Racedrome City (XBLIG): "Quality Online & Offline Racing FTW!!!"

In the XBLIG marketplace you'll find many aspiring game developers as well as some game developers that produce near XBLA content. Rendercode Games just so happens to be one of the better developers who are known for consistently good game releases. In the past I've reviewed a variety of sports, and racing related games that were developed by them, and enjoyed each playthrough equally. I was always impressed by the rendering, and the overall professional look/feel of the games. In their latest release, Racedrome City the developer continues their trend of quality with possibly one of the best racing games to grace the XBLIG marketplace. With new features, and next-gen graphics this affordable racer might just be what you've been looking for ...

Racedrome City is a beautifully rendered 3D racing game that allows the gamer to enjoy both online, and offline gameplay. In it you'll find a few offline modes (Single Race, Time Trial, Arcade) that will be familiar to any racing game fanatic as well as some online multiplayer modes (Local, Xbox Live, System Link) that share the same basic offerings as their AI driven counterpart. What makes this game unique though is the fact that you get to adorn your race car with one of 16 flags corresponding to 16 different countries. As a true Otaku I immediately when for the Japanese paint job, but there are others available for your choosing including Britain, USA, Canada, and Germany. Aside from the paint job you'll also be able to tweak things like steering sensitivity (Low, Medium, High), and rumble. As with any Rendercode Game racer you'll also have a variety of track options to tinker with (reverse tracks, collision, laps).

When it comes down to the tracks you will initially be granted the first one, but will need to unlock additional tracks by winning races in the 'Arcade' mode. The tracks that are available/unlockable are beautifully rendered as I said before, and feature a highly detailed variety of cities as well as some photo realistic skies. The cities themselves are different according to which track you choose to race on, and look as if they may have been modeled after some real locations. The skies on the other hand come in a small variety of forms as well with sunny/cloudy skies, or starry nights. Choosing your favorite tracks, and daytime scenarios is as simple as tweaking the appropriate settings within the race setup menu.

The three available modes of play in the offline portion of Racedrome City include a 'Single Race' for those who wish to have a quick race with computer operated opponents, a 'Time Trial' for those who wish to beat others completion times in the online/global leaderboards, and an 'Arcade' mode which offers the gamer an 8 track racing tournament in which you can unlock tracks, and gain a placing on the online/global leaderboard through earned score. Within each of the modes you will be able to setup your vehicle the way you see fit using one of 16 flag oriented paint jobs, a variety of vehicle specific settings as well as some track settings (Laps & Time of Day).

In a similar fashion the online portion of Racedrome City offers online racing with a variety of selectable settings like those you will find in offline racing modes. You'll be able to race locally with friends at home via the 'Local' mode, or 'System Link' mode if that is your preference. You can even go online against random gamers from around the world if you have an Xbox Live subscription, and choose the corresponding 'Xbox Live' mode. As far as these multiplayer modes are concerned though I was unable to test any of them aside from a glance at the setup menus which turned out to be basically the same as the offline with the exception of the 'Friend Invite' capability. As you can probably guess not many gamers are into the XBLIG scene, and as such finding an online race was impossible for me at the time of my playthrough. With that being said though Rendercode Games online racers usually play smoothly, so I'd expect the same from this title.

In the end Racedrome City is an exceptionally good XBLIG title. The visual presentation is superb, and the cityscapes that are offered are darn near XBLA quality in my opinion. Even the cars themselves are rendered beautifully regardless of the fact that they are simple in appearance. The lighting, and textures definitely give the game a truly next-gen appearance. I also found the rocking soundtrack to accent the game quite nicely. As far as complaints go I found that the difficulty settings in the offline modes didn't really make much of a difference. The AI acted the fairly much the same way whether you were racing on 'Easy', or on 'Hard'. I often times found myself falling in last place when playing the game on easy which was a surprise to me. I think the optional collision feature played a huge part in this though, because I'd find certain circumstances where cars would stall out in front of me leaving me unable to advance forward, or push through. I'm sure if I took of the collision it would probably improve the situation, but honestly it shouldn't have to be that way.

If Rendercode Games were able to fix the collision issues things would be a lot better. Perhaps instead of making the AI cars unmovable when crashed they could make it where you could push them out of the way. With that being said though the game is far from being horrible. It's a solid, and fun experience with a cheap price tag. The fact that the developer added in online gameplay, and scoreboards/leaderboards only made it that much more worth the asking price (80 msp / $1). As I mentioned at the beginning of this review Rendercode Games is one of the better developers to grace the XBLIG marketplace. Being able to produce such a quality product with the restrictions, and limits placed upon them as an XBLIG developer only makes their work all the more impressive. If you haven't bought this game yet at least give the trial version a proper playthrough. It might change your opinion about the whole indie game genre.