New Star GP Review

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Fast Facts

A Sense of Familiarity

To start with, I think the art style is nice, with a similar low poly feel to other games on the market, but with a bit more focus on trying to make things as close to realistic as you can get. What I really like in this game is the track design, as it feels like it takes some famous courses around the world and changes things up a bit to make things feel similar yet different. While the tracks are different, the imagery is the same. A good example of this is Vienna’s track, as the giant star pops out at you where you expect a bull to be.

However, I don’t think the music is up to par. It’s not that it’s bad; I didn’t feel like my ears were being put towards a cheese grater. It just felt a bit dull, honestly. I admit I’m spoiled by games such as Ridge Racer and Hotshot Racing in that department, but it did leave a bit to be desired in that regard.

Big racing in Small Bursts

The game’s career mode starts you off in the 1980s. The goal is to win races so you can win a championship and move on to the next decade. With each advancement, the cars get faster, pretty standard stuff. However, I found how each race is structured pretty interesting, honestly. Despite there being only six laps in a race in the 1980s and 1990s, tyre, fuel, and car part management are still very much a factor, meaning that you still have to keep your eye on things. Rain, as it always does, adds another variable to things as conditions can vary throughout the race. While I do feel it can get a bit hectic in that regard, I think it’s a good way of fitting in the things that happen in a race all at once.

New Star GP is also helped by a pretty good driving model. It doesn’t feel heavy but will punish you if you decide to ride the kerbs too often. It’s a good mix of ease and challenge, which beats most games’ tendencies to lean too far in one direction. Race weekends also have different events to keep you entertained, such as reverse track races, checkpoint challenges, and time attack modes. Strangely, you can’t play these outside of the career mode for some reason.

Linear Focus

In fact outside of the main career, there’s not much else to do in New Star GP. There is a mode where you race on different circuits with your friends in-game and online, but that’s about it. I would like to see a time trial mode added. This offers a good way to test your skills against some of the best drivers in the game. However, I do think that the career mode is fun enough for me not to see that as too much of a deterrent to the game as a whole.

Final Thoughts

New Star GP feels like it has the most heart that I’ve seen in a racing game in a while. I would like for some game modes to be playable outside of the career mode. I think the game itself is fun enough for you to want to keep coming back over and over. Given its lower price point compared to other racing games, it’s one of the best game racing experiences on the market.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4 out of 5

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