Speed Kills Review

Speed Kills Review. Developed by holy warp and Blackwing foundations and published by Holy warp and KISS. We have a little isometric death race game here, very much in the style of classics like Micro Machines and latterly Rock and Roll racing. Speed kills intends to recapture some of that old glory and frenetic racing fun. It is undeniably a great deal of fun, adrenaline packed, colorful and easy to pick up. The game has a few undeniable flaws that I will touch on later, but for its low price point many devotees of similar titles might well find it to be an unexpected gem. Ok, hop aboard my death machine and ride shotgun as we travel to the world of speed kills. Worlds might be more accurate, five of them specifically (though I have seen 6 mentioned in another review.) and you must travel to each of these, winning championships along the way.

It does not have a great deal more plot than striving for victory, however along the way your opponents initial rudeness may alter into grudging respect and eventually mild admiration. However, in the initial stages as you are coming to terms with the learning curve for the controls, you often find yourself wishing they would keep their post race comments to themselves. You will be racing on 50 different maps of these five planets and they cover a variety of themes nuked out wastelands, crazy jungle biomes and utopian future cities. With a range of upgradeable vehicles in three classes that can be purchased and then upgraded in several areas, there is quite a bit of scope for developing your own style of play, especially if you are utilizing the boosts and power ups that appear on the track. The control interface I must admit I found awkward even with rebind able keys.

Using enter and escape to confirm things or move back a screen seemed unnecessary considering i had a perfectly good left mouse button. You can play this with a controller, but you will still need the keyboard for enter and escape. Another drawback that i can’t ignore is the total lack of multiplayer even at local level, it’s strictly single player. And another little gripe might be the missed chance to have the handling of the car upgradeable because frankly once you have your speed fully upgraded you really need the handling. It’s almost like Nascar as you barrel round stuck to the wall. Other than these few gripes though, it’s a very serviceable combative racing game. I loved the vehicle models in the garage section they reminded me of the cars in a very early counter and a dice game called Car Wars the combination of futuristic hot rod styling and outlandishly large weapons was instantly recognizable to a very old gamer. The moody hard rock score fits the game well, but as you would expect can get a bit repetitive after a while, especially if you’re not that into rock.

However the vehicles sound effects were very jolly and guttural even to an extent slightly cartoony. The unreal engine particle effects go a long way to adding to the arcade feel of the game. Being that this game is under ten pounds across its platforms Speed Kills is quite worth picking up if they develop some form of multiplayer even something local with a split screen then i would expect it to fly off the virtual shelves. Perhaps this will come further down the line, this game is crying out for company. Speed Kills could even work in the social game model the combination if it’s ease of play and its use of upgrades unlockable assets would make it an easy fit into the freemium model as long as a pay to win ethos is strictly avoided as people would not put up with being in a fixed race for a second. Overall, I find myself enjoying the experience and wanting to finish this game in my own time as curiously it really lifts my mood and makes me feel energetic.

It’s important to me that games have a euphoric or mood altering effects, it’s fairly fundamental to all entertainment. So much about Speed Kills is right and executed with polish and aplomb. its look is utterly right, but it’s feel is a bit awkward in places. It is worth having and i really hope it does well so that it gets some DLC, a sequel or even an online social version so that we can see some of the potholes filled in. So overall on the plus side, it’s zippy upbeat retro fun. On the downside, it desperately needs some form of multiplayer.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.