KEEPING WITH THE PACE.

Pacer is the newest game that attempts to be Wipeout. There’s been plenty of attempts, such as Redout, BallisticNG, and Fast RMX, but this is the attempt from devs who worked on the Wipeout series. I was sort of excited, but after playing I have to ask myself if I like Wipeout as much as I thought I did.

For the unfamiliar, Wipeout is a futuristic racing series where floating vehicles drive along insane tracks and participate in combat. Essentially, speed up a kart racer and raise the skill level needed to win and Wipeout is the outcome. There’s generally different objectives for every race, which further deviates from the kart racer formula, and that’s no different with Pacer.

PLATFORMS: PS4, XB1, PC
MSRP: $39.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $19.99

However, with Pacer every time it deviated from destroying a set number of opponents or completing a race in first place I was not having a good time. The alternate modes ranged from mildly irritating to not fun, and the linear way the game progresses through the campaign made it so I had to complete every single challenge to advance in the order they presented them, and the lack of options is consistent throughout the main campaign.

There is a vehicle editor where players can edit their ship, but that doesn’t matter though because in the main campaign ships are chosen for the player which is purely aesthetic. Fine. However, don’t charge the currency unlocked from races to customize ship visuals then because that same money is needed to buy upgrades for the performance of ships which is set by the player. It’s such a bizarre decision to have a bunch of ship customizations and then not allow players to choose the vehicle they race as. From their own site it says, “Customise your craft and weapons then engage in the campaign.” Not exactly true and when the campaign is as irritating as this I had zero plans to continue to push forward with it to maybe get to a point where that stops being the case.

Speaking of visuals, Pacer’s fidelity looks fantastic; lots of detail with great textures even on a base Xbox One. However, stylistically the developers chose mostly grays and browns, and they do an injustice to the rest of the game. I have no idea if this was done to differentiate itself from Wipeout but all the other Wipeout clones are bright, vivid colors. Pacer looks like it took its colors from a 360-era shooter. It really is a shame because some of the courses are fun to race in but are so unmemorable from one brown colored track to another. The most memorable track is the one that takes place in Russia, because while it is very grey, it is snowing and that sets it apart. The few courses that chose to be bright and fun such as Niagara Falls definitely were more interesting.

Also the music, when I could hear it, was bland techno. As a fan of electronic music it felt as if the most generic of tracks were chosen, and its disappointing because there are plenty of artists who I am sure would be willing to license music to a game that had more character than what was here.

Now I’m not trying to just dunk on Pacer because the racing does feel very good. I’m simply setting myself up to make this point: this is not a replacement for Wipeout. The argument generally is “Well _____ hasn’t made _____ in years.” That does not make the new game that is trying to be like the well established/beloved game immediately good. Pacer is a good game on its own merits but it is nothing special, and when Wipeout HD Collection is still being sold for half the price of Pacer (and the other titles I mentioned at the beginning of this review are also less than Pacer) it is extremely hard to say this game that is just “good” is worth your money when competitors are out there for less. Pacer does not exist in a vacuum, and therefore I can not recommend it over other Wipeout inspired titles, which there is at least one on every current platform.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.