TRAIL OUT – Review

A surprising turn occurs in TRAIL OUT. A novice driver from Belarus named Mikhalych travels to the United States in an attempt to win a local combat racing festival. And we could stop there, since a scenario is as necessary for arcade racing as a fifth wheel is for a car, but the developers went ahead and prepared a tonne of cut-scenes that either set up or wrap up the races.

The protagonist needs to get to the top of the rankings and avoid the racers on a “blacklist” in order to win. A variety of stereotypes come to mind when thinking of one’s competitors: the stereotypical Russian gopnik Ivan Komrad, the flamboyant Big Cheese of Grove Street, the tyrannical Frau Uber, and so on.

Medals from races and a certain number of fans-subscribers are required to get close to the opponent, but each boss fight takes place in a different environment, from being chased by Big Cheese’s machine gun-wielding brothers to taking place in a garage in a residential area of St. Petersburg during the derby with Komrad.

There are additional people, like Zhenya, a mechanic from the Zh-12 space station. He’ll show Mikhalych the local junkyard, assist him in picking out a body and installing upgrades, fix a vehicle that was wrecked during the race, build him a bigger garage, and so on. Meanwhile, Zhenya isn’t afraid to drop some serious knowledge, so hanging out with him is like a mini vacation.

Social career management, including streaming with subscribers, collecting donations, and taking on challenges with monetary rewards, can all be handled in Zhenya’s garage. Both cash and reputation are required to progress through the game, with the latter allowing you to purchase more powerful vehicles and compete in boss races.

Memes and jokes abound in TRAIL OUT and are frequently hilarious. The creators, to their credit, are aware of when the game crosses the line from being funny to being offensive, and they stop short of crossing that line. Crap humour and all. Here, thankfully, nobody noticed, so go ahead and show the game to your mom without fear.

When discussing the project’s gameplay, it’s impossible to avoid drawing parallels to FlatOut. Even the review of FlatOut 2 could be rewritten verbatim and no one would notice the difference. Not that this is a huge negative for TRAIL OUT; on the contrary, arcade racing games in general and survival racing games in particular are in short supply right now.

The GOOD BOYS had a large fleet of wrecked cars ready for us, all of which were unlicensed but clearly resembled a Zaporozhets, Lada, or Buick. A vehicle’s performance can be enhanced in many ways: by reinforcing the chassis, enhancing the engine, adding nitrous oxide, or switching up the paint.

There aren’t many ways to tweak the car’s settings, and not everyone relies on its performance. The difference between the first- and third-tier engines is noticeable on the track, though. Different classes of vehicles have different driving dynamics, with powerful SUVs being less easily controlled but taking more damage before becoming unusable and light sedans having incredible acceleration but being rendered useless in a matter of minor collisions. As opposed to FlatOut, TRAIL OUT’s damage model is more straightforward; yes, the car rumples, but this has no bearing on the gameplay; it will not lead to the side, nor will it go slower. So until the wheel comes flying off or the car explodes, the damage here is purely cosmetic.

Driving only requires the use of six keys (the standard steering wheel controls plus the directional arrows, the brake, and the nitrous oxide boost), and the cars are generally submissive and easy to control. My gamepad wasn’t recognised for some reason, but I had no problems playing with the keyboard. The first-person perspective can be activated here, complete with moving pilot’s hands and accurate reflections in the glass. However, the physics engine frequently acts erratically and, in the event of an accident, can launch the vehicle into outer space.

Other games, such as the FlatOut series, Burnout Paradise, and Dirt: Showdown, featured TRAIL OUT gameplay as well. Minigames, such as bowling and darts, quickly became FlatOut’s calling card, but the game also features standard championship races, knockout races in which the last pilot is eliminated when a rocket arrives, arrivals on maps labelled “eights,” in which massive accidents frequently occur at intersections, time trials, and multiple types of derby. In addition to a career mode, you can race in free play against computer-controlled opponents or with human players via a split-screen mode.

The tracks are a lot of fun as well, with numerous obstacles, many of which can be destroyed or even explode. Like in Split/Second, if you get lucky you can set a trap that will wipe out your foes. There is trash everywhere and the carcasses of cars that didn’t make it by the end of the race. Cities in Russia contrast with canyons in the United States; both have distinct topographies, climates, and climatic windows. The authors can’t be faulted for a lack of material, as they successfully included a wide range of topics.

Weak optimization, physics that are screwed up in places, bad voice acting, and bugs are all present in TRAIL OUT, making it feel like a typical amateur project. The game is gorgeous, packed with content, and expertly designed; its soundtrack is so good that I want to put it on a separate playlist. Most importantly, TRAIL OUT captures the spirit of adventure that drew so many players to the original games in the FlatOut series, and it does so with a distinctively Russian twist.