Liftoff: Drone Racing is clearly aimed at FPV drone veterans while it wants to appeal to a more casual market too. If you’re in doubt to start a new expensive hobby but want to see if FPV drone racing is something for you, you might want to check Liftoff: Drone Racing. So what’s in it for the veterans? Well, perhaps a virtual stage to improve your skills without having to risk your expensive drones. But is the game any good at delivering those promises? Time for play!
A drone is hard to control
First, let’s address the elephant in the room. If you want to control a drone, you’ll better prepare for an extremely steep learning curve. Moving a drone around isn’t an easy job and you’ll need to adjust your way of thinking to that of the drone. Just like in real life, you control your drone with one stick to move it around, make it go higher/lower, or make it turn around its own axis. Depending on the model you’re using, you’ll use the other stick or shoulder buttons to accelerate but if you push just a little too far, your drone will take off at an incredible speed. Before I started this game, I messed around with a drone only once to make some areal shots for our Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit video, which was at an incredible low pace, and even then I needed to learn and master the controls of the drone first. In Liftoff: Drone Racing, it’s even harder.
Since you won’t be flying drones to shoot videos, instead you’ll have to race other drone pilots, this game has a huge learning curve. Needless to say, the tutorial is of incredible importance and it’s the first thing you’ll go through when you first start the game. Guided by the experienced drone pilot Joshua Bardwell, you’ll learn the ropes. It all starts relatively easy with the unlocking of your drone and maneuvering it over easy tracks. Things get a lot harder the more you advance. Full disclosure here, I never could really wrap my head around the controls. The game enables you to take full control over your drone in the so-called ACRO mode where you’re granted full control over your virtual drone. Sadly, it’s something I never achieved and even failed at during the tutorial. I’m pretty sure seasoned drone pilots won’t have any trouble figuring this one out and judging on other gameplay videos online, it’s amazing to see how well some can control their virtual drone. For me personally, I was happy there’s an Assist mode that lets you toggle some options so the game handles the more difficult maneuvers. A welcome addition since I could now finally fly where I wanted to go instead of going straight down.
A lot of content
Although controlling your drone isn’t that easy, the game does come packed with a lot of modes and content to keep you entertained for the next coming weeks. The biggest mode is of course its Campaign Mode where you can enter several competitions. It’s all pretty linear and straightforward but I appreciated the fact that even this mode takes the steep learning curve into consideration. You won’t need to end as one of the first during your first official races but the more you advance, the harder it all gets. It’s during the harder racers that I again found myself struggling to guide my drone in the right directions at a higher pace, even with all assists on, it was pretty hard to maneuver. Now, I’m well aware that this is something a lot of casual players will have to overcome but I’m sure the game is marketed at those who are more experienced with drone racing since it’s clearly a rather deep simulator.
The more races you win, the more parts and the more drones you’ll unlock. I personally didn’t like to change my drone that much as it’s too hard to always adapt to the new parts and mechanics that come with new and improved models. But, for the drone race enthusiastic this must feel like a dream coming true. Thanks to Liftoff: Drone Racing, you’re able to test out some new parts and top-notch drones without having to risk the actual drone. I’m pretty sure this game feels like the perfect playground for those interested and as far as I can tell, the developers really nailed the physics and movements of the drones. Just like in real life, it’s hard to master the controls at such high speed, but once it clicks, it’s extremely thrilling and it will skyrocket your adrenaline.
A lot of variation
What I like most about the game is the amount of variation it has to offer. It all starts pretty easy with some races in the backyard but later on, the game has a lot more challenging courses ready for you. If you think racing in the backyard was hard, you’re not ready to take your drone to the forest. These changes in environments add an extra layer of challenge and I’m pretty sure veteran drone pilots will be more than happy to train their skills in these virtual environments. What I didn’t like however were the basic graphics. I understand it’s created by a smaller team and the game itself is extremely niche to have a big budget, but it simply doesn’t look on par with modern games. I played this on my Xbox Series X and although I barely had to wait while loading, it did look more like an Xbox 360 game, which takes me out of the immersion in all honesty. Now, if you can look past this, there’s certainly a lot of fun content here for those interested in FPV drone action.
Conclusion:
Liftoff: Drone Racing is extremely niche and clearly I’m not the targeted audience. As an amateur when it comes to drone racing, I had a hard time adjusting to the controls and speed of the drones, which made me fail challenges multiple times. Luckily there’s an assist mode to help you out but if you’re not really into drone racing, this game isn’t the best choice for you. If you’re an FPV drone enthusiastic on the other hand, I’m pretty sure this game will deliver precisely what you hope it would deliver.
