Slipstream Review (Xbox Series S)
Our Slipstream Review introduces the console gamers to Slipstream a racing game inspired by the visuals, music, games, and cars from the late 80s and early 90s. It’s built on a custom game engine, with an authentic retro feel and unique graphics. The soundtrack, drawing from synthpop and jazz fusion influences, sets the tone for a race across a variety of exotic locations from all around the world, including cities, deserts, forests, mountains, and beaches.
Slipstream Review Pros:
- Beautiful pixel art graphics.
- 928.3MB download size.
- 1000 Gamerscore.
- Racing gameplay.
- Optional tutorial area.
- Local leaderboards.
- Graphics settings – video effects (none/pixel/CRT/NTSC/pixel + NTSC/CRT + NTSC), screen tilt, screenshake, game speed and VHS effect on or off.
- Can use Kmh or Mph metrics.
- Rebind controls.
- Uses a rewind system to undo mistakes.
- The gameplay is Outrun meets Tokyo Drift.
- Multiplayer supports – grand Prix, Single race, cannonball, and Battle Royale.
- Single-player supports – grand Prix, single race, grand tour, cannonball, time trial, and battle royale.
- Grand tour is like the story mode where you get rival interactions and the road forks allowing you to pick your route just like in Outrun.
- Battle Royale is a mode where the last placed player gets eliminated at the end of every randomized stage.
- 15 racing locations.
- Grand Prix has two ways to play – stock cars where you can’t upgrade cars or win money and Custom cars where you can earn money and upgrade cars.
- Cannonball is a mode that connects a load of random stages together and you can tweak the settings for traffic density, racer amount, rivals amount, and how many tracks to race.
- Five cars each with unique baseline stats, they don’t have the official names but they look like familiar car brands.
- Drifting can be done manually or automatically.
- 3 classes to race by which act like difficulties – light medium and heavy.
- Time trials use a ghost system for the best times.
- Fast loading times.
Slipstream Review Cons:
- The screen tilt can be vomit-inducing and is on by default.
- No online leaderboards.
- Only 5 cars to choose from.
- The tracks are actually quite short and a Grand Tour run can take like 15 mins.
- Little variation in actual course layouts.
- The music is not for everyone.
- Only one driving view.
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Slipstream:
Developer:ansdor’s page
Publisher: Blitz works
Store Links –
- Graphics - 9/109/10
- Sound - 9/109/10
- Accessibility - 8/108/10
- Length - 9/109/10
- Fun Factor - 9/109/10
Summary
Slipstream is very much a love letter to the classic game Outrun, but instead of just being a carbon copy it adds in a very satisfying Tokyo Drift style umm drift system so corners become these spectacles and the corners become a hot spot for creativity. With many game modes, you can do a more story-based race through events, the usual single races and time trials are here with a spin on Battle Royale which let’s face it is just the last car standing with a new name but anyway, Cannonball adds a string of events together and over Slipstream offers a lot of variety. It is however such a shame that the variety of events is not so forthcoming in the actual courses for these all feel the same but with a different backgrounds, I put the automatic drift option on, and all of a sudden I went into a weird trance where I just instinctively pull off drifts because it felt very Deja Vu on every location courses. Online racing is available but not online leaderboards so that’s a weird one. Overall Slipstream is perfectly fine in small doses and does mix up the racing nostalgia somewhat but the course design is repetitive and the music wasn’t for me.
