Topic: AiRace Xeno Review

[Apollo5]

It's lonely out in space.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/38093/airace-xeno-review

AiRace Xeno is the fourth entry in the AiRace franchise and the sequel to AiRace Speed, whichwas released on the 3DS eShop in September of 2013. The game takes place in a futuristicworld where players pilot one of three high speed jets through nine tunnel-filled tracks. Well,technically there are nine tracks, however they are separated into sets of three which shareassets and look so similar it feels like there are three tracks further adding to the title’s lack ofvariety. Each track has three different times to beat, which will earn the player a bronze, silveror gold medal depending on their run time. Unfortunately it doesn't feature competition againstother racers, which is only the first of many frustrating issues with the game.

   AiRace Xeno does check off one of the racing game must-haves boxes with a flourish:, speed.Obstacles come up quick and are difficult to avoid. This is perfectly fine as it creates challenge,although when a crash is brought on by a dropped frame it is hard not to feel cheated. Duringmy playthrough I crashed frequently. A crash forces you to start over from your most recentcheck-point, and adds three seconds to your overall time. The approach to the game quicklyboils down to slamming the breaks around obstacles and flooring the gas when the tunnel looksclear. It feels like one of the iconic Death Star trench run missions from a Star Wars flightsimulator, without Darth Vader and his squad of tie fighters to keep things interesting.

Developer QubicGames took advantage of the features of the platform when making AiRace Xeno. The3D effect looks great in races and does a decent job of making the games bland, and redundantvisuals seem intriguing. AiRace Xeno also features online leaderboards. Controlling the shipfeels natural with the CirclePad and the ability to quickly jump in and out of a race (assumingyou do a good job of avoiding the obstacles) is a good fit for the platform.

I love the idea of an arcade style space racing game on the 3DS. I went in to AiRace Xenothinking it would be right up my alley, however the game feels soulless, as if it is a concept for amore complete racing game. The lack of in-race competitors and visual variety in AiRace Xenomake the title difficult to recommend.

[accc]

It feels like the reviewer was unnecessarily harsh on the game because he wanted it to be something else entirely. Reading the review tells me nothing about how the game compares to other time trial based racing games, it only tells me that the reviewer hates racing games where you aren't competing directly with other racers. I personally enjoy these types of games, so this review is worthless to me. You should have given the review to somebody who played the previous AiRace games, or was at least open to the concept.

[azeke]

I completed AiRace Speed 100% and it was meh to okay.

From what i see Xeno is exactly the same, only with way worse "music" (if you can call this cacophony that).

[Wah]

why no actual racing?