Dash is Atari’s newest retro sequence to obtain a contemporary coat of paint, and it is arrived within the type of NeoSprint. This recent spin on the writer’s old style racing sport comes out of the workshop with a nice feel and look and a few neat new options, however there are nonetheless a number of spots that wanted slightly extra consideration.
That is an isometric racer, by default providing you with a view of your complete circuit as you race your tiny automotive round. A zoomed-in view that focuses in your car can be an possibility, although we choose the locked view of the entire monitor. Both means, the primary thrust of the sport sees you navigating these tight, typically very complicated programs, whether or not within the marketing campaign mode, free races, or time trials. The dealing with may be very straightforward to know however there’s undoubtedly a ability to enjoying this properly.
A part of that’s accounting for the sport’s typically irritating physics. AI drivers haven’t any qualms about ramming into you, and you may very often find yourself in your facet or snagged on the boundaries. It is surprisingly unforgiving at instances. Not serving to issues is that a number of the circuits have awkward viewing angles that, within the midst of a race, could make it onerous to parse what is going on on.
Happily, although, these points aren’t fixed, and usually the motion is enjoyable, easy, and interesting. Whereas the racing itself generally is a little on the simple facet at instances, the impediment programs are a lot harder, peppering levels with oil slicks and cones to dodge. Time trial challenges may be equally tough, so there’s loads right here to grasp. Sadly, outdoors of some leaderboards, on-line play is lacking from the sport, so competing with others is pretty restricted — though the sport does characteristic native 4-player racing.
Maybe the largest addition is the monitor builder, which affords a reasonably intuitive strategy to create your personal races utilizing chunky grid items. These may be shared with different gamers, successfully providing you with heaps extra tracks to grasp than the official ones.
NeoSprint is an honest refresh of an aged system, with easy however enjoyable racing and a few neat new options. Sadly, the presentation is slightly underwhelming, and one or two points seem within the rear view mirror just a bit too typically.