Review: MotorHEAT

Developer: Milkstone Studios

Publisher: Milkstone Studios

MotorHEAT is an arcade racer, similar to the classic road racing games such as Rad Racer. The objective of the game is to get up to the next ‘level’, to do this you have to get to the next checkpoint before the time runs out, dodging cars and speeding up as you go.

There is no accelerate button and no brakes, only the left stick to dodge the cars as you drive along the highway, with right trigger activating the boost that you can collect by driving close to cars (the amount of boost awarded depends on how close you get without crashing) or collecting a boost power-up. Other power-ups are available, such as invincibility or extra time. The speed is conveyed very well, with great use of graphical effects making you feel like you are zooming along extremely fast.

Graphically, the game is not bad at all for the size of it, with many effects in place to prevent it from being the same with every checkpoint you reach. One second it can be sunny and in the day, and the next you can be travelling along a foggy route at night. The transition between levels is seamless, meaning that you do not have to wait for the next level to load, and the game is possibly endless (I haven’t got that far, yet). The sound is pretty good, with adrenaline fuelled music as you drive along and a strange voice that often exclaims “Level up!” or what sounds like “Extra mootiplier” when you collect the power-up. The car sounds aren’t the best, but they are suitable for this game.

The game allows users to modify their own car, choosing from custom colours and designs, but this is very basic. It has its own award system, making up for the lack of achievements in Indie Games. The font on the in-game HUD may have been used to simulate digital timers, but there are some problems with it: mainly the fact that the 7 looks like a 1 at quick glance.

A good, solid arcade racer for 240 points, and it’s brought me back once or twice for a quick blast to see where I can get to.