There are many types of racing games; realistic, simulator, arcade, cart, and others. But one of my favorites is the breakneck speeds of futuristic hovercraft racing, like Wipe Out and F-Zero. Redout came out years ago and was fairly well received. This year, Redout 2 has arrived with crisp graphics, some new features, and a solid soundtrack. While it isn’t revolutionary or top-of-the-class, it’s still a lot of fun.
When first booting up the game, the tutorial that shows the basics and the new elements that Redout 2 introduces compared to other racing games that are like it. After that introduction, there is a fairly straightforward campaign, a few multiplayer modes, an arcade and a time trial mode. All the modes are fairly challenging and force players to concentrate and utilize the new mechanics. Redout 2 definitely has a steep learning curve, the new mechanics are very impactful and can affect the winning or losing a race a lot more than most people would expect. But overall, players can go through a very similar grind that all racing games offer with a progressively difficult campaign and simple multiplayer modes. I do wish for at least one more unique game mode that utilize the up and down pitch mechanics or other things like that that Redout 2 offer, but the game modes available now are just fine.
As for the actual moment-to-moment racing, Redout 2 to doesn’t feel as tight as Wipe Out, but it is still plenty of fun. Races are fast and the AI feels smarter in their racing skill than generally faster than you, which is nice. The tracks look really great and help sell that sense of speed. However, I found some of the jumps to be inconsistent and unfairly tough at times. I was able to play one or two games online, but it was hard to find players and it wasn’t terribly stable. I would assume that things will improve over time as they work on bugs. It was still relatively fine to play online, but the player base was quite thin when the week I was trying to play.
Redout 2 offers a really fun and risky experience that goes through very similar beats and objectives as many games before it have done. The actual racing runs pretty smoothly but lacks a little bit of polish. If you are in love with racing games or want an introduction to this specific genre of racing, then Redout 2 can be quite entertaining. However, it won’t offer really anything new except for some minor gameplay variations and can take some real dedication and time to dive into what the game is truly about.
