Little Racers STREET Review: Size Does Not Matter

EDIT: Developer Milkstone Studios informs us that an update is coming next week, which will include multiplayer mode

The XBLIG Marketplace is notorious for its often campy FMV games (sadly, no Night Trap port yet), Avatar-laden gimmick titles, and games that bear strikingly low production values. On occasion, a gem will find its way between the otherwise generic rocks of games and spark a glimmer of hope into XBLIG again. One such title is Little Racers STREET, the 15th title from Milkstone Studios, who have made a name for themselves for their high production values and strikingly beautiful games. I’ll have you know that they continue this tradition with their latest offering.

Rarely do I pick up an Xbox indie game and really hunger to return to it later, but LRS had me coming back for more. The gameplay was addictive and offered just enough incentive after each race to keep that carrot dangling in front of me, enticing me to continue.

The game starts you off with the option of selecting one of three vehicles, along with a pocket full of cash. Additional funds are earned by completing races and challenges along the way. A combination of your car and its upgrades determine which class of races it belongs to, and as you improve your class, the difficulty gradually increase at a comfortable rate.

The number of cars varies with each track, as do the amount of laps, but I found these numbers to be consistent with the size of each track and generally most races had 3 laps. Rubber banding, an issue commonly plaguing the racing genre where the AI unfairly balances gameplay by artificially keeping the all of the cars close to one another, seems to have slingshot itself right past this racer.

Between races you’ll have the ability to alter your vehicle’s characteristics in an variety of ways, such as increasing the grip of the tires against the road, the acceleration, and top speed. Purchasing an affordable vehicle and simply upgrading all of its features seems like the best route to success initially, but the developer has cleverly avoided that exploit. After improving one portion of your car a number of times, you are warnerd that by doing so again will increase the class your car belongs to, thereby making races more difficult.

Racing games are a double-edged sword: they offer a lot in terms of replayability due to the number of tracks and alterations possible to them, such as going in reverse or blocking off specific roadways, but at the same time you’re essentially just moving around a track. In order to stand out from the rest, they need some kind of hook, that is, something that grabs the player and generates the sensation of wanting more. The lack of Achievements for XBLIG is a major flaw in the system, but Milkstone was able to work around that by including a system of their own in the form of challenges.

You are awarded credits after finishing each race, which are based on both your position and the level of difficulty, but they are also deducted for damage to your vehicle, thereby punishing reckless driving. You are also awarded credits for completing challenges. For example,  finishing 3rd place or higher on any class E race 5 times will net you 5,000 credits, whereas concluding all 20 of the class E races will award you a new car.

A point-based ranking is displayed after each race too, allowing you to see whether or not you are improving throughout your career. The difficulty of Little Racers STREET follows the same train of thought as the Forza series, in that it can be adjusted between races, and each change in difficulty also adjusts the  multiplier for credits received each race. I found that starting each class of races on a lower difficult, thereby granting me a .9x multiplier, and then gradually increasing the difficulty as I progressed to hard, awarded me a 1.1 multiplier. This allowed for a very enjoyable experience which I never found to be overly difficult nor profoundly easy.

I honestly don’t have any qualms with this title. The only shortcoming I can see is the fact that the experience is limited to one player, but that isn’t necessarily a flaw, but a design decision. The visuals are stunning, controls are tight, and the amount of customization allowed to your vehicle is impressive. This is the best deal on XBLIG this year, and one of the games I feel best showcase what the platform is capable of. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this $1 gem.

Rating:

Little Racers: STREET was purchased for 80 MS points ($1). You can download a free demo on the Xbox Marketplace. 

By Dave Voyles at February 3, 2012.

About Dave Voyles

Dave is based out of Long Island, NY and is currently working on projects using the Unreal Engine. He earned his degree in Communications from SUNY Oneonta and currently doing his MBA in Management of Information Systems. Dave is also Co-Coordinator for the Indie Games Summer Uprising on Xbox Live. You can follow him on Twitter, at @DaveVoyles