Pacer: Fast-paced racing game à la Wipeout touches the gang
Table of contents
1 Now this is Pacer-Racing! 2 Great soundtrack ... if you ever hear it 3 Still poor in content 4 Do you have paint damage? 5 But dear wipeout The hope: In 2015 the newly founded developer studio R8 Games Ltd developed the early access version of the wipeout clone Formula Fusion. Since many employees of the former wipeout developer gathered in this new studio, many players had hopes for new futuristic racing game action. Unfortunately, Formula Fusion couldn't convince either fans or critics. Graphics problems, boring and few routes, a bad driving experience and simply little content were criticized. The developers at R8 Games Ltd have now turned the game inside out from head to toe. Menu design, racetracks, driving experience, game modes, hardly a stone was left unturned. Even the name was changed from Formula Fusion to Pacer. The re-release is now finished, the game has now been released as a full version and ... still doesn't convince.00:43
Pacer: Trailer for the racing game formerly known as Formula Fusion loadVideoPlayer ('80837', '& sAdSetCsategory = artikel_featured', 12, '16: 9 ', false, 1362018, false, 259558, 260, false, 0, '', '', false);
Now this is Pacer Racing!
Fast, action-packed, futuristic. The fact that former wipeout makers were at work here is immediately apparent. Source: PC Games At over 500km / h we drive along the narrow and winding roads. Sometimes on the ceiling, on the wall or in a loop. Meanwhile, the other vehicles are all around us, shooting rockets and machine guns at us, while we need maximum concentration in order not to fly from gang to gang like in a pinball machine. And all of this at the slowest of the four speed levels! Pacer rarely gets bored. If you thought wipeout was fast, Pacer can teach you better. The two slowest speed classes are really fun, but the steps above were hardly passable for us and we also strongly doubt that this is possible at all without errors at some racetracks. But this is largely due to the frequent frame drops in the higher tempo levels, after which we see each other again and again in the gang. Faster is not always better.In classic wipeout fashion, short-term boosts and weapon items can be found on the routes. There is also a rechargeable shield in Pacer. We have to pay special attention to this. As soon as our shield power is used up, only a small life bar protects us from the destruction of our vehicle. The gameplay works great, the balance between the exchange of fire, defense and speed is always balanced - all of this has already worked well with Wipeout. In contrast to Early Access, this time the driving experience is also more pleasant. The controls will certainly be a bit unusual for many racing game fans, but you will get a feel for it over time. The standard setting of the key assignment, on the other hand, is very cumbersome, but can be adjusted to your own liking. And Pacer plays better with a gamepad anyway.
In flow tower mode we have to drive through the green gates to avoid damage. But the game hardly tells us whether we got the goal. Source: PC Games It would be nice to have a little more feedback from the game itself. For example, we are often unsure whether we have included the shield item or not. With no significant sound or visual changes to pick up items, we often look into the tube. This is particularly annoying in flow tower mode. Here we have to drive through small gates in order not to lose shield and life energy. The more gates we pass, the faster we go. However, whether we still hit the gate or just passed it, we can only tell by the disappearing sign.
Great soundtrack ... when you hear it
So cool the actual gameplay may be, there is so little content in the game. And here we don't mean the different game modes (which we'll get to in a moment), but the presentation around them. Without an audience, moderator, award ceremonies, or even pilots, the world seems dead. The only thing that distracts us from the bleak emptiness is the electro and techno soundtrack. Many different artists have provided their songs here. Cool if you could hear them. Unfortunately, the game often just doesn't play any music. Then we drive on the track with the great sound of the wind and the turbines. And as good as the gameplay may be, at the latest then Pacer will only feel like a very nice early access version. Too bad that the game has already been in this phase for the last five years.Still poor in content
Some routes like the Indian Sonashahar Railway have been designed with great attention to detail ... Source: PC Games ... others are clumsy, gray and not very creative. Source: PC Games When the game was called Formula Fusion, one of the biggest criticisms was its sparse content. Now there are new tracks, new game modes and even a career mode. A total of 14 routes are now passable in Pacer. Some races, like the Sonashahar in India, are beautifully and lovingly designed. Others, however, like the desolate white-gray wasteland of Laika Kosmodrom rather less. In addition to a bright daytime ride, all railways can also be used at night and mirrored. By the way, in order to unlock tracks, we have to cash out a lot of in-game currency. We then even have to pay extra for the night and mirror-inverted trip. That leads to unnecessary and protracted grind in which we have to drive the same routes over and over. In other words, we are driving prescribed routes in prescribed game modes at prescribed speed. Nothing more, nothing less. By the way, a change of vehicle is not possible in a career, not even after the end of the season or the change of our team (which is completely irrelevant, by the way). But we cannot delete our career either, and starting a new one is just as impossible. The different vehicles can even be controlled differently! But no, if you made the wrong decision at the beginning, you have to live with it forever - at least in career mode.The game modes look like a lot of content at first glance. There are eight ways to play Pacer. Unfortunately, some game modes are very similar. For example, the time trial is very similar to the speed lap. Both modes are about the fastest lap, but in the latter we are on the track with other drivers. Another example would be the Eliminator and the Battle Royal-inspired Storm mode. Again, both of them mean that the last person is eliminated from the race. With the Eliminator, the last one explodes as soon as a timer has expired. In the Storm mode, on the other hand, we slowly but surely get damaged if we are not in the ever-shrinking zone that protects us from the storm. Both of these mean that we don't want to go all the way back. The already mentioned flow tower, in which we have to drive through the gates, and the destruction mode, in which it is not the placement that matters, but the number of eliminations is more important.
Hurry you a paint damage?
Our vehicle can be customized. Whether weapons or cosmetic items, you can let off steam here. Unfortunately, almost all of it costs a lot of in-game currency. Source: PC Games The many different ways to tune our vehicle were successful. In addition to the five different vehicle types, we can also adapt our cars to our personal driving style using a few setting options. Do we prefer very fast, particularly agile, or do we like to have a lot of defense? The numerous weapons can also be freely selected. However, a short video explaining the different weapons or a quick test drive would have been very useful. So we have to be content with a short and imprecise sentence. Our vehicles can also be optically adapted. Unfortunately, the possibilities are also quite limited here and the exciting paintwork costs just like the various weapons an outrageous amount of credits.But dear wipeout
In the Battle Royal-inspired Storm mode we have to go into Stay in the shimmering orange zone, otherwise we will be constantly damaged. Source: PC Games The only thing we haven't addressed is the online matches. There is also a very simple reason for this: it doesn't exist. So actually there should already be, but during testing, after several attempts, we were unable to find even a server or player. And that although the game was only re-released in October! Either Pacer is extremely unpopular as an online game or the servers just don't work.Pacer feels like a sturdy skeleton that lacks meat. The gameplay is now fun and the content has also been tweaked. Unfortunately, this happened so carelessly that in the end we had almost as much to complain about as we did in the early access times. To call Pacer ready is almost outrageous. Then if we take a look at the competition, we'll see how it's done right. The Wipeout Omega Collection is clearly the better option for Playstation owners. More content, better presentation, but costs a similar amount of money. And PC gamers can switch to Redout.
Pacer is available on Steam and Playstation 4. A version for the Xbox One has been around for years, but a release date has not yet been announced.
My opinion
By Alexander BernhardtAuthor Pacer feels still on like an early access version Yes, the re-release wasn't free. The improved driving experience alone is a big plus. But everything else just feels unfinished. Pacer has now got to where it should have been years ago. The current version still has some problems, but with constant updates it could still become a good game. Too bad that the game has now officially been released. Sure, one or two updates will certainly follow, for example the multiplayer will (hopefully!) Still be playable. But how much more will happen is unclear. It's a shame, I would have liked to have taken a polished wipeout. Well, Sony, do you want to revive your series after all? Pacer (PC) 6/10
Graphics - Sound - Multiplayer - Pros & Cons Partly beautifully designed racetracks Fast, exciting races Vehicles adaptable in design and driving style Noticeable difference in the different vehicles Many game modes Soundtrack from many different musicians Still not much content lame presentation game modes very similar career cannot be deleted / change car career must first be played at the slowest level is much better than in the days of Formula Fusion, but it is far from finished.
