Thankfully, Victory Heat Rally<\/i> is more than just appearances. Without hyperbole, this is one of the most compelling racing titles I\u2019ve played in a long time. It\u2019s fast, vibrant, and deftly captures the attention-grabbing magic of old arcade titles. Just by following its development, I knew that Victory Heat Rally<\/i> was going to be a worthwhile title, but I couldn\u2019t imagine it would be this <\/i>good.<\/p>\n The most recent demo, Shakedown Demo Gold, <\/i>is actually a considerable slice of gameplay. While it took me a half-hour to see what I wanted to see, it was more than I expected it to give up. Of the 12 planned racers, three of them are featured in the demo, but only one is unlocked from the start. I lost count of how many tracks there are, but at least more than four of the planned 36.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a career mode that takes you through a series of challenges ranging from avoiding traffic cones to straight-up racing. This culminates in a more standard grand prix event.<\/p>\n After finishing that, you can noodle around with arcade mode or time trial. There\u2019s also multi-player present in the final version. As I said, it won\u2019t keep you going indefinitely, but it\u2019s more than just a quick sampling.<\/p>\n While Victory Heat Rally<\/i> bases itself on the visuals of Super Scalers, I\u2019m reasonably certain the tracks are fully 3D. Early videos showed it using sprite scaling for the tracks, but this seems to have been dropped somewhere down the line. The track design does still harken back to Power Drift<\/i> with its looping design and tall bridges. Likewise, the cars are all still 2D, as is the set dressing at the side of the road. The aesthetic is still there, even if the technique isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Another carry-over is an absolutely mad camera system. It tilts and rolls in with the car in a way that isn\u2019t seen very often today. Probably because it likely induces motion sickness in anyone vulnerable. I don\u2019t have a problem with it, possibly since I\u2019ve had a lifetime of watching movement with a stationary body. However, anyone who does have trouble with the effect can turn it off in the options.<\/p>\n For people like me who prefer young people to stay off their lawn, there\u2019s a pixel scale option in the video menu. While this may be for performance purposes, I liked playing with it off. It essentially makes the sprite rotation less smooth and distant objects feel more pixelated. Sort of like a low-resolution 2D game. What I\u2019m saying is it heightens Victory Heat Rally\u2019s<\/i> retro look. If you love the arcade aesthetic, make sure to switch that off in the options.<\/p>\n But this wouldn\u2019t matter if the driving wasn\u2019t up to standard, and thankfully, it\u2019s great. The drift button is separate from the brake, which is as the Gods of Inertia always intended. The Brake is, after all, a vestigial feature; no one actually uses it.<\/p>\n Drifting isn\u2019t just a good way to get around curves. Victory Heat Rally<\/i> also takes a page from recent Mario Kart<\/i> games and builds up boost while your wheels are shaved down by the pavement. It\u2019s a very similar system in which the longer you hold the drift, the larger your boost will be coming out of it.<\/p>\n While the demo only features three cars, you can tune each one to your liking. I didn\u2019t get that creative, but again, it only took me a half-hour to get through the campaign. Still, you should be able tune the cars to your liking. I just want to see the colorful graphics.<\/p>\n Victory Heat Rally<\/i> feels like this branch of racing games that just never grew. We got 3D graphics, and then everyone seemed to agree that we\u2019re just going to make simulators now, and truly unique and outlandish racing games are the outlier. Motorstorm<\/i> and Burnout<\/i> are basically as ridiculous as cars get recently, and both of those properties are just dead. We\u2019ve still got Mario Kart<\/i>, so that\u2019s something.<\/p>\n I want Victory Heat Rally<\/i> to be a massively influential title that spurs on a wave of cartoony arcade racers. It probably won\u2019t be, but talking enthusiastically about something is all I can really do to try and make that a reality. I just love it so much, and I can\u2019t wait until the full version comes out.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how long that will be. The Shakedown Demo Gold<\/i> is a few months old, but there isn\u2019t much indication on when the finished version is coming. Things have slowed down because the core developer has become a parent, and they\u2019re trying to practice healthy working habits. I can respect that, but I\u2019m really looking forward to playing more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rainbow beach racer I\u2019d be surprised if Victory Heat Rally didn\u2019t catch your eye. It\u2019s an intoxicatingly colorful and energetic-looking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":373876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","ub_ctt_via":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[190],"tags":[19109,19112,19726,19156,22506],"internal-label":[],"invoiceable_action":[],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[{"id":17,"display_name":"Zoey Handley","user_nicename":"adzuken"}],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Header_VirtualHRcropped.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","author_info":{"display_name":"Zoey Handley","author_link":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/author\/adzuken\/"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Header_VirtualHRcropped.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373831"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373884,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373831\/revisions\/373884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373831"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=373831"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=373831"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=373831"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=373831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Victory](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen_VictoryHR07cropped.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
Super Scaler power<\/h2>\n
![\"Victory](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen_VictoryHR02cropped.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
Stay off my lawn<\/h2>\n
![\"No](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen_VictoryHR06cropped.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
Happy wheels<\/h2>\n
![\"Victory](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen_VictoryHR04cropped.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
The Lost Arcade<\/h2>\n