Let's start with the good, as Drift Game has a lot going for it. The lo-fi aesthetic is pretty, the concept is unique, and I enjoyed being able to drive around on procedural roads. This feels like it could be expanded into a really cool open-world driving sim making full use of Minetest's mapgen. Heck, if I weren't too busy I'd fork this and make it myself!
So, as a tech demo for the 'driftcar' mod I think it succeeds. I played it, the car was neat, I wanted to do something with it. However, ContentDB is a place for users to find content to play and I write reviews with them in mind. On that front, I think this game fares poorly.
Let's start with the car. Put simply, the 'drifcar' handles like it's driving on ice, even when it inevitably slips off the road. If you run into a tree (you will run into many), your screen will turn completely black as you try to navigate out of the mess you've gotten yourself into. Also, I tried reloading my world and had to chase my car as it drove off without me...
The next mark against this game is a lack of variety. The world is a sheer flat plain of grass and pavement (the car has no slope-handling functionality, I presume), dotted with pine trees. The trees are a nice touch but they're not enough. You could imagine that with snowy fields, deserts, oceanside routes, etc. the game would be more interesting to play. Really, just dropping this game into the average MTG mapgenv7 map would likely be enough to last a while. Unfortunately, that's not what we have today.
I should also mention perf. It's hard to say if this was the game's fault or the engine's, but at high speeds you can feel some lag spikes and stuttering that hurt the game's playability. It's not a persistent issue, but it's there.
So in the end, I walk away with both excitement at the possibility, but disappointment at the reality. This is worth poking if you're a dev looking for a project, but if you're a player I see no reason to touch this one.
Let's start with the good, as Drift Game has a lot going for it. The lo-fi aesthetic is pretty, the concept is unique, and I enjoyed being able to drive around on procedural roads. This feels like it could be expanded into a really cool open-world driving sim making full use of Minetest's mapgen. Heck, if I weren't too busy I'd fork this and make it myself!
So, as a tech demo for the 'driftcar' mod I think it succeeds. I played it, the car was neat, I wanted to do something with it. However, ContentDB is a place for users to find content to play and I write reviews with them in mind. On that front, I think this game fares poorly.
Let's start with the car. Put simply, the 'drifcar' handles like it's driving on ice, even when it inevitably slips off the road. If you run into a tree (you will run into many), your screen will turn completely black as you try to navigate out of the mess you've gotten yourself into. Also, I tried reloading my world and had to chase my car as it drove off without me...
The next mark against this game is a lack of variety. The world is a sheer flat plain of grass and pavement (the car has no slope-handling functionality, I presume), dotted with pine trees. The trees are a nice touch but they're not enough. You could imagine that with snowy fields, deserts, oceanside routes, etc. the game would be more interesting to play. Really, just dropping this game into the average MTG mapgenv7 map would likely be enough to last a while. Unfortunately, that's not what we have today.
I should also mention perf. It's hard to say if this was the game's fault or the engine's, but at high speeds you can feel some lag spikes and stuttering that hurt the game's playability. It's not a persistent issue, but it's there.
So in the end, I walk away with both excitement at the possibility, but disappointment at the reality. This is worth poking if you're a dev looking for a project, but if you're a player I see no reason to touch this one.