Overview – developed by Skydevilpalm and published by Playtonic Friends, Victory Heat Rally is an arcade style racing game, inspired by classics of the genre like Power Drift. Take on the twists, turns and jumps of tracks across the Victory Heat Rally championship, battling it out with racers and rivals to be the VHRC champion. This title is available on Steam and the Nintendo Switch, with links to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Playtonic Friends for providing the copy of Victory Heat Rally used for this piece, via the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review, the game is light on plot so I will be adding those details to the gameplay segment.
Gameplay – Victory Heat Rally is an arcade style racer, where players can power slide at breakneck speeds, across the tracks of the Victory Heat Rally Championship. As one of 12 drivers, take on the tracks of 12 distinct locations, from the Baytona Speedway, to Waku Park and Lavendel Forest. Take on perilous tracks across the world, hitting the track with the action of the VHRC, broadcast by VHN and the roaming reporter Sally McRally.
As this is an arcade style racer, the focus is on breakneck speeds, tight drifting and risky open jumps. When on the track, the player must make use of the drift mechanic, hitting corners and turns while hitting the drift button. This allows racers to build up the drift boost, which has three levels of power, going from green to orange and then purple at max power. Using pure driving skill, pass all the other racers and secure first place.
When starting the game, the player will need to select from 5 saves, allowing multiple profiles to play the game. From the main menu, there are several options that players can select, with the most important being the Championship mode. In this gameplay mode, the player will make their way through the Victory Heat Rally Championship. The championship itself is split into nine tours, featuring circuits from across the VHR world.
The progression for the championship is separated into groups, with the first group that can be accessed being Group Alpha. Each of the groups contains three tours, with each of them having a theme that will test the skills of the player. When selecting a tour, the player will enter an overworld map for that section. While inside the overworld, the player will encounter single races, special challenges and the final grand prix of the tour.
Before the player can get into the action of the races, they will need to select their driver. At the beginning of the championship, there will only be three drivers to select from. When selecting the driver, the player will be able to select the type of suspension and tyres they use, affecting the car stats. The player can also select a color, with one at the start but more are unlocked as the player progressed through the game.
The events that occur in a tour consist of circuit races, where the player must get the top spot within a set number of laps. The total number of laps will vary, with longer tracks having less laps to clear. Then there are the rally races, where players need to reach the finish line within a set amount of time. The last single event are the Joker challenges, which will test the driving skills of the player, with drift challenges, passing contests and slalom style races.
Each of the events have three medals attached to them, with gold, silver and bronze to earn based on their performance. The circuit races will provide medals based on placement, with rewards for getting first, second or third place. This is followed by the rally trials, where the player has three target times to meet if players want to earn a medal. The Joker challenges have varied events based on the difficulty and event.
When all of the single race events have been cleared, the player will be able to challenge the tour grand prix. This will put the player into a contest that consists of four heats, using all of the tracks featured in the tour itself. This plays out like the standard races, but with one key difference, a rival racer will be introduced to challenge the player. The rival will be much tougher than the others, staying hot on the heels of the player.
At the end of a grand prix, the player will get a trophy for finishing in first place. There is also silver and bronze available for second/third place. After the player clears the tour, they will have the ability to challenge their rival in a head to head race. These races have one simple objective, get in front of the opponent and maintain it to delete their bar. But if the opponent gets ahead, the player will have their bar run down.
If the player is able to best the rival, they wll be unlocked and added to the playable roster of racers. To access the rival races, the player will need to have enough Victory Points, shortened to VP. These are earned by getting medals in the events, with three for gold, two for silver and one for bronze. The VP that players earn are carried throughout the championship mode, meaning if a player doesn’t have enough to battle a rival, they can come back later.
Away from the championship, players can also access Arcade GP, which lets players freely challenge the tour grand prix for the available groups. This mode is more focused on general arcade gameplay, where the player competes for the top time on the rankings. To enter the rankings, the player must set new time records for the chosen GP. The rankings for each Arcade GP is available from the selection menu before starting.
There is also the time attack, where players can play each of the unlocked race tracks, pushing to get the fastest time possible. There is Ghost trial, solo trial and free run, where players will be able to practice their lines on each track. The fastest time set for each track will be recorded as a replay, so players can review their performance and improve. This expands the replay value, further adding to the depth of the game for players to enjoy.
The last thing to discuss is the Versus mode, which allows up to four players to battle it out in fast paced head to head competition. This mode has the option for single race or grand prix, with customisation options for CPU drivers and number of GP races. The tracks and racers in this mode need to be unlocked in the championship. However, there is enough content for players to jump straight in, with both single race and VS GP.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to discuss the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – from a control perspective, this game is very comfortable to play with a controller, which is the preferred way to play. This offers players an easy to pick up gameplay experience that uses few buttons. The accelerator and brake are on the face buttons, with the important drift button being on the left trigger. There are keyboard controls, but these felt awkward to play, requiring them to be modified to be more playable.
Difficulty – There is a mostly fair difficulty curve to this game, but there are some areas where the difficulty spikes. This is due to the tight turns and big jumps, which can catch the player off guard and lead to crashing off the track. These troubles can be overcome with a few attempts, as the stages can be learned fairly quickly. The toughest challenges are the Joker events, but these can be passed after a few attempts, or returned to at a later time.
Presentation – Victory Heat Rally is a real love letter to arcade racers, with a 2.5D visual style that really pops off the screen. This works perfectly, as the cars and many of the stage assets are sprites, with the world and tracks itself using big chunky polygons. This gives the game a real nostalgic feel, which is further emphasised by the use of a pixel filter, which gives the game a pseudo 32-bit look. This filter looks good, but can affect visibility for some.
The character assets for the characters like Sally McRally are gorgeous, with a distinct style and charm that makes them feel unique. There are deliberate stylistic choices, making it feel like it was plucked out of the 90s. Then we have the sound, which really ties everything together, with music that ramps up the action on the track, which is reminiscent of classic arcade games. There is some limited voice work, but what is present sounds good.
Final Thoughts – I am a fan of arcade style racers, playing games like Daytona USA, Ridge Racer and the SEGA classic Power Drift over the years. So when I was given the opportunity to play Victory Heat Rally, I took it as it has that old school look that really appeals to me. The style of the characters, the race tracks and general look is stunning. This compliments the gameplay itself, which has that sense of speed that some other games miss.
There were a few hiccups when I started, but after a few tries it clicked and everything felt right. All of the elements come together well, making an experience that feels familiar, yet fresh and exciting. I very much enjoyed the soundtrack, with music that really got me excited to dive in and floor it. I cannot recommend this game enough, it is perfect for those looking to get into this style of game, as it has that pick up and play feel that makes is very accessible.
In the end, I give Victory Heat Rally a final score of 4.75/5. This is an excellent arcade style racer, with a charming and colorful cast of characters, environments that are vibrant and a banging soundtrack, which is all wrapped up into a super fun pick up and play racer. If you want to check this game out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to Steam version (HERE)
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
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