Music Racer: Ultimate – Review
Virtual reality game Beat Saber comes to mind. Imagine all of the game’s gameplay flourishes, polish, satisfying contact, and replayability. Think of the mobile game Subway Surfer as an example of what this might look like. Visualize how fast it will go, how far it will go, how difficult the journey will be, and how much perfect timing will be required. Now we have Music Racer: Ultimate, which tries to combine the best aspects of both games, but fails miserably.
In its current state, Music Racer: Ultimate is more of a trippy equaliser than an actual video game due to the lack of a coherent and enjoyable gameplay loop that isn’t undermined by the game’s design choices.
To begin with, let’s look at the positives. At 4K resolution and 120fps, this game runs perfectly on Xbox Series X|S. There are no frame drops in sight. It’s also a visually appealing game. I love the neon-inspired look of the textures; they remind me of the 80s in a good way. Level backgrounds are always interesting to watch because they’re always so different and never fail to amaze me.
How to describe the game? It’s a timing-based rhythm game with an emphasis on collecting nodes. It is possible to unlock new racers and courses by accumulating a sufficient number of nodes. In order to get bonus nodes at the end of a combo, you must avoid hitting any pylons on the track.
There are four game modes to choose from: classic, hard, zen, and cinematic. When you hit a pylon in classic mode, the game ends; in zen mode, the pylons are completely removed; and in cinematic mode, a rotating camera and the removal of all nodes and pylons transform the mode into an equaliser, effectively. If you include the long list of music available, as well as the ability to add your own songs and play songs from the Audius player in-game, this adds up to a fair amount of gameplay.
If you’re looking for a racing game that doesn’t require you to grind through levels to gain access to new tracks or racers, this is the one. This is all well and good, but as we’ll see when we get to the gameplay, it actually hurts the game. Regardless of the rest of the review, this game’s visuals are stunning, and I’ll frequently open it up just to admire the equaliser backgrounds of each level.
The difficulty of Music Racer: Ultimate was the first and most noticeable problem it presented to me. Now, I don’t mind challenging games. Elden Ring, Beat Saber, and insane Geometry Dash levels occupied the majority of my high school bus rides. I’ve recently been enjoying pushing my way through these games. Disconnect in timing between nodes and music is causing the difficulty here, which in turn leads to the difficulty. Because the nodes are a little off-beat, it is nearly impossible to get accurate timing most of the time, even if they follow the beat or rhythm of the music.
The tracks are what makes this even better. Your racer travels on winding tracks that twist, turn, and loop in all directions. Music Racer: Ultimate is a rhythm-based game, but because the nodes are so offbeat, you rely on your sight and quick reactions to know where to turn. Even worse, the screen is overly saturated with light. Although the psychedelic backgrounds in this game are cool, there are times when the amount of light bouncing around makes it difficult to see the nodes or the direction you’re going. To put it another way, it’s hard to enjoy the game because of all these issues, which makes the gameplay feel stifled by them. The absence of music is another factor that detracts from the experience.
It’s all about timing your moves to the music in Music Racer: Ultimate. It also has an equaliser and a music player called Audius, so you’d think it had a respectable selection of music preinstalled on it. This is completely and utterly incorrect. “Candyland” by Tobu and “Colours” and “Neon Voices” by Colour were both welcome additions to the collection, and I’m not saying that Music Racer’s music is bad. Because the music is all of a single genre, it won’t appeal to everyone. It’s a shame that most of the tracks in the electronic pop genre sound so similar and start to merge together over time. The Audius player is there to provide some variety, but it only contains remixes of well-known songs and a few freestyles for some reason. The overall selection of music is disappointing, and I can’t help but feel it missed an opportunity to reach a wider audience and more diverse musical tastes. To personalise the experience, you can upload your own tunes instead of relying on subscription services like Spotify or Apple Music.
So to sum it up, Music Racer: Ultimate does what has been done before, but it fails to capitalise on the aspects that have made previous games so popular. Hitting a block in Beat Saber is a satisfying experience. In Subway Surfer, it’s fun to evade trains. In Geometry Dash, it feels like a great accomplishment to never miss a jump. All of these things are not true for Music Racer: Ultimate. Some aspects of the game, like its visuals and progression, are excellent, but they aren’t enough to make it enjoyable.
Playing Music Racer: Ultimate can be exhilarating when it’s at its best, thanks to its crazy visuals and bassy soundtrack. There are, however, only a few of these moments each year. To make matters worse, the game’s default screen shake settings are so high that you cannot see your character or concentrate on the road ahead even though the game’s high sense of speed could have added a lot of enjoyment.
Although Music Racer: Ultimate is a solid rhythm game, there isn’t enough here for me to recommend it to anyone else.
