Digital Shorts: ‘Music Racer Ultimate’ Review (Xbox Series S)
In DIGITAL SHORTS we review some of the latest video games that are only available digitally (at least in the UK), in a short-form review format. In this edition, we take a look at the music-based racing game Music Racer, which has just been released in a new “Ultimate” version.
Music Racer: Ultimate is a dynamic rhythm game loved by millions of players around the world. Rush along futuristic, neon tracks, lining up your drive train to the beat of the music. Racecourses are generated in real-time, meaning the speed and mood of each run are determined by the compositions chosen. Different obstacles and rewards can be attained for each track, tracks which you can drive through in a myriad of cars, including Initial D’s Trueno AE86, K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider, the Delorean from Back to the Future, even a lightcycle from Tron. In fact there’s 25 vehicles to choose from and drive through several different difficulty levels such as Zen, Standard, and Hard difficulty. You can even play Music Racer: Ultimate in a special Cinematic mode to experience the game in a whole new way, enjoying the tunes and the views all at once!
This new “Ultimate” version allows you to use your own music in the game via a WebDAV server (that you can set up from a computer or smartphone), as well as play with music published on the Audius streaming service. Yet even this new addition, the ability to use your own music (which should make things a LOT of fun), still can’t save Music Racer: Ultimate from being a terrible experience.
I’ll be clear. I absolutely LOVE rhythm games, so much so that I have a set-up in my “man-cave” for Guitar Hero (and Singstar for that matter). I also try out every rhythm game I can get my hands on, looking for that next great game. Recently we’ve had games like BPM and Double Kick Heroes which have taken the format in a different direction from your standard “musical” game. The latter was a fantastic example of how the rhythm format can be taken and implanted into different genres – in the case of that game, fighting zombies in an apocalyptic future as a heavy-metal rock band… The former was less successful in melding rhythm games with first-person shooters. And by less successful I meant terrible. And much like BPM, Music Racer: Ultimate tries to blend 80s synthwave racing with a Guitar Hero-esque “hit the notes” style gameplay and fails. Terribly.
Music Racer: Ultimate is less of a rhythm game experience and more of a mid-tier racing game, with the musical aspect not REALLY (if anyone’s honest) factoring into the gameplay at all. OK, so you can hit the “notes” while racing but it’s not like that adds to the game at all. Plus trying to career across the lanes to hit the aforementioned notes is nigh on impossible if you want to be a completist – there’s no way you’re 100% any of these tracks… Maybe if you played the game with an old-school paddle controller but NOT with a joypad!
Ultimately (pun intended), Music Racer: Ultimate is a touch better than BPM but I wouldn’t call either of them a good time.
