JAKE CURNOW PRESENTS
Race The Sun
Playstation 4 Version
With the over complexity of today’s current generation video games, whether it be retail or digital, Race The Sun is a refreshing reminder of the simpler days of gaming. At its core, Race The Sun is a rail based racing game giving the player control of a high tech silver aircraft. A key difference between this and other racing games, however, is that you won’t be racing human or A.I. opponents to a finish line; you will literally be racing the sun.
Who Dares, Wins.
One of the most refreshing aspects of Race The Sun is the fact that it starts you out with some of the most straight forward control schemes you’ll find in a racing game, with the player having the option to only move left or right. In the games first level, the player also has the option of obtaining a glowing green map based pickup, which gives you the ability to jump, by pressing the “X” button. These three buttons, however, are the entirety of the games control scheme.
As the name of the game implies, you will be racing the sun. At the beginning of the first level, the sun starts out high up in the sky at a distance as you progress in its direction. As you continue to speed through each environment, of which get progressively more challenging, the sun will start to come further and further down, which will start to cast shadows across the entire level. Of vital importance is the fact that your aircraft is solar powered, so you need to stay out of these shaded areas at all costs, since staying in the shadows for too long causes your craft to eventually stop functioning and then explode. Since Race The Sun doesn’t feature a multiple lives system, this means that if you die once, the game is over, prompting you to start from the very beginning.
The game has four playable modes: Race The Sun, Apocalypse, Labyrinth, and the Credits mode which basically allows players to control the vehicle through a credits scene. Each of the four gameplay modes feature a unique atmosphere with the same cool musical score throughout, but only two of the four (Race The Sun and Apocalypse) feature the same type of map based pickup options. In these two game modes, with the latter being far more challenging, the player has the option to pick up “Tris”, shields, a jump, and a boost. The jump pickup is pretty self-explanatory, and is the only pickup allowing the player to use it whenever he or she sees fit. Tris are simply designed to maximize points. The boost activates instantaneously as the user hovers over it, and the shield functions as a second life, designed to revive the player upon crashing. Unlike the Tris, however, each of the other three pickups have a rod of light reaching deep into the sky of which the player can simply touch (to still get the pickup) even if they happened to be far above the physical item on the ground.
One of the most unique aspects of the game is that it features INFINITE LEVELS in its core gameplay mode (that are changed on a daily basis) of which offer players both a daily and all time leaderboard. With that said, this particular gameplay mode is probably the most interesting and fun. Each level gets progressively more challenging, requiring the player to intensely whip back and forth through dangerous obstacles in order to survive. The Apocalypse gameplay mode, however, is a completely different breed compared to the others. This type features increased speed and far more dangerous environments, with nukes constantly going off throughout the level. New players to this game mode will be lucky to survive for even the first ten seconds.
Compared to the over-challenging Apocalypse game type, Labyrinth is a refreshing change of pace. It’s also worth noting that Labyrinth is said to have an end to it, although I personally never made it that far. One of the first things players will notice is the fact that this game type features an overhead camera view, and that the only possible map based pickup is a light bulb. That’s right: using shields, boosting, and the jump button is out of bounds for Labyrinth.
Just as refreshing as the three button control scheme is, is the fact that Race The Sun features a straight to the point (and simplified) levelling up system, with the cap being at level twenty-five. Progressing through the different levels requires players to perform certain tasks, whether it be collecting fifty Tris in the air, or turning right just one time in three levels. As players progress through the twenty-five levels, they are rewarded with five upgrades to their ship; four of these upgrades which can be upgraded at least once. In addition to hardware upgrades, you can also cosmetically alter your ship with a set of decals on each wing.
At the time of this review, Race The Sun was available free of charge on the Playstation 4 Marketplace. I was able to get a taste of every aspect of the games mechanics, features and gameplay modes. Although the experience was certainly short lived, mostly due to the games high level of difficulty and limited content, its techno themed atmosphere and straight to the point gameplay style is certainly worth a try.