Rise: Race the Future Review

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Rise: Race the Future

Developer: vd-dev
Publisher: vd-dev
Website: https://vd-dev.wixsite.com/risethegame
Genre: Racing
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 22/07/2019
Price: £16

A code was provided for review purposes.

Rise: Race the Future is a visually stunning racer. The visuals are excellent but does the gameplay live up to the looks? Find out in this rapid review.  

Looking good

When looking for the next game to review, Rise: Race the Future (which I will refer to as ‘Rise’ for this review) shone out to me. When looking at the game images, I was surprised to discover that they were in fact screenshots of the switch version and not from a PC.

I know that sometimes looks can be deceiving in that a game may look great on google images but when played, a low frame rate could be present. However, the performance of Rise massively surpassed my expectations. At the max settings, the game plays at a respectable 30fps. There’s some slight blur to the car in this mode but on a large screen, the game looks great and is still responsive to the controls. When handheld, I prefer a higher frame rate so with the tap of a menu button, the visuals of the game were reduced, and the frame rate was upped to 60fps. Although some of the detail is lost, the game still looks good for a switch title and at this high frame rate, I was very impressed. The option for 30fps/high visuals or 60 fps/reduced visuals is great and it’s good to see that the choice is up to the player.

You spin me right round

Aside from the visuals, Rise offers a pretty standard racing experience. That’s not to say the racing aspect is poor. It is far from terrible but there is nothing revolutionary in terms of gameplay.

In terms of handling, Rise is definitely on the lighter side. The cars have a distinct lack of heft which certainly takes some time to get used too. Like in the newer Mario Kart games, vehicles leave the ground and can travel on water. On the water, the handling becomes even looser and with the +100mph speeds, I often found myself crashing and spiralling out of control. It’s hard to recover from these situations so I often restarted the race because of this. The lighter controls will not detract from the review score but it’s worth noting if, like me, you’re used to tighter handling and heavier cars.

Challenge or Championship?

Rise features two main game modes: challenge or championship. Although there is a time trial mode, this is just a basic race between yourself and a “time ghost” based on past racing attempts.

The challenge mode is my preferred of the two and offers a grid-based system of the titular challenges. You earn different “R” tokens and fans upon successful challenge completion. Such challenges include beating a specific opponent or reaching a specific speed. These challenges are fun and quickly told me whether I had succeeded or failed. Upon reaching a set number of tokens and fans, a new season of challenges is unlocked along with a fancy new vehicle. These vehicles can be used across the challenge and championship modes and whilst some adjustments to grip, stability and steering are present I found the cars to possess very similar handling. Overall though, the challenge mode is fun and offers some variety instead of just being first place.

The championship mode offers eight different tournaments with varying weather, number of laps and track layouts. By the end of the tournament, a position third or higher allowed me to progress onto the next tournament. This means that an error on the final race could mean a complete tournament reset. With some tournaments taking nine races to complete, I would have appreciated a higher number of smaller tournaments. Nevertheless, racing at crazy speeds is always fun in both modes.

Environmentally sound?

I’ve discussed the visuals, handling and game modes but have not yet spoken about environments and sound. For a futuristic game with cars that look so good, I was expecting some impressive modern environments. Unfortunately, the environments are generic and the snowy Alaska Lakes, tropical Tekuh Paradise and desert Odera Crater are all environments I’d expect from a generic racer and show no originality. The same goes for the music. The sound design isn’t terrible but the high-tempo arcade tune is pretty standard for racing games.

Podium position?

I cannot deny that rise race the future is one of the best-looking switch games I’ve played. Handling is responsive and I had a lot of fun racing. The lack of multiplayer is understandable but the generic music and environments leave a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, the £16 price tag offers a lot of content and the visuals are certainly fantastic meaning that whilst this game doesn’t reach first place, it still deserves a place on the podium.

You can purchase Rise: Race the Future on the Nintenso eShop today