, later ones are much better giving you an incentive to persevere to unlock them.
When it comes to the aesthetics, while the graphics are generally of the same high standard as before, speech has now been added and while it’s not a major difference, it’s a nice new touch at the start of races. The final thing – and this is a major gameplay change – is the additional of fuel. As well as nitros you now need to manage fuel usage for your car and make sure you get all the fuel pickups while you race so you don’t run empty before the finish line, adding an extra touch to the gameplay.
Playability
Speed Factor certainly delivers when it comes to playability and is a fun, addictive racer and will keep you coming back constantly eager to beat your best times and determined to beat every track the game has to offer. I definitely found that to be the case and kept going, replaying tracks over and over until I’d smashed first place in all of them and getting every car and unlockable that I could. But with all that said, it’s not without it’s issues…
I mentioned earlier that you don’t have to race the tracks in order as you would in most arcade racers. That gives you an incredible amount of flexibility when it comes to playing the the game exactly how you want to, but it also breaks the flow of it when it comes to unlocking new cars and stages because of the way the tenth track in each stage becomes available to race. It’s quite possible to win 6 races, then complete the tenth and move on to the next stage with a new car unlocked without having to finish the first ten races.
Not Quite The Perfect Racer…
While I had a great time playing Speed Factor, it’s not perfect. Far from it, in fact. No matter how badly you drive, or what car you choose, your vehicle seems to be pretty much indestructible. You can hit as many of the other cars that you like and the worst that will happen to you is that you slow down momentarily. And if you do stray from the track, don’t worry about hitting any of the trackside objects as your car seems to pass straight through them!
Next up is the HUD. You’ve got plenty of information being displayed including the rev counter, your speed, fuel gauge, lap time, how many laps, your race position and how many nitros you have remaining… but there’s no onscreen map of the track. It just feels as if there is everything else apart from the one thing that you would find more useful than most of the other information. And with a little adjustment to the layout it should have been possible to fit one on.
Finally, I have to be honest and say that I found Speed Factor to be far too easy to complete. I finished it on the normal difficult setting within a few hours, and never came lower than first place in more than one or two races. Changing the difficulty setting to hard made no difference. Granted, I’ve been used to playing this type of racer since the 80s, but that can’t have really helped me that much can it?
Trophy Trauma *
While this is available across a range of formats, I tested Speed Factor on the PlayStation 5. I’ve made no secret in the past that I’m not one for being obsessed over collecting in-game trophies (and this has always been the case since they were first introduced on the PlayStation 3). However, I do understand that there will be people who will buy indie games just because of easy-to-get trophies (and achievements for XBox owners).
And here they couldn’t be easier. Even though there are 50 tracks in the game, you only need to complete 30 of them to unlock all the trophies on the PS4 or PS5 (and I would presume the equivalent achievements). Even playing at a more relaxed pace, this means that you’ll be able to get everything unlocked within a couple of hours without the need to complete the whole game.
Surely something more challenging would have given the game more longevity, needing the game to be completed outright, first place on all the races, or even time targets for the races? For some of the harder trophies you want to feel as if you’ve earned them, rather than just get them for playing the game normally.
Game Over?
Trophies aside, Speed Factor is relatively short from start to finish and I was able to complete all 50 tracks and unlock everything in under four hours playing at a fairly casual pace. You’re then awarded one final in-game trophy, a celebratory message from the developers in a locked area of the garage and a cash bonus and a new car upgrade.
Even though you’ve already completed the game at this point, the upgrade does give some extra replayability to the game giving you the incentive to go back to all of the tracks once more to try and beat your previous track records.
Overall
Even though Speed Factor proved to be a relatively short game when played through from start to finish, I still found it to be a fun and engaging arcade racer that had me hooked from start to finish. It certainly gave me plenty of solid entertainment for more than a few hours, and the replay value given from the final upgrade certainly makes it worth the £4.99 asking price. And for those of you considering getting this for the PlayStation, it’s Cross Buy as well so you get both the PS4 and PS5 versions for the price of one!
The copy of Speed Factor used for this review was kindly provided by Ratalaika Games.
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