|| REVIEW || Arizona Derby (PC)

 

Developed By : Falcon Interactive
Published By : Falcon Interactive
Category : Racing                             Release Date : June 10, 2019

This game was play tested on PC (Steam) and a huge thank you to Falcon Interactive for providing the game key via Keymailer!

An Old Favorite Past Time

All of my life, I've always been a huge fan of racing games. When I was younger I took them very seriously, needing to be the best on whichever track I was on and win every race I was in. I practiced, I raced, I crashed and did it all again. Now, I still share that same love for racing games, but the skill has (for the most part) grown with me and racing games are now more of a background thing to throw on. Casually whipping around tracks in the streets or some off road stuff. But still, despite it being a background game, you still want it to be fun.

So naturally, when the opportunity to try a new racing game that is currently in Early Access arose, I was anxious to get behind the wheel. Arizona Derby seemed to promise beautiful graphics, smooth handling, and excellent opponents to rub fenders with. So...would it be good enough? Based on the first look I got at this game, I was hoping so.

Arizona...Around the World

As soon as you load this game up, you're signed up for one of the worlds greatest and toughest racing leagues. And just for signing up...you get a free car! Your first in game vehicle is given to you as a chance to prove you have what it takes to race in this league and to climb within it's ranks. There are six locations from all over the world, each with a dozen different tracks that will push you and your rides to the limit.

Each location's tracks are run by a gang, which you will need to face down and leave in your dust if you want to be the best in Arizona Derby. The tracks themselves will be pretty tough with twists, turns, jumps and drops through all sorts of conditions. But dealing with the rival gang members racing against you will be even tougher as these guys will stop at nothing to keep you from beating them. 

Arizona Derby does a great job with the races themselves too, making sure that each track whether in different locations or the same one, feel different enough from each other to not cause any stale gameplay or repetitiveness. And all of the scenery looks absolutely stunning, from the snowy hillsides, to the close-knit forests and sandy shores. You're promised races all over the world and that promise is absolutely delivered on. 

Off Track Shenanigans

Your starting car isn't going to be good enough all on it's own, that is if you care at all about becoming the best. You'll need to tune and upgrade it periodically to make sure it's pushing out every last one of it's horsepower. Depending on where you place in races, you'll earn a decent amount of money to put towards these upgrades. Still, it won't be enough.

Luckily, Arizona Derby offers almost a hundred different vehicles for you to choose from! None of them appear to be modeled after anything from real life, which is quite all right since the racing itself is a little over the top.

I got to race with a few different vehicles during my time in the game, and while there wasn't much of a drastic change between cars, there was enough to say that they felt different and weren't just visual altercations over the same meat and guts. The cars that touted a stronger acceleration actually picked up faster and were more prone to getting caught in wheelies. I'd say the biggest area I noticed these changes from car to car were in the turning, with some seeming to be more in control while others needed the wheel to be feathered or else they practically spun out.

Narrow Audio

One thing I typically look forward to the most when jumping into a new racing game is the soundtrack. Whether it's a game like Need for Speed which boasts some of the latest and greatest in legitimately licensed music spanning multiple genres, or more indie level games which pound out some hyped up electronic beats, the sound generally completes the package.

But, with Arizona Derby I found myself turning my speakers down instead of up, and trying to find the mute option in the middle of races. Why? Well, once you fire up the game for yourself it won't take you long to find out. Right away, your speakers are filled with a hyped up hip-hop song that's...about the game you're getting ready to play. 

Typically, this isn't really a bad thing. Having a song within a product, and having that song be about that same product. Look at say...Will Smith, and his Men in Black or Wild Wild West songs. They were very clearly lyrics about the movie itself, giving an almost cliff note version of the experience. And then....there's Arizona Derby's song. 

With tracks spread all over the world and offering different gangs with their own leaders, you could almost see the narrative woven into the lyrics. Apparently, that wasn't the way to go though. This game's song is literally about just the races in general, about being fast and winning...but it doesn't stop there. If it had it wouldn't be so bad. No, the song continues into lyrics about tuning the cars, upgrading them, literally every single aspect of the game. It would be like if Will Smith's songs mentioned above contained a verse about leaving your house to go to the theater, buying tickets, and waiting in line at the snack stand. 

I won't lie, the song at it's base level in this game is good. It's upbeat and it's well performed. But it just goes into rapping about areas of the game that I felt took it too far. When the lyrics shifted to those aspects of the game I thought it was laughable at first but then it just kept going and, like I said, I got the sound down as low as I could. 

The Finish Line

Aside from a questionable choice for a theme song, Arizona Derby is actually quite a good game. The races themselves are a lot of fun and the tracks can get pretty wild. Tracks offer plenty of tight turns and dangerous cliffside encounters to make you try and play it safe here and there, but overall the hills and jumps will have you leaning into the boost more often than not. 

It's a nice touch that the cars themselves feel different from one another. All too often I've thrown on racing games where the vehicle choice is rendered useless by each and every one offering the exact same stats. Personally, I don't see myself fighting to scratch out time in order to dedicate it to this game, but I won't leave Arizona Derby tucked in the back collecting digital dust. 

If you like racing games that splash in a little bit of crazy, this one is definitely for you then. It's fun, it's fast, and again the scenery is just gorgeous. Just...don't expect a lot from the soundtrack. Maybe mute the in game music and throw on a playlist of your own? Or hey, maybe you'll end up enjoying the music yourself, it just wasn't for me. In the end though, this is a racing game, and it's one that delivers big time, so a weird soundtrack shouldn't be an excuse to downgrade it. 

Again this game is currently in Early Access, and you can expect the full 1.0 launch at the date above, June 10th of this year. 

Game Rating : 7/10

Played on : Steam (PC)