Welcome to our review of Redout, a long time coming and finally out on Nintendo Switch! We played it and loved it!
Race Faster Than Ever!
Redout is a freakishly fast and uncompromising anti-gravity racing game, designed to be as challenging and satisfying as the best games in the vertigo-soaked futuristic arcade racing genre. Each turn, slope and twist applies a unique force to your vehicle, and players can drift and pitch the ship to minimize friction, channeling those forces into even greater forward velocity.
The courses combine the efficiency of low-polygon structure with the eye candy of state-of-the-art shading, lighting and special-effects animation. The result? Breezy coastlines, eerie frozen landscapes and vast desert plains, all peppered with the flying sparks, electrical arcs and blazing exhaust of Redout racing intensity.
Redout is finally here! Redout has had quite the adventure to finally be available on Nintendo Switch and it was even called a vaporware title. I admit even I was pleasantly surprised to be given the review code for the purpose of this review, a surprise that ended up becoming more of a positive experience, to say the least.
In the style of classics like F-Zero and Wipeout, Redout too is a futuristic racer and it performs rather well! As it’s a racing game, I will be discussing mostly graphics and gameplay as it does not really reinvent the hot water in this genre.
First off, graphics, this might be the weirdest part of this game. The focus seems to be framerate rather than visuals and it shows. Nothing wrong with that, just that at certain parts of the game, you will clearly notice the overall quality go down, but at the same time, the action is so high-octane, that it really does not matter.
What I adored, is how the backgrounds have full 3D like characteristics and move along with the action. When you hit a loop, the background fully moves with your ship, same for those awesome moments that you are driving upside down! In one of the very first levels, you will see the distant buildings slowly move. Each one seemingly independent of the others. I would recommend looking up a video of this part and rewatching it a few times. It is truly impressive!
Next up, gameplay. Redout is rather basic in this aspect and aside from its two-button speeding system, it is mostly “nothing out of the ordinary”. I love the ability to play with a turbo boost, but nothing that has not been tried and done and to a certain level even perfected. Redout is fun once you get used to the mechanics and it won’t take you too long to figure it all out.
A noteworthy mention is the vast amount of racing options, to give you just one awesome example, there is an instagib racing option. You only get one life, you can not destroy your ship and need to race to the end without crashing too often. Pick how many laps you want and just do your best to stay on top of things. Again, how awesome is this?
As a racing game though, the game is just another pea in the pod. Mind you Redout is a great game, just nothing special that you will keep playing for weeks or months even. The big elephant in the room, it is no F-Zero or Wipeout, it is Redout. A Game that stands firm on its feet in the genre!
In conclusion, Redout might not reinvent the hot water, but it does a great job at heating things up and keeps you invested! I had loads of fun and despite my many crashes in the beginning, I just kept playing. Redout might be one of the best racing games on Switch right now!
