Indie Games News/Previews #10

Racing Apex by Lucky Mountain Games (2017) - PC

Those of us who are old enough to remember the birth of 3D gaming will no doubt have a fondness for the earliest examples with their chunky polygons, crude textures, and scenery pop-up galore. Even in their rather limited forms they were still jaw-droppers in their day, and it seems the talented folk of Lucky Mountain Games recall them as fondly as anyone, for they have been hard at work making the forthcoming Racing Apex, a super-arcadey racing game based on some of those very pioneers. The example that appears to have most keenly influenced them, at least visually, is Sega's seminal Virtua Racing, but there is much more here than we had in the Model 1 stonker back in 1992.

There are significantly more cars and courses than in Sega's game (a mighty 30 and 16 respectively) as you would probably expect. It also has tons of play modes, car modding, and it all runs beautifully smoothly too, but the most unexpected thing, presumably the result of influence from elsewhere, is the combat! Yes that's right, for while the many sporty cars and twisty tracks here may look pretty skillish, the real victory apparently comes from blowing up your opponents. Now generally I prefer straight racing games, but I guess as long as the AI doesn't cheat too much it could be ace. It does look pretty darn good so far too, but hopefully we will get to find out for ourselves soon as it's due out imminently. Find out in the full review coming soon!

You can find out more about Racing Apex at the official website here, or check out its slippy slidy shooty action by way of the official trailer here: