Future Racer puts you in the seat of a hovercraft racer, think Anakin Skywalker but with far less control and far less interesting graphics. You race, obviously, to win and unlock new tracks and new vehicles and that’s about it. Overall, the graphics aren’t that great, the drawing of distant objects when you travel is strange and generally this game feels half-finished even though it has been out for a while.

You start out with one craft and one track. Winning that race unlocks one craft and one track. But the controls are so sluggish and the racers so unresponsive that this game feels like the vehicles are floating without rhyme or reason. I have yet to make a turn where I don’t scrape the wall and it’s nearly impossible to judge when a turn is ending. There’s a jump in the second track that if you miss, forces you to restart the entire race instead of putting you on the track where you fell off.

The graphics leave a lot to be desired. Everything is jagged edges and clunky looking. The vehicle models seem like they were cobbled together from spare parts and nothing is visually interesting in the game. Even the draw distance and method is strange. Buildings on the horizon (which seems about 50 meters) seem to be drawn from the top down.

Plus the controls freak out on occasion and there’s only a tiny little button to push for acceleration. It’s more frustration than it is fun. Turning is based on the accelerometer with no other control option. I’d like to see a tilt forward to accelerate and an on screen steering control.

The coolest part of the game is the concept art which they used for loading screens.

Now I’ve had a chat with Assyria about the game and they said they are working on some major updates like fixing the draw and other things. So until these updates come out, my suggestion, unfortunately, is to just stay away. Hopefully Assyria will rid the game of the totally bland and generic feeling, fix the graphics and other issues and then I’ll go back and take another look at it and let you know.

Further Screens: