Just as the indie resurgence saw the rebirth of game genres from the golden age so have other mediums seen the old come new once again. The new music genres of synthpop, vaporwave and future funk are all examples of this, seeking to capture the essence of the 80s/90s music scene and revamp it for current times. With them has also come the aesthetic of the time something which Outdrive embodies whole heartedly. Indeed Outdrive is more a tribute to this music scene than it is an actual game, serving mostly as a neon-slathered music player.
You play as, I believe, a reformed criminal who’s trying to leave his old life behind him. You can’t believe that you’ve managed to find a second chance with this girl who’s taken you, and all your faults, into her life without question. Unfortunately tragedy strikes and she’s mortally wounded by your former crew and the only chance you have to save her is to hook her up to your car (really). Now you must drive to keep her alive. How long she lives for is up to you and your driving abilities.
Outdrive’s visuals take cues from the 80’s stylized vision of the future with bright neon glows drenching the jagged, low poly landscape. There’s also a few distinctive elements to really seal the retro-future vibe like the low-fi sun that hangs over the landscape and the 80’s styled billboards. The environments aren’t terribly detailed, something which isn’t an issue most of the time since you’re flying past them, but does mean that once you’ve driven past them twice you’ve basically seen it all. There’s really not much else to say about Outdrive’s visuals as what you see in the screenshots here are pretty much what you get.
The game play is a pretty simple driving simulator that uses pre-generated segments that are randomly mashed together. You have to keep your speed up in order to make sure the girl stays alive, but not so fast as to hurt her. There’s going to be various objects that will get in your way, including an attack helicopter, but even the most egregious of crashes likely won’t lead to the girl dying. Indeed you can bump, grind and floor it constantly without any ill effects which takes any semblance of challenge out of the game completely. Given that it’s mostly focused on the music above anything else I’m not completely surprised but that does mean that, as a game, Outdrive doesn’t really stack up.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the kind of music that Outdrive is promoting and do enjoy the odd mindless game when I want a break from the more cerebral titles I find myself playing. However once you’ve played Outdrive for 10 minutes or so you’ll have figured it out completely and likely seen every landscape it has to offer. The music, whilst great, isn’t enough to hold the game together. It’s a bit of a shame as putting a little more effort into the overall experience would have made it so much better, rather than it just being a nice visual MP3 player.
Outdrive does a good job of showcasing the music it set out to highlight however, as a game, it simply fails to deliver anything above a rudimentary driving experience. Visually it’s impressive, capturing that retro-future feeling aptly with its bright neon glows and muted hues. However when it comes down to it the game is unchallenging and not particularly interesting. It’s a shame as more effort put into the actual game itself would have made the entire experience so much better. It’s still worth a look in if this kind of music appeals to you, as it does to me, but for anyone else this one is probably best left to one side.
Rating: 6.0/10
Outdrive is available on PC right now for $1.99. Total play time was approximately 1 hour.
