Void Racer: Extreme Review

To start this review, I’d like to make a disclaimer: I’m not going to lie and say that Void Racer is an amazing game. It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. But it also didn’t cost me a cent…

…and for all its faults, it’s actually quite fun. Let me explain why.

First off, let’s go over the basics: the controls are very simple and responsive — steer with your left hand and shoot with your right. If you want to boost ahead or turn back time, press the bumpers at the top of each controller respectively (L1/R1). As you would expect, motion tracking during these actions is spot on — so much so that I would sometimes turn back time accidentally when switching guns mid firefight

As for the gameplay, it’s an intense arcade-style racer with a lot of twists and turns through futuristic cityscapes. Sometimes you’ll be racing just to stay alive as you dodge missiles that are chasing your tail, but most of the time you’re aiming to blow up opponents on your way to first place. Thankfully dying is not much of an issue here, as there aren’t really any game over screens to speak of — just respawns after brief loading sequences (which can also be sped up by holding down X on the controller). Graphics are decent enough during gameplay, even though players will mostly zoom by the scenery at high speeds. The real star of the show is the graphics during the races’ intros and cutscenes, which are gorgeous (if not slightly surreal at times).

The game also has a multiplayer mode where you can race against friends in real-time — however, I haven’t tried this out myself. But it sounds like it could be fun if you’ve got someone to play with. As for the single player, there’s not much of an incentive to stay interested unless you’re trying to beat your old records. There isn’t anything close to leaderboards or achievements either, so don’t expect anything like that here.

All told: Void Racer: Extreme is a simple but satisfying arcade racer for those who love crossing vast landscapes and blowing up ships along the way. The game is free for the Oculus Quest, so I can’t complain too much about its shortcomings. But it’s still a little ironic that despite being an entirely VR-based game, players will have to wait for loading screens between races — I’d love to see what Void Racer could be if it was ported over to PC with full freedom of movement.

Grade: 4/5

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