Screamer: The Second Hands-on Preview - Dialling up the Story
It is rare in Australia that we get the chance to do two previews for the one game. Most often, we get one shot, a couple of weeks out from release, on a near-final build of the game to get a look at what is coming in the not-so-distant future. But with Screamer, I have been exceptionally lucky to play it twice now, both at various stages of development, and it is exciting to see the changes and improvements, as well as a bigger slice of the full picture. My first preview was focused solely on the gameplay, and that was late last year, but this time around, I got to see the story and the style that will drive (*cough*) the game and keep players invested in this unique arcade racer.
First things first, let me talk about the driving. After my original preview, I fell in love with this new style of racing that the game presented. The twin-stick driving style is still there, with the left stick steering while the right controls drift. This gave me a lot of control over how the car moves and behaves, letting me attack corners with aggression and style. This time around, it felt even more refined, and I think it is going to really excite racing fans once the game is released. Added to this is the shift mechanic. Time your gearshifts (a simple button press) correctly, and you get a small speed boost as well as adding to your turbo meter (more on that later). So this is very much an “active” driving experience that asks a bit more from players than games in this genre typically do.
The other side of the game is car combat, with the developers openly talking about Street Fighter being an inspiration for this part of the game. In my first preview, I only really got to dabble a little in this side of things, but after my last playthrough, I really got a good idea of how it works. There is a nice balance between risky, aggressive driving and taking down the opposition, thanks to the use of a dual-power bar system. The first bar increases as you drive well, and once it reaches a certain amount, you can use it to hit the turbo. Each time you hit turbo, the second bar fills up one section. It is this bar that allows you to perform combat moves like a shield, a smashing attack that explodes the opposition or, if you wait to fill the whole bar, a super-turbo attack that, as long as you keep the car from touching the barriers on the side of the road, will plough its way through the entire opposing field of drivers. Think the Star from Mario Kart, with you exploding if you go off the track, and you will have a good idea of how it works.
All of these driving shenanigans have a narrative reason for existing, and it is all presented in a wonderfully cheesy Anime story mode that will, hopefully, give players a hefty chunk of fun along with the wild tale. During my time in the preview session I got to complete the first six chapters, which were basically the introduction to the game and a bit of a tutorial, but the setup is a lot of fun, the characters are all appopriately over-the-top and the graphical styles seems like it has been pulled straight out of a cartoon that would have been shown on Cheeze TV (that is really showing my age.) I really liked the fact that all the characters spoke their native tongue, and with a whole host of different nationalities being represented, conversations were often happening in four or five languages at the same time. Realistic? Not really, but I love it nonetheless.
The story seems like it will play out through multiple perspectives as each team of riders has its own reason for entering this crazy racing tournament, adding to that anime feel even more. It is clear there is going to be a lot of high drama in the tale, and I even rolled my eyes on a few occasions during the demo, but overall it feels like the game is going to land that balance of wink-at-the-player cheesiness without delving too far into obnoxious or insufferable territory. It is a tough thing to do, but if the rest of the game plays out like the first six chapters, the story should be quite the fun ride from start to finish.
Screamer really is shaping up quite nicely. It is really trying something unique in a genre that has been a little stale for quite some time now, and I love to see that. My second time with the game was even more promising than the first, so it has gone from a title I was keeping an eye on to one I am actively keen for. Here’s hoping the team can bring it all together when the full game releases, because if they can, Screamer could be mentioned in the same breath as games like Burnout and Need for Speed, that’s just how much potential it has.
Screamer lands on PS5, Xbox Series and PC on the 26th of March.
