High-speed hyper racing game Pacer will come out on Steam this coming September. The game is a spiritual successor to Wipeout, a 1995 PSX classic.
Pacer, much like Wipeout, will be a hyper-speed zero-gravity racer. It has a ton of anti-gravity vehicles, together with exhilarating twists and turns. The title is also R8 Games’ love letter to Nintendo’s F-Zero and all of its hair-raising highlights.
Hyper racers are near extinction
High-speed racing games have become a shadow of their former glory. Players are getting a bevy of traditional racing titles year in and year out. Forza Motorsport comes to mind, together with Need For Speed and even F1 2020.
Fantasy racers are rare because they are pure gameplay experiences. The genre is also visually appealing but doesn’t drive a ton of microtransactions its way. Even then, fans are clamoring for such a visual spectacle.
F-Zero is unlikely to come back any time soon. Shigeru Miyamoto noted that he wouldn’t revive the series for the sake of a comeback. He questioned what areas of the game come unexplored that warrants a sequel.
The last game for the genre was Thumper, a psychedelic musical racer hybrid. The game does not even count as a racer, and more like a rhythm game. The lack of hyper-speed racer games pushed the devs of R8 Games to create Pacer.
R8 Games started the game as Formula Fusion
R8’s Pacer started as Formula Fusion in its first run in 2015. The game underwent further development and rebranded itself in 2019. The title is also under the hands of the staff of former Wipeout 3 studio Psygnosis Leeds.
The Wipeout 3 team received a BAFTA Award for Best Design in 1999. These awards speak of the caliber of the people handling the project. There’s also a brand new trailer that shows off the upcoming game.
Much like its predecessors, R8 Games’ Pacer is explosive and high-octane. The track designs are gnarly and heart-thumping, designed to make players focus. All race pods are highly-customizable, giving players the freedom to specialize in their crafts.
The game will feature 14 tracks and five different crafts with a variety of stats. It will also have a single-player and multiplayer mode, utilizing a solo campaign. The solo campaign lets players take on the role of trainee pilots against 10 race teams.
There are also a variety of game modes to choose from, including a “Storm” mode. Storm mode is a battle royale mode that pits players against each other. With up to 80 licensed songs to blaze up the beat, Pacer is onto an excellent September release.
Images courtesy of R8 Games Ltd/Youtube Screenshot