Redout 2 review of one of the fastest games of recent years

Almost six years have passed since the launch of Redout, the spiritual heir to WipEout and F-Zero. A hyper-speed racing game where the heroes are futuristic spaceships racing on gravity tracks located in the most diverse parts of the galaxy.

title in italian 34BigThings it’s managed to build a fan base, both thanks to post-launch support (the beauty of five DLCs were revealed in 2017) and, above all, a collaboration with the Epic Game Store. About a month ago, with the Enhanced Edition draw, the game was further updated and became the center of attention again. It’s the perfect commercial maneuver to push the launch of this sequel, which was proposed as an enhanced version of the original game from all perspectives. Let’s find out what these news are and, above all, how they are applied in our news. Redout 2 review!

Lots of content

Much of the work has focused on enriching the offering and perfecting the driving model. Starting from the first angle, road amount They’re available in Redout 2: even 36 compared to its predecessor’s 25 (or even double, considering they could also face off in the opposite direction). It is spread over ten planets, each of which is characterized by a certain gravitational value, atmospheric density and climate.

The first variable affects cornering grip, the second affects running resistance, and the third variable affects the vehicle’s overheating speed. turbo-. Exactly the latter is a key element of the flight pattern: There’s the temptation to hit the Boost button as often as possible, but if you keep the engine temperature above a protection threshold for too long, you need to keep it at bay. threatening to explode. Besides avoiding touching the barriers, an action that reduces the resistance of the shields and makes the spaceship more vulnerable, the secret is to leverage the structure of the runway to take advantage of the turbo only when really necessary. How? Mainly by going through accelerators placed at points that aren’t always on the ideal trajectory and measuring the pitch to gain speed on downhill sections while maintaining it on uphill sections.

Given the concentration required by piloting, this is easier said than done. There are no insignificant curves, and even straight sections can hide traps, especially during jumps where you have to carefully calibrate the roll so you don’t miss the landing spot. Leaning against the barriers and the consequent loss of speed will cause you to lose patience several times due to the ability of the opponents ready to take advantage of the slightest burr. Someone’s unforgivable absence complicates things even more. minimap. Of course, there are rally-style indicators that predict the development of the track a few seconds in advance, but due to the high speed it is difficult to pay attention to them.

There has been a change in philosophy involving duels on the track. In Redout, it was possible to damage opponents by stealing their propellant energy: this possibility was removed to focus all attention on driving.

Career and arcade

As with the first, the methods offline game two. That arcade, with almost all the tracks and spaceships from the beginning, does not offer any important news. Six types of events: a challenge against yourself to improve lap time, we start with a time attack to move on to single races with up to eleven competitors. In Last Man Standing, whoever comes in last place in each lap is eliminated, while in Arena Racing there is no margin of error: the ship explodes, whether it’s engine failure or going off track, instantly the end of the test. In Speed ​​you earn points by keeping a certain minimum speed for as long as possible, while Boss is a kind of marathon that ensures that all tracks are connected seamlessly.

This is the highlight of the Redout 2 offering, namely careerCompared to its predecessor, it has been completely overhauled and now looks more like Forza Motorsport’s. It spawns in five major leagues, each an articulating series of challenges that must be tackled in order to unlock access to the most competitive leagues. Each trial includes different objectives, which are rewarded with new vehicles (twelve in total) and upgrades to complete. This is another big news. While only two updates could be installed in the previous version (one active and one passive), the level of customization in this sequel is much more layered and plans to tackle six technical elements (engine, stabilizer, etc.) and three aesthetic elements. . The biggest problem is that the upgrades come in a predetermined order, the player cannot decide what to buy with the credits taken.

Not very accessible, very customizable

Shortly before the review was released, a patch was released that lowered the difficulty level of the tutorial, which is a key step to unlocking all the features of Redout 2. Challenge without completing the first three tests, the results of which are automatically calibrated. At level one, it’s not possible to seize the driving aids or access the multiplayer mode, which we’ll talk about later. The developers soon realized that they had set the initial bar too high, sparking several discussions on the forums: thus, although Redout 2 was not a game for everyone, they made it less difficult for competitors. third exam.

Crossing the finish line first is now easier and as a result has the ability to customize the gaming experience. Even the driving aid parameters are ten (which practically concerns all movements of the spaceship), and each of them can be intervened in a targeted way, by adjusting the intervention of artificial intelligence from zero to one hundred. Not to mention the six difficulty levels of computer-controlled opponents.

All these adaptations offer hope to create a personalized experience, but on balance things are different. First of all, there is no way to completely delegate some maneuvers to the PC, which are difficult even with maximum assistance. L’AI is overly punishing and suffers from a deadly “one-way” elastic effect. Forget the mistakes of CPU-controlled opponents: they’ve never been off the track or leaning against walls in all of our tests. On the contrary, only minimal spots are allowed to the player: if your spaceship explodes due to excessive overheating, you will have to restart the race, as it is almost impossible to save the ground.

Realization and its environment

While we praise the first Redout for clearing the tracks, unfortunately we can’t do the same for those featured in this sequel. most of it artistic work focused on the slopes, but it seemed to us that the designers were paying more attention to magnificence than functionality. they definitely hitwow effect: Whether you’re walking between two guardian dragons on Mount Fuji or through an industrial pyramid in the Cairo circuit, there’s no shortage of unforgettable views. Among the most successful tracks are those set in space, where in certain passages he appears to be prey to psychotropic effects. However, it is a pity that the presence of lost jumps or obstacles in the sparkling environment is not noticed with the same frequency. In other cases, concentration is lost to study the position of the accelerators, which is often confused with the rest of the circuit due to questionable chromatic selection.

In addition, in this sequel, the spaceship models are at a lower level of detail than the scenarios; this flaw is a little more obvious and annoying than before, especially when it is not noticed while driving in the personalization menus. This is because the feeling of overdrive remains unchanged and is also supported by a granite framerate. Testing at maximum graphics detail and UltraHD resolution returned peaks of 110fps at moments of maximum glory, without dropping below 80fps. The excellent soundtrack helps keep the adrenaline high, even in the presence of special scenes. guests like Giorgio Moroder And Zardonic, its traces stand out in the others. While we wait for the leaderboards and ranked leagues to be ready, multiplayer offers a viable alternative to multiplayer as opponents are much more likely to make mistakes (almost never to artificial ones). However, matchmaking needs improvement, as in some cases we left with a few minutes delay compared to the rest of the group.