{"id":113044,"date":"2020-05-17T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/80s_overdrive"},"modified":"2020-05-17T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T19:00:00","slug":"review-80s-overdrive-warmed-up-3ds-racer-is-outpaced-by-the-competiton-on-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/05\/17\/review-80s-overdrive-warmed-up-3ds-racer-is-outpaced-by-the-competiton-on-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: 80&#8217;s Overdrive &#8211; Warmed-Up 3DS Racer Is Outpaced By The Competiton On Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/80s_overdrive\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/80s_overdrive\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 1 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105025\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105025\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 1 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-handheld\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The \u201880s aesthetic is so overused these days that it takes something fairly spectacular to stand out in the crowd. To be fair to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/80s_overdrive\">80\u2019s Overdrive<\/a><\/strong>, it originally launched on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds-eshop\/80s_overdrive\">3DS<\/a> back at the end of 2017, when things like that 3D purple sci-fi grid you see all the time now (and appears in this game too) were still considered cool. Times have changed.<\/p>\n<p>In the two-and-a-half-years that have passed, we\u2019ve all seen more than our fair share of \u201880s-style games, so this one\u2019s going to have to play well too to justify forking out ten bucks for it. It <em>just<\/em> about manages it, but it\u2019s certainly not without its issues \u2013 and we don\u2019t just mean the apostrophe being in the wrong place in the title.<\/p>\n<p>In case it wasn\u2019t clear by the screenshots, 80\u2019s Overdrive is a tribute to old-school arcade racers like <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/sega_ages_out_run\">Out Run<\/a><\/strong>, where one principle reigns supreme against all others: driving bloody fast in cool sports cars. There are initially six cars available in the game, although you can only afford to buy one of the first two when you start off. They\u2019re all unofficial but are clearly based on much-loved cars from the era, from the Ferrari Testarossa (known as the Testosterando here) to the DeLorean (aka the De Loan). Each of them can be upgraded with earnings from race wins, with the exception of the final car \u2013 the Tensor V12 \u2013 which comes with its stats already maxed out.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 2 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105023\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105023\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 2 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-handheld\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s clearly a pretty game. Its art style is an interesting mix of pixel graphics and 3D tracks designed to give the game a unique look that\u2019s both modern and retro at the same time. It has eight distinct environments, ranging from the seaside to meadows to a futuristic city, and each of them looks wonderful, with plenty of roadside scenery to enjoy as you race past. It almost always runs at a silky smooth 60fps too, although on rare occasions we had issues where the forest stage \u2013 which is lined with autumnal trees \u2013 would start to chug horribly to the extent that it was really distracting.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t just look impressive, it sounds great too. As you\u2019d probably expect, a game like this more or less demands an electro \u201880s soundtrack and Overdrive doesn\u2019t fail to deliver. Its 18 tracks were composed by six artists \u2013 most of them Polish, like the game\u2019s development studio \u2013 and they maintain a high quality throughout. It\u2019s a shame the soundtrack doesn\u2019t appear to be available anywhere because we\u2019d happily listen to it while driving our car in real life (while obviously observing applicable road traffic laws, of course).<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the audio and visual boxes ticked, then, but what does the game actually offer in terms of modes? Well, there are two main ones: Career and Time Trial. Career presents you with a series of 35 races with progressively more difficult opponents. Track length varies, as does the amount of traffic in each race and how frequent the police will appear to try and run you off the road. As you win races you earn cash that can be spent on your car: either upgrading it, repairing it, refuelling it or replacing it altogether with a shinier model.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 3 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105017\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105017\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 3 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-docked\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>On occasion, you\u2019ll also be given separate missions from a shady character (it\u2019s never really revealed what his motivation is for this). If you accept and carry out these missions you\u2019ll get a large cash bonus. Some are interesting, such as collecting certain items lying on the track while you race, or deliberately finishing in a specific position. Others, though, are a little pointless; the one that challenges you to finish ahead of a specific opponent sort of goes without saying if you\u2019re trying to win the race anyway.<\/p>\n<p>The Career mode passes a couple of hours, but your progression isn\u2019t balanced so well. In a best-case scenario, games with similar modes try to stagger your upgrades and control them tightly enough that you\u2019ll have earned all your upgrades just in time for the last phase; you\u2019re rewarded for your hard work by becoming as powerful as you can be just when you need it.<\/p>\n<p>In 80&#8217;s Overdrive, it\u2019s absolutely possible to buy the fastest car (with its stats fully maxed out) by roughly the halfway stage; this not only gives you nothing to aim towards other than simply winning the remaining races until you reach the end, it also makes the optional missions entirely pointless. After all, what\u2019s the point in taking on extra tasks to earn a big cash bonus when you\u2019ve got nothing left to spend it on?<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 4 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105021\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105021\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 4 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-docked\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve beaten the Career mode there\u2019s no real reason to go back to it, so the Time Trial mode is likely to be your regular port of call from that point on. It\u2019s similar to Out Run in that you\u2019re given a set time to reach the end of a stage and pass a checkpoint for a time extension. Just like in Sega\u2019s game, the track splits into two different routes at the end of each section so you can choose which landscape to race through next. Unlike Out Run, though, you can also top up your timer \u2013 and pretty much have to, really \u2013 by overtaking other traffic as closely as possible. You\u2019ll add 1, 2 or 3 seconds to the timer depending on how closely you pass them.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a fun idea designed to stop you feeling bored by nothing more than simply avoiding everything, but it does also highlight the game\u2019s most notable flaw: the handling. Light taps of the D-Pad or analogue stick result in absolutely nothing happening: you have to hold the direction down for a while before the car starts to turn. This isn\u2019t an input lag issue, because the car stops turning immediately when you let go and the problem is more obvious in slower cars. It\u2019s a conscious design choice, presumably created to make the better cars feel more responsive. That said, although the delay is less blatant as you drive faster vehicles, even the super-fast hidden one you unlock for beating Career mode still has it to a degree.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 5 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105022\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105022\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"80's Overdrive Review - Screenshot 5 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-handheld\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>What this means in practice is that while it\u2019s fairly easy to adapt to it in Career mode \u2013 because you\u2019re mainly trying to give other cars a wide berth and turns are never sharp enough to demand perfect timing \u2013 it makes the Time Trial mode extremely frustrating, because you\u2019re actively encouraged to inch closer to opponents but your controls aren\u2019t anywhere near twitchy enough to allow this. The number of times we find ourselves reasonably close to a car, try to tap the direction to get a little closer and either don\u2019t move at all or move too much and plough into the side of it is too large to be acceptable.<\/p>\n<p>It also feels oddly slow. It makes sense that the worst car in the game would run at a lethargic pace, to encourage you to upgrade as soon as possible. Even the fastest car, however, doesn\u2019t give the same sensation of speed as its speedometer suggests. When you\u2019re going at more than 270mph and it feels more like you\u2019re doing 70 on the motorway, that\u2019s underwhelming. This, combined with the controls, results in a game that may try to look like Out Run, but just isn\u2019t as satisfying to play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>80\u2019s Overdrive may be wonderfully presented, but its problem is that price-wise it\u2019s sandwiched between two similar games that are better. Sega Ages Out Run is cheaper and its tight controls remain impeccable today, while <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/horizon_chase_turbo\">Horizon Chase Turbo<\/a><\/strong> may be double the price but is significantly superior in almost every notable way, including control, amount of content and sense of speed. If you absolutely need another \u201880s style racing game then this will keep you entertained for a few hours, but there are better alternatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked) The \u201880s aesthetic is so overused these days that it takes something fairly spectacular to stand out in the crowd. To be fair to 80\u2019s Overdrive, it originally launched on the 3DS back at the end of 2017, when things like that 3D purple sci-fi grid you see all the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}