Pairing technicolour 80s gloss with punchy arcade thrills, 80’s Overdrive is an Outrun-inspired racing title that bleeds with the pride of retro gaming. With a diverse selection of vibrant tracks and cars to choose from, as well as a burst of compelling coin-op-like gameplay, there are simple pleasures to be had in this throwback, but is it too slight to sustain you for the long haul?
Three game options are available to you – Career, Time Attack and Level Editor. Career is where you will spend the bulk of your time in 80s Overdrive, competing in races and trying so hard not to crash into unpredictable traffic, so you can claim hard-fought victories. You will unlock more races as you progress by accessing a map littered with various coloured stars. Gold stars are new events you can try out, blue stars are races you’ve completed, green stars are races you’ve won, and red stars are races you’ve yet to unlock.
You will start at the back of the grid and climb your way up to the front of the pack, and only by racing hard and avoiding obstacles will you pass your competition. You need to be alert of what lane you are racing on, as you will need to switch between them in order to keep your car out of trouble, but don’t worry, AI drivers will make mistakes too that you can capitalize on. Getting to the front will require some mad concentration as the leader rarely makes mistakes, but it’s not difficult to get into the lead and win races.
There are no difficulty options, so you will not breeze past the competition, but the challenge is fair and unlocking new races is easy, because you don’t need to finish first in order to unlock more tracks. There are 36 challenges in total, which makes for a very brief tour, but longevity is bolstered by Time Attack and a Level Editor options.
Time Attack is all about racing as fast as possible to clear checkpoints before the time expires – a mode featured in a litany of arcade racers and isn’t very distinguishable from the rest of them thanks to its plain simplicity. Noxious Sunday drivers might get in the way at times, utilizing their peculiar tendency to slide towards the periphery of the track, making them trapped innocents, who want to get the hell off the road and crash into the sea – only for the conveyor belt-like design to keep them hopelessly vrooming across the tarmac.
The Level Editor sounds exciting but don’t lose your mind over it. All you can do is adjust sliders on level presets such as the amount, sharpness and extent of curbs, how much traffic there is, and whether you’d like the police to show up. It’s disgustingly basic stuff and could’ve been a worthwhile inclusion were it not so slapdash and slider-based.
Another irksome part of the 80’s Overdrive experience is its in-game economy. You need coins to participate in races as well as to buy and upgrade new cars. You accrue coins by winning races, but if you spend too much you will find yourself falling short of the fee required to enter new events. So what does 80’s Overdrive get you to do to earn more in-game currency? Clean your opponents’ cars – yep you didn’t misread, you have to clean the cars of your rivals to earn money. It’s ridiculous and it doesn’t earn you much, about 50 coins for all that embarrassment.
The retro-tastic presentation of 80’s Overdrive is clearly its biggest and most obviously notable aspect. Besides the 80’s Overdrive name, the emphasis on technicolour visuals is striking, blending very well with the rush your adrenaline feels arcade-racing action.
Cars that throw you back to the future gives 80’s Overdrive its own particular brand of 1980’s flavouring. The Testosterando is blatantly a nod to the Ferrari Testarossa, the De Loan is the Delorean, the Penetrator is the Lamborghini Countach, and so on. It’s cool to see these name-altered nods to the classics, yet the inspiration is skin-deep and 80’s Overdrive could’ve done with something rose-tinted to call its own, rather than dressing up solely to be a glitzy ode to Outrun.
Tracks are brushed with a similar excitement for the retro vibes of the 80’s era. The sun-smooched beaches and metropolitan cities look glossy and stand out in a similar way to say Hotline Miami, but it’s all just abstract scenery, at least it’s pretty is all.
Speaking of tracks, the soundtrack is quite awash with 80’s synthwave, very stylish and coherent with all them delectable 80’s vibes. The swiftness of the music and the beats will keep you tapping your retro steering wheel, and it’s the most impressive aspect of 80’s Overdrive overall-so congratulations.
Conclusion
Credit where it’s due, 80’s Overdrive tries its Rubik’s Cube-shaped heart out when it comes to immersing you in classic 1980 arcade racing and Outrun-styled action. It’s a fast and challenging slice of speed-demon action that’s all too brief and marred by a tedious economy, a paper-thin level editor, and one-note thrills which will start to tire you out before the game’s ending. The soundtrack and attention to presentational details do give 80’s great aesthetics, if only they were fused together with a better arcade racer than this.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox Series S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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