Saturday, February 1, 2020

Eric Vs. 365 - Day 216 - Music Racer

Today's game for Eric Vs. 365 is Music Racer, a new indie that is not really a music game, nor a racing game. Sure, you control a car and there is certainly music playing, but neither is particularly noteworthy and they barely have anything to do with each other. It's pretty much a glorified music visualizer. If those are your expectations going in, Music Racer can be kind of relaxing and fun, particularly at the $7 asking price. If you want it to be anything else, well, you're gonna have a bad time. Read more and watch gameplay right here.

Music Racer page at Xbox.com

I was initially drawn to Music Racer because it looks fantastic. It has that delicious retro 80's neon vibe going that is totally my jam. Thankfully, it does look really spectacular as you play and there are a bunch of different level backgrounds that you can unlock. The cars - non-licensed but they look close enough to real stuff you can tell what they are - also generally look good and you can paint them any colors you like. 

While the visuals hold up their end of the bargain, the rest of the game falters behind. The actual gameplay is absolutely dead simple where you're just "driving" down three lanes and your objective is to hit white note blocks while avoiding columns that block the road. The notes don't really seem to have anything to do with the music, though, so it all feels pretty arbitrary. It's really easy, too, as even on Hard mode (which makes hitting a column an instant death instead of just resetting your combo) it isn't difficult to get to the end of a song. The gameplay is also hindered a bit by the visuals, unfortunately, as it can be hard to see what you're doing as the track changes elevation and you literally can't see far enough ahead of you.


So, knowing all of that, the game is still sort of fun. The thumping electronic music generally sounds good and, even if the gameplay is fairly mindless, it is still enjoyable to just cruise along and listen to the music. You earn points as you play that you can then spend on new vehicles and levels - all of which are tied to achievements when you unlock them - so it is sort of satisfying to just grind away for a bit and unlock a bunch of stuff. Spending $7 for a bunch of really easy GamerScore isn't too bad, to be honest. I've done worse for a few nerd points.

All in all, Music Racer is a nice looking way to kill time as long as you don't expect it to be much or a racing or music / rhythm game.  If you'd like a similarly styled game with more interesting gameplay, give Neon Drive a look.