DeathSprint 66: Innovation and Growing Pains

Since the first evolution of the arcade racer, the noticeable split in fans gravitating to the kart racer or the driving simulation has only increased. The arcade racer is kept alive through diamonds in the rough like the well-polished Forza Horizon series or the resurgence of Burnout Paradise as a competent remaster of a timeless classic. The racing game market has become a place where the latest Need for Speed title sees only 1,000 concurrent Steam players despite selling over a million copies on the platform and we have seen the end of the popular PlayStation series Wipeout. Arcade racing has seen better days, but like most genres these days it has seen a resounding resurgence in the hands of independent game developers. We are in an era of growth, and with growth comes pain resulting from the rapidly, and awkwardly, evolving genres.

The racing game market has become a place where the latest Need for Speed title sees only 1,000 concurrent Steam players despite selling over a million copies on the platform and we have seen the end of the popular PlayStation series Wipeout.

Enter DeathSprint 66, a high-speed racer that will have any fans of Wipeout reminiscing about taking turns at Mach 10 speeds. The twist is that you are not in a car, hovercraft, or other form of hundred-mile-an-hour death trap: you are a clone jockey, driving a clone made to footrace and parkour over saw blades and fields of laser beams.

The game features fun and challenging single-player races as well as fast multiplayer that gets you into matches quickly. One of my favorite parts of the game is that it really feels like I could play a match of multiplayer even if I only had 5 minutes to spare. The game may start you with a few AI opponents as long as you find one other person to play with, but as you finish one race you're likely to pick up other humans as you're loading into the next race. It’s matchmaking done quick and done well, a system that makes sure you're racing constantly and consistently.

The visuals also left me quite stunned; outside of a few stiff animations, the game looks phenomenal and sells its bleak neon future with incredible landscapes and eye-catching light shows. The premise creates such a cool bite of the world that they’ve created, I was honestly left wishing there was more that I could find out about it.

The visuals also left me quite stunned; outside of a few stiff animations, the game looks phenomenal and sells its bleak neon future with incredible landscapes and eye-catching light shows.

DeathSprint 66 is an acquired taste that takes a few dozen runs to get comfortable, but as the game unfolds, the unique physics and layout of each map become second nature as the matches keep firing back to back. My earliest thought when approaching this game was that something just felt off, and it took me until I went roller skating to realize what it was. The physics engine allows you to drift around turns and, supplemented by the game's generous boost system, you can crank turns into even more boost with ease. But in my mind, it always seemed like the drift didn’t pull the player enough to get that satisfying sideways drag unless you were really going fast. When I hit skates in real life I had discovered what I was expecting, the same feeling of being on wheels even though the game is on foot.

The simple physics change this creates took some getting used to, but the payoff is so rewarding to be racing in the pack when you’re barreling towards insane hazards. Another unique feature that took some adjustment is the player interaction system. Starting out in this game you will die a lot, and for seemingly no reason; it's only after the fact a message appears to inform you that it was indeed a murder. Even shoving people into a ravine can happen in an instant, with almost no chance to react. Death is in the name of the game, and each death feels like a reminder to be cautious and reactive to all the other players as well as utilize all of the tools at your disposal.

DeathSprint 66 is a blast for those still looking for something as fast and visually stunning as Wipeout, however, its fresh takes on the genre might be hard to swallow for those who like a very specific feeling to their racing games. DeathSprint 66 adds to the ranks and becomes part of the future of racing games even if it doesn’t quite reach the finish line in what is still one of the most underdeveloped genres in gaming.

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