Horizon Chase Turbo: Deluxe Edition Review - A Jolt Of Adrenaline

Arcade racing titles often put all their chips into maximizing their fun factor, a constant that’s truer than ever in Horizon Chase Turbo, a game that is simple to learn but hard to let go of once you start playing, thanks to it’s satisfying gameplay. The variety of game modes and tracks will keep any fan of the genre excited to master the most efficient way to consistently finish in first place. There are a few setbacks, but none of them so much as taint the fact that this game - a simple and fun experience either alone or with friends - is a solid choice worth considering for arcade racing enthusiasts.

Horizon Chase Turbo’s gameplay was so effective that it drew me into the loop to play another race the moment it was over. If you recall the OutRun franchise, then you have an idea of what you’re getting into, but those unfamiliar will get a full understanding of how the game plays in just minutes. 

What’s great about Horizon Chase Turbo is that the racing requires you to think more about a variety of different elements as you plow through roads at unreasonable speeds. With you always starting at the bottom of the barrel in each race, reaching the finish line first becomes a puzzle of sorts, as you’re tasked with using the limited resources you have at your disposal in the best ways possible. 

Think ahead, or you’ll miss your chance

The most appealing gameplay feature is that maintaining your fuel gauge is an active factor, especially during tracks where fuel pickups are scarce. Your car’s fuel depletes faster than is comfortable once you’re on the move, and what this does is push the player to approach certain turns in order to snatch up gas pickups floating over the roadway. This is an added layer of strategy that I greatly appreciated in a game that is simple in the approach, but avoids being brainless at the same time.

There are other pickups on the tracks which will affect your decision making. Extra Nitro boosts can get picked up if you’re lagging behind in the race, and if you can pick up every last one of the optional blue tokens, you’ll be awarded the most trophy points possible to earn in a given race. That in turn helps with progression, since your standing in each race will determine how fast you can unlock other content while playing the three available campaigns.

Another piece of the puzzle lies in how to pass other cars, and since there’s always 20 cars on the track, you will most likely hit a car (or three) eventually. Hitting cars in general is just a bad idea in racing games. In Horizon Chase Turbo’s case, it can be a double-edged sword, since the collision physics hew closer to bumper cars, where collisions result in vehicles bouncing off of one another. This can result in hilarious outcomes, but be either helpful or hurtful for your goal of reaching first place, since hitting a foe in the rear, for instance, gives them a boost while slowing you down in the process. It gets exceptionally chaotic once one car hits another and triggers a ripple effect of multiple collisions with nearby cars, as if you’re all playing vehicular pinball.

Car customization is straightforward in Horizon Chase Turbo. You are given the choice of what upgrades to unlock as you progress through the game’s World Tour campaign. There are 12 unlockable upgrades, and these upgrades are applied automatically to every car in your collection. Sadly, there’s not much thinking or build customization involved in this department aside from choosing what you’d want now rather than later.

Scenery blurred by a relentless sense of speed

Graphically, Horizon Zero Chase is not the most appealing racing game to look at, especially when you have the game on pause, as the environments look like 3D objects that have yet to be rendered properly. It’s easier to take the art style in once your car is moving more than 100 MPH, but it isn’t as bad as the music that plays when you race. 

I found this game’s musical tracks didn’t work at all, as they didn’t mesh well with a game that’s all about speed and momentum, nor did it help support its arcade-y nature. Thankfully, in terms of presentation, the car designs fit the tone of Horizon Chase Turbo. They’re a cute collection of racing cars that reminded me of my childhood Hot Wheels collection. 

Multiplayer in Horizon Chase Turbo Deluxe Edition is the complete package, as any game mode can be played with 4-player local split-screen or online. There’s Tournament mode if you want to be extra competitive, with a set of tracks in place to see who is at the top at the end of a gauntlet, or to see who will last in Endurance mode, a challenging game mode that I appreciated once I completed the game’s main campaign.

Horizon Chase Turbo Deluxe Edition acts like a short and sweet boost of adrenaline where you’ll be asking for more each time you hit the finish line. There are over 100 tracks available in the Horizon Chase Turbo Deluxe Edition, and thankfully, repetition is at a bare minimum, as each track introduced to the player is laid out well, to the point that I never got the feeling that I’d done the same track more than once. 

There’s enough content to cover a variety of different players, and Horizon Chase Turbo Deluxe Edition is friendly to those unfamiliar with games like it. It’s hit-and-miss with regards to the presentation, but its strengths are undeniable as a racing game that doesn’t waste your time in getting to the good parts, keeping drivers hooked on the loop of “just one more race”.

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8/10

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Highlights

• The races are short but sweet; fun and addicting.

• Over 100 tracks and 49 cars to unlock

• 4-player splitscreen co-op. It’s a blessing. 

• The music doesn’t fit the overall concept

What I’ve Played

• Unlocked all races in the World Tour

• Did a few races in the Rookie Series and Summer Vibes campaign

• Finished a few tournaments and played a few rounds of Endurance mode

[This review is based on a PS4 review code provided by SCRYsoft.]

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