Fast racing, slow walking - What I've been playing

Had an interesting mix of retro games, replays, and new releases this week.

Diddy Kong Racing

The vibes are immaculate. With every new track, I got hit with a sense of déjà vu, because I’ve heard almost all of these songs for so long in OST compilations or YouTube videos. One of Wise’s best. The look also encapsulates the Sunday morning cartoon energy perfectly. The same with the early tracks that are really straightforward.

The most interesting idea are the item upgrades, which lend themselves to some cool moments and on-the-fly thinking. You have the rocket and are in second place. Another enemy is on your heels. Should you try to shoot the missile to hit the first place and pick up the booster to make distance? Or upgrade your missile to guarantee a hit and hope you can outrun the third place?

The driving, on the other hand, is overall fairly simplistic and doesn’t have the depth of a Mario Kart DS, or more technical fun racers. This simplicity doesn’t bother me that much with this one, since it’s all around just a fun time, but I will not return to it frequently like with other arcade racing classics. The controls of the hovercraft can be finicky at the start, but considering it’s the first to do these different vehicle types in a 3D space, it’s still good.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer

I didn’t expect to play this so soon after release. It was a nice surprise to see this pop up on Amazon Luna, Amazon’s game streaming service. Like most people I’d of course prefer to play it natively on my own hardware instead of a cloud-based service. I simply couldn’t resist to a) test the service since I haven’t used it and b) try a 2026 arcade racer, a genre that is dear to me and that has had seemingly a resurgence after more than a decade of sparse releases. A fast-paced racer could be the worst type of game to test a cloud streaming service (besides fighting games or shooters) but I’m happy to report it’s an ok way to experience the game. At the point of writing I got to the third act and didn’t have a single connection timeout or even minor errors in the audiovisuals. Of course it could look better, but it’s passable. The only major flaw are some weird input errors in the menus. I’m playing this via my Steam Deck connected to the PC with my Xbox Series X controller so there are several reasons why this could be, but they’re only mildly annoying and the actual driving isn’t effected.

So, how’s the actual game? Well, pretty darn fun. I don’t care about Star Wars but am a fan of arcade Racers and enjoyed the developer’s previous Burnout games, especially Paradise. My biggest concern is that I don’t know if the roguelite structure overall benefits the experience. I see how the progression of your abilities and upgrades of the vehicle parallel that of your knowledge of the racetracks. Not only do you as a driver get better but the work you put in also shows on your ride. So it feels like a more epic journey since your failures and slow rise to the top is organically incorporated into the story. It shows they were inspired by Hades, which isn’t judgmental. Many games have taken the right lessons and some wrong ones from it. As someone who likes to play through these games once, it has the downside that it discourages me from trying new stuff. If I focus my resources and time on one vehicle and few abilities they get upgraded quickly and more powerful. So I don’t really have a reason to switch to weaker options, since they need to be upgraded from scratch. I know for most people that keep playing after seeing the credits this is a nonissue. I on the other hand prefer unlockables with fixed stats, so that my performance doesn’t drop dramatically just because I want to try something different. Still, I’m glad Star Wars: Galactic Racer has this structure and tried something different.

Besides that, the actual driving feels amazing. I love the sense of speed and the snap-decisions you have to make while driving. The tracks have many curves and aren’t crafted (in the world of the game), so there are sections where you turn a corner and are confronted with an unexpected obstacle where you either barely get by or explode spectacularly. The quick-time events are a great way to simulate the hands-on, technical ways these machines operate. Either fixing a problem while driving or doing the start-up sequence gives your vehicle the sense of being a real mechanical object. Of course the inputs are simple in comparison to actual tinkering but it creates additional dynamic situations you have to master and react to. This operation of a digital machine reminded me how I played Titanfall 2 mostly with keyboard and mouse, but would switch to my controller because it felt more like operating a big mech. Similarly Star Wars: Galactic Racer would feel wrong to play with keyboard and mouse. Something about the triggers and joystick involves more parts of my brain than just simply clicking and swiping.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

My replay of Breath of the Wild was long overdue. I played it back in 2016 where I still did a lot of multitask gaming (I remember watching the first season of The Walking Dead whilst exploring Hyrule). Since then I’ve pivoted to focusing on the game I’m playing, save for some rare exceptions. I loved Breath of the Wild on my first playthrough back then but this focused approach makes me appreciate the game even more. Back then there was no silence where I just existed with the game or calm moments to reflect on my journey inside or outside of the game. Which are quintessential to Breath of the Wild. If it didn’t provide exciting stimulation, my second screen would. This time around when i got to the highest point of the Plateau before Link acquires the glider and I just watched the landscape, I felt like something inside me got healed. I don’t feel any pressure to get everything. The Switch 2 edition also includes a more elaborate map feature but having my smartphone open whilst playing this would be like taking a forest walk whilst listening to traffic noises through your headphones. I even went so far as to disable the mini map in the UI since I wanted to absorb as much of the world as possible. In a time where everything has to be optimized regardless of the cost and everything should be as frictionless as possible I want to have a messy adventure. I will miss stuff, but the things I find become more important because of this.

From a design-perspective it’s also an immense joy to replay it. The opening hours and the tutorial area in general are filled with ingenious design decisions that teach the player important basics or advanced concepts that change the way you handle specific situations. I did not realize just how many possible solutions to problems are in the Plateau. If you either do a little puzzle to get warmer clothes or find an ingredient that lets you cook spicy food with an anti-frost buff. Do you take the straightforward road with enemy encounters or try to climb the cliff where you have to figure out your stamina limits? There are so many situations with equally viable options. Generally just traversing through the game becomes an interesting choice. Going by foot is by far the slowest but you can pock up items quickly and explore more thoroughly. Riding your horse is faster but you are less flexible and can’t climb higher walls without leaving your horse behind. Gliding from a higher place gives you a great overview but you will miss hidden secrets and loot. I could write so much more but will stop myself before this becomes too long and unstructured. I’m so happy to finally revisit this gem. Although it is one of the most beloved games of all time I doubted that I would enjoy it this much after Tears of the Kingdom didn’t quite click with me and I questioned my feelings for the newer Zeldas.

Sidequests

Batomon Showdown

Won’t write much about this one since the other entries this week are already pretty long, but I’m quite enjoying it. It makes building a team, one of the most intriguing parts of Pokémon games, it’s central gameplay mechanic and it’s fun to figure out the synergies and experience new monster designs. My favorite run this far was with a poison-type team that stacked an unholy amount of it and increased their poison stats permanently across battles. It’s also cool to see more Pokémon inspired character designs, specifically Black and White’s, since it’s a style we don’t often get.