I want to love all the games Atari has been publishing these past few years. Their classics are being refurbished and reimagined under the creative supervision of various indie studios. So many of them, however, end up subpar. The appealing adaptation aspect is always their strongest suit, meanwhile, the execution of the genre they choose to adapt into has consistently been the weakest. NeoSprint, a successor to the Sprint series, seemed to finally break the curse by remaining largely faithful to the original, and I must say, it has succeeded. Sort of.
Sprint is a top-down, single-screen racing series about small vehicles driving around tiny, yet complex tracks with crazy tight turns. Player enjoyment came from the tight, risk-reward style controls. Left and right would always turn the player according to their vehicle’s orientation, and the camera did not move. You would speed up and try to take these crazy, sharp turns without hitting a wall and bouncing around, collecting power-ups and avoiding obstacles. A mad sprint to the finish line.
In that department, NeoSprint feels frankly perfect. The drift mechanic and multiple vehicle types feel a bit off at first, and it does take away a good bit from the pace of what used to be pure, arcade, neuron-activation bliss, but in return, it offers deeper choice-making and, potentially, tougher races. One miscalculation is all it takes to ruin an entire race, that is if all the players/bots have also not randomly crashed into a wall and cannot reverse for the life of them.
This brings me back to my point—NeoSprint’s problem is not, for once, its genre, but instead, it is the execution of Sprint itself. The fact that the AI racers fumble can fumble so badly is only exacerbated when it happens during boss stages in the campaign mode, where you go one-on-one with… someone? Just some avatar who gives you one sentence before a race and after a race. All completely devoid of charisma.
Truth be told, that is what NeoSprint lacks most. It just has generally low-appeal. Graphically the game is simple, which would be fine if it kept the arcadey sound effects and pace, but the game did get slower, and not only are these SFX gone, but so are the obstacles in the campaign. They were relegated to the “Obstacle Course” mode, a form of Time Trial, which is also present, with some splatters and cones that add a second to your time if you drive into them. You can also add obstacles into free play.
Alternative modes are a somewhat welcome change but do not offer enough to entice me after the rather dull and repetitive three hours in the campaign mode. Playing so many different tracks one after another highlights just how unexciting that transition from boss to boss is, or from cup to cup. Mindlessly winning, you begin to notice things. Have I heard this piece of music before? Oh yeah, multiple times. There are not enough music tracks to remain unique in one cup, let alone three, each made up of sixteen stages.
Maybe NeoSprint was not entirely built for single-player. There are some pretty extensive multiplayer features built-in with both matchmaking and some impressive track-creating tools. Involving a community like this is a nice touch, but it also leads to the fundamental question: will a community form around this game? With a relatively bland presentation, will someone find the dedication to create and dedicate time to this out of all possible games? Will unlocking icy tiles or neon tiles in the campaign be enough to attract someone to try and create their own track?
The biggest issue that begins popping up as the stages grow more complicated is undoubtedly the camera. Starting the game, you may see the choice between a static and dynamic one, which follows your vehicle. While the latter may sound enticing, not only does it go kind of against the spirit of Sprint, but the wobbling during turns makes it unbearable. Both cameras, however, suffer from the same issue: the position. Not top-down like most of the Sprint games, the tilt makes it hard to judge the distance between the car and the wall or notice where exactly a turn begins.
Ultimately, it feels like the move away from tradition is mostly unsuccessful. The fundamentals are there, but the small things steer away from success. With a more intense experience, NeoSprint could have brought the best out of a long-abandoned franchise, but instead, we get a game that feels half-committed to any one mode of play, with some gameplay issues sprinkled within.
These issues, however, are a result of experimenting with a good formula. Unlike the other recent Atari experiences, it does not fall into any trappings. It does not feel stale or uninspired in its genre of choice. It just needed a bit of a kick, some sort of retooling to bring out the potential of an underappreciated idea. As it stands, however, I can merely hope that it will be revisited in another game sooner rather than later.
Mateusz played NeoSprint on PC with a review code.
