Recent reviews by Tmac

awesome game.
very true to the old stalker games, a real STALKER experience so to say.
not perfect, few bugs and glitches here and there..
could use some balancing in a few aspects.
generally well rounded.

Awesome atmosphere all around.
lil' bit janky voice acting here and there but not near as bad as the old stalker games.

if you need steam reviews to tell you if this is a good buy or not, then you probably cant be helped anyways you absolute bafoon

absolute garbage
dont buy this waste of time, money and space

Overly detailed analysis of a Tech-demo:


First off all when you start the game you're immediately enveloped in the feeling of this game.
The Vaporwave-like aesthetics and lo-fi beats paired with the pixel noise and overall "crushed" look of the game are instantly charming and give off a comfortable if not eerie vibe.

Why eerie ? Well while the game uses bloom filters and soft lighting to appear chill and relaxed on the one hand, the overall art-style and presentation are very gritty and dark, same goes for all the characters and the lore you get fed throughout this demo.

Overall the aesthetics and presentation give a very nice mix of emotions beetween comfort and distress.

The general emphasis on a presentation akin to media of the early 2000s round this visual style off very well, while generally being well designed and fairly detailed.

My critique with the visuals would be that even though the game plays between dusk and dawn, some areas of the game are overly dark. Even with the brightness turned up all the way some areas appear too dark for my own taste.

All in all I can't express how much I love the general presentation of the game, visually and audibly.
The loading screens are especially charming.

Audio wise the game is very solid, the soundtrack is an absolute blast and the audio-scene-building with sea gulls flying in the overworld or the buzzing of incandescent lights in the garage round off the visual presentation flawlessly.

The car sound generator needs some work though. Engine audio sounds choppy and makes the engine feel rough and hard to handle especially when free revving.

Visual and Audio: 9/10



Although the PROLOGUE serves more as a tech-demo than a full game the content that is there is fairly fleshed out.
This also goes for the "Story".
Obviously a "fantasy-street-racing-arcade" game does not require much story but Night Runners does something interesting compared to the TXR series, where they tried SO HARD to integrate a higher story, Night Runners doesn't and the main premise is quite straight to the chase: Be the fastest on the Expressway loop.

On your way to become the fastest racer, you'll have plenty of interactions between the shady loan shark, other racers and the mysterious figure named J.B. who left us with the Garage and also a few million Yen of debt. This serves to give the player something to do, consider and interact with inbeetween races, modifying cars or just cruising around. Strategizing your way out of debt will also overrule most of your early-game plans.

All the characters you interact with in the game seem very shady, swearing alot, being arrogant towards the player or generally the fact that they're willing to bet on illegal street racing.
Furthermore, sometimes other racers will even call you before a race because they've made a bet they can't pay and they want to rig the race for which they'll pay you a compensation sum. Totally not shady...

Anyhow, this general presentation is also heightened by the set-pieces you're usually surrounded by (going back to Visuals and forth to World Design).

Apart from a few spelling mistakes and weird wording I'd generally consider the characters and story well done and fitting.

S+D: 9/10



Set in a non-descript early 2000s version of a Metropolis, the gaming action takes places on the Expressways of said Metropolis.
While many areas are not available in the PROLOGUE version as of writing this review, the vast open highways of the city feature enough open tarmac for you to get lost around for hours.
But you're not gonna get lost because every stretch of road looks uncannily the same, no.
You're bound to get lost because the highway-network is well connected and far-reaching.
The Expressway, tunnels and set-pieces next to the road are well designed and fairly high detail.
The first hour of my gameplay I've spent getting lost on the highway, missing exits or turns. More on this under Gameplay.

Generally the road-network is well designed, none of the design elements interfere with gameplay and the road layout allows for interesting races.

The traffic-car spawn pattern is fair and intuitive, whilst not being to rigid as to being predictable.

Overworld fueling/petrol stations would be a very welcome addition.

World Design: 9.5/10




The driving physics are overall solid. During the early game cars can feel very spongy and non-reactive due to their low handling stat, this is remedied when you get further into the game and modify the car but not completly. For my taste the handling model could be a little bit tighter but it's enjoyable to play with and therefore I'd consider it good.
I do think however that vehicle slow-down when releasing the accelerator should be reduced, as you can coast to a full stop from Vmax within a very short distance.

The AI can be hit and miss.

The AI opponents scale with your own cars performance to a degree. While generally the more upgrades your car boasts, the faster your opponents are going to get.
This variation in vehicle speed breaks the AI sometimes, I've noticed this especially with unmodified cars and fully built prototypes where the AI difficulty curve seems to overscale.

What do I mean by that ?

In the beginning of the game the AI is very slow and even with the difficulty cranked up, they will barely
barely be abled to keep up past the 20 second mark into the race, even though they technically should have more powerful cars than you as advertised by the "Opponent info screen" you get before challenging them.
Where-as in the late game, the AI is absolutetly ruthless. Not only will they use every chance they get to crash you into oncoming traffic, lane dividers and ETC booths, they'll also pit maneuvre you if you cross them wrong literally, while also gapping the living jesus out of you, more often resulting in a reset or restart than not. This definitely needs work.

AI: 7/10

TWO RACE MODES
I personally enjoyed both race-modes alot, the little burn-out minigame before drag-racing is fun too.
Not much else to say about it.

Overall the experience is smooth and enjoyable. I've only encountered one reoccuring glitch that hindered the gameplay experience.

When using a high powered car (700+hp) with alot of down-force (200kg+), when entering Tunnels with a sharp decline, over a crest or similar, the car would get unloaded and flung across the map. (If the dev is interested I have clipped this glitch and I can provide footage).

The Menu system can be a bit overwhelming at first glance, as there is little indication from the get-go what does what and what goes where, this is also true for modifying cars at first.
Once you're behind how the d-pad menu and the start menu interact with each-other you shouldn't face any more useability issues.
But to be truthfully honest, most of this might be due to me being conditioned by modern games to have the solution presented on a silver platter, so you can see this as a negative, or a feature. Readers discretion is advised.

Gameplay: 9/10



Considering the fact that this game is a one-man Indie job, it is nothing short of impressive.
This tech-demo leaves me yearning for the full version, as I can now already barely stop playing it.

It feels like a more modern, reimagined version of Tokyo Extreme Racer, which is firmly established in the era it tries to portray, without being the unapologetic prisoner of its time that TXR3 is nowadays.

Night Runners doesn't need to follow any modern trends or incorporate any marketing gags as TXR might have had to, and this straight-line no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ design is what I like about this game so much.[/b]

FINAL SCORE

8.75/10 - Probably the best demo I've played in years.

for me it worked fine

Its actually enjoyable nowadays. recommend it for any fallout fan as it delivers a real interesting perspective, seeing the wastelands a mere 25 years after the war instead of 250.

probably the best way to enjoy early 2000s GT-Racing.

its halo

its awesome.
really tough though.

cool when you want to try out semi-modern decks or really old school stuff against a competent bot.