Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 07/Apr 03:28

Screamer – Review

Only recently, we took a closer look at two racing games published by NACON, and both were of very varying quality. We had the realistic sim-racer, RENNSPORT, which failed to impress, and we also had Gear.Club Unlimited 3, which was more arcade-like, and proved to be rather entertaining. Both games had licensed cars as their main feature, which seems to be the standard for many modern racing games. The subject of today’s review, Screamer, does things differently by opting for a futuristic theme and original cars. While the game did not hit all the checkpoints, we still had a rather fun time with this one. Story Screamer follows different characters but mainly focuses on the endeavors of the Green Reapers, who join an illegal street racing tournament where the main prize is 100 billion dollars. The tournament is hosted by the mysterious Mr. A, and the participants are carefully screened and selected. What’s more, the cars get equipped with the Echo system, which allows drivers who meet their untimely demise to come back together with their vehicle in one piece, making them ‘respawn’ as it were. The Green Reapers, however, haven’t joined for the money prize, but to exact their revenge on the Anaconda Corporation for killing their mentor and leader, Quinn. Other teams also get highlighted in the story, as well as their motivations for joining the tournament. The flow is fairly pleasant, but we felt like the story didn’t have a proper introduction, making it hard to initially care about the Green Reapers. Graphics Graphically, Screamer is a good-looking game, with an original style. The setting of Screamer is somewhat futuristic in terms of cityscapes and vehicles, while the characters have an anime-like aesthetic. Both styles mesh well together, and we really enjoyed seeing something original in an oversaturated genre of semi-realistic racing games. The neon-like backdrops were gorgeous, and we absolutely loved the polished vehicle designs. Sadly, some of the circuits did feel a bit basic and empty in terms of background action and animations or actual ‘clutter’ on the tracks. Luckily, it didn’t take away from the overall nice-looking experience. The character models were rather diverse and would look great in a dedicated anime series about the Screamer tournament. Sound The sound design of Screamer is quite good, and we were actually surprised by the amount of voice acting in this game. Not only are all dialogues voiced, but all characters speak in their native tongue. This means that in one dialogue, you can hear English, Dutch, and Japanese, as all characters have translators that allow them to understand each other. While the voice acting wasn’t always on point, we still loved the concept, and it did work rather well. The SFX are decent too, but many of the cars do sound very similar, which is a bit of a shame. The biggest disappointment, however, was the soundtrack. Even though some tracks were okay, most of the music sounded very generic and looped really quickly. We miss the days of licensed music for high-octane racing games such as this. Gameplay Screamer is an arcade-like racing game with a heavy focus on its story. While the game does have online functionalities, we have not been able to find a single match so far. There is also no ‘back’ button when you get stuck in an endless matchmaking sequence, making it so that you have to force close the game. That being said, the offset here is very simple: you either pick the story mode or any of the other modes, and you try to come out on top in a variety of races. The game does handle things a bit differently than many other similar titles, as you’ll have to use your right stick for drifting, and there are quick-time events for boosting and attacking. It’s a fun spin on the genre, but it still has a few flaws that prevent the game from being a must-have title. As stated above, Screamer does utilize some original mechanics. Drifting works by using your right stick. We found this system to be very responsive, but we did struggle with accuracy when drifting and taking a lot of corners. Nonetheless, it did feel very intuitive. The same can be said about shifting to the next gear(s). When your meter on the bottom left is almost full, you can shift and get a small speed bonus when you time it just right. While we originally were always watching the screen to see when we had to shift, we eventually noticed the great DualSense controller feedback when it was time to shift. We found ourselves manually shifting based on controller feedback alone. The boost system was a bit trickier to get the hang of, just like performing attacks. Luckily, special skills were easy to trigger. Even though these mechanics were great, we still sometimes couldn’t help but find the game a bit basic at times. You can also dive into the workshop to customize the available cars, but sadly, the options are very limited. You can basically just alter color schemes, and the cool ones are locked behind paywalls. We would have loved to have a bit more control or some more tuning options. It was nice that we still got something, but for an option that is highlighted in the main menu, it felt really barebones. Conclusion Screamer is a competent racing game with a fun theme. Even with its heavy focus on the narrative, Screamer struggles to find its footing at times. Nonetheless, some of the game’s racing mechanics are a breath of fresh air in a genre that often sticks to the same core mechanics. We quite enjoyed the original shifting and boost system, and even the addition of basic combat was quite nice too. The visuals, however, are what truly made the game a unique experience. If you’re into more niche racing games, then Screamer might be worth checking out. All in all, Screamer is a decent racing game.