Street racing combined with car modification became immensely popular thanks in large part to Need for Speed Underground many years ago, and provided gamers with a selection of challenges for races, a pumping soundtrack, and mods aplenty that helped make the series such an iconic masterpiece that it is today. Many gamers are calling for its return every time that EA announce a new Need for Speed game, only to be left slightly disappointed when it never materialises. Well, developer Team6 and Lion Castle as publisher have brought us Super Street, and many have been wondering if this is going to fill the gap left behind. Will it take the podium or is it limping over the line at best?
The name Team6 made me wonder if I’d heard that before. I was positive that I had and did some quick research before I began, and honestly, I felt a bit deflated as they were the team responsible for Road Rage, which as a spiritual successor of sorts to Road Rash. A game that was just truly awful and one I couldn’t wait to be done with. Would Super Street rectify their fortunes? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Super Street is lacking in so many ways, but it’s mildly better than Road Rage which given how bad it was, isn’t all that hard. But what makes Super Street a lifeless husk?
For starters, when using the camera that trails the car, you can easily see that no car has a driver inside. Sentient cars perhaps? But serious talk, this is a standard in racing games unless they have windows tinted to the max. It feels lazy, and it is lazy truth be told. Next up is the handling, which is atrocious to say the least, as the game isn’t sure whether or not you will suffer massive oversteer or understeer. Pick one and place a bet. It could go either way here and it’s totally random as to which will take place, making cornering a royal pain in the buttocks. Next is braking. Your cars standard brakes are a mere afterthought if I’m being blunt, as they don’t feel like they’re doing anything worthwhile to actually slow you down effectively. The handbrake is your way option to drastically reduce your speed, and even then it’s still not that great here, and more often than not, you’ll overshoot a right corner and smash your car into a wall or building and they fall apart as if they’re made from Lego.
The world is full of your standard car drivers, which inevitably means that they’re just going to be in the way at a vital moment. No pedestrians add to the lifeless and soulless existence in this fictional city. It contributes to sucking out the joy from the game, and makes for a dull experience. But unlike Road Rage, Super Street looks reasonably pretty and doesn’t suffer the terrible frame rate that Team6’s previous effort suffered. But it’s just not fun to play despite the premise that the game offers.
Picking a junk car to begin with, you need to earn enough cash to buy new parts for your car to make it a street worthy racer and there are plenty of options available for body mods, engine mods and this is where the game does shine with its myriad of mods. It’s just a shame that the good points end here. Parts are expensive and will take you a while to save up for as you repeat races over and over to eventually be able to purchase that much needed bumper, or wheels and the like. Official product names have been used, which is a nice little touch, but it just feels too little for the overall product which falls so short of the finish line.
The online is functional enough to play, and if you’re lucky to find people to play against, it can be a laugh, but I just don’t see a huge community for the game ever materialising. As for the single player portion, you get presented with a screen that has a selection of various events you can partake in, but aside from that it once again feels empty. Like it was an afterthought. Nothing stood out to make me feel that anything was important, and given how the game was promoted it feels a let down. The idea of building your own street racer from scratch was a fantastic idea, but the execution has left a lot to be desired with very little to actually flesh the game out.
The generic music doesn’t instil any desire to get racing, and once you realise that there’s no sound effects for the car will make you wonder as it did with me, if it’s actually a finished game. A crying shame as it could have been a great game.
Verdict
Super Street had potential, and could well have been a genuinely fun experience. As it stands, it’s far from it. There is way to much that needs work to attract any buyers, and make it a fun and engaging experience, and given that asking price, you just have to wonder how it’s justified, as it’s a budget game price without a doubt.
Developer: Team6
Publisher: Lion Castle
Release Date: 11th September 2018
Price: £39.99
File Size: 4.87GB
Xbox One copy provided for review purpose.
Available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One & PC