It’s been seven years since Aquiris’ excellent arcade racer Horizon Chase (Free) arrived on the App Retailer. Since then, the sport has been on a tour of its personal, hitting a wide range of different platforms and always including new content material to get pleasure from. A couple of month in the past, we lastly acquired a sequel when Horizon Chase 2 () roared onto the Apple Arcade service in anticipation of a wider launch in 2023. I’ve been taking part in the wheels off the sport since then, and I figured I’d write up a evaluation in case anybody wants a nudge.
Simply as the primary sport was, Horizon Chase 2 pays heavy homage to basic arcade-style racers like Gremlin’s High Gear/Lotus and SEGA’s Out Run. Races are high-speed affairs stuffed with loads of hairpin turns, nitro boosts, and nasty collisions. The colours are vibrant, the tunes are pumping, and the physics are extra occupied with being enjoyable than being reasonable. As a sequel, Horizon Chase 2 has an additional job past simply being a very good racer, nonetheless. It additionally has to point out what it has to supply that the primary sport didn’t, a job that may be fairly robust when the earlier sport noticed new updates at the same time as latest as a couple of months in the past.
When you simply leap into the sport, the primary huge distinction is an apparent one. The easy, albeit enticing, flat-shaded, low-poly look of the unique sport has been changed with one thing a bit extra visually spectacular. There are extra trackside objects with larger element, nicer visible results, and an general larger complexity in how every little thing seems to be. There’s quite a lot of verticality to the tracks, and also you’ll journey by means of areas the primary sport by no means deigned to take us. Amazingly, the sport hasn’t misplaced its retro appeal whereas making this step. It jogs my memory a little bit of how Out Run 2 managed to considerably enhance on the graphical constancy of its predecessor with out dropping its pure “blue skies” vitality.
The soundtrack, alternatively, sticks to what works. Which means Barry Leitch is again to grant the sport a peppy synth vibe that virtually oozes the texture of the early Nineteen Nineties. Whereas I wouldn’t say it surpasses the unique, it definitely stands comfortably beside it. A great cause to play with the sound on, little question. It’s simply gorgeous to me how simply Leitch can set up the setting and stakes of a race simply with the primary few seconds of every monitor. Like all the finest online game soundtracks, it’s simply as a lot part of the sport’s character as its graphics.
The opposite very apparent new ingredient is the web multiplayer. The brand new Playground theoretically lets you race in opposition to different human gamers in rotating occasions. I have to admit that within the month I’ve spent with this sport, I’ve had solely the spottiest luck discovering different individuals on-line. I find yourself racing in opposition to AI bots for essentially the most half, which I in all probability don’t want on-line play for. I suppose that is the price of the sport being briefly unique to a selected service on one particular platform. At the least for now, if you wish to play in opposition to different gamers, you’ll in all probability have to rearrange one thing amongst your mates or utilizing the sport’s official Discord server.
However hey, even in case you don’t contact the Playgrounds in any respect, you’ve nonetheless acquired loads to dig into. There’s the returning World Tour mode that takes you thru a whopping fifty-five new programs set throughout 5 completely different nations. The sheer number of these tracks is incredible, and when mixed with the upgraded visible punch, it’s straightforward to get distracted trying on the programs whilst you’re racing on them. The problem curve is acquainted, with the primary handful of races being easy sufficient to deal with no matter your talent and subsequent tracks turning up the warmth progressively till you’re boiling in your individual sweat. I discover the monitor design on this sport to already exceed the primary, and that was no straightforward feat.
By way of the precise mechanics of the sport, Horizon Chase 2 covers acquainted floor. This, just like the music, is a case of not fixing one thing that wasn’t damaged. You get that very same weighty-yet-light really feel from the primary sport, a system that’s baked into the fingers of High Gear and Lotus veterans, however utilized to way more superior course layouts. Weaving skillfully between your opponents, kicking on that nitro on the excellent second to fly into the lead of the pack, and narrowly lacking a brutal crash with a signboard as you lean like hell into a good curve is simply as triumphantly thrilling as ever. Like within the first sport, it’s simply plain enjoyable to drive in Horizon Chase 2. What extra may you ask for?
After all, you’ve additionally acquired unlockables and upgrades to contemplate. As you race, you’ll unlock new tracks, automobiles, and customizations, and may use the forex you’ve gathered to tune your favourite automotive as you prefer it. Utilizing automobiles in races earns expertise for that automotive, and once they degree up you’ll be able to improve their stats. Initially of the sport, you’ve 5 very completely different autos to select from. You’ll unlock ten extra, and if the primary sport was any indicator I’m positive that quantity will solely go up over time. That stated, the way in which the improve system works incentivizes you to discover a automotive you want and keep it up. Properly, you’ll be able to at all times grind up one other one in case you like. It simply means extra racing, and there’s nothing unsuitable with that.
Is there anything I ought to point out? The contact controls really feel a bit of higher on this sport than the primary, however that might simply be all the way down to a greater UI structure. You possibly can naturally use an exterior controller in case you’d want to. I discovered there was only a contact of added lag by taking part in that approach, however nothing too critical. Such is the character of Bluetooth units. You’ve acquired some new Achievements to go for, and a few of them are fairly intelligent. Oh, I didn’t point out the unlockable Match mode both. It’s only a solution to dip in and play some fast challenges once you don’t really feel like getting caught into World Tour. Extra scoops of ice cream on an already teetering mountain of candy treats.
When you cherished Horizon Chase, you’ll love Horizon Chase 2. When you’ve by no means performed the primary sport, you’ll be able to simply leap in with this sequel and have a good time. It’s in some methods an anticipated sequel, however I don’t suppose there’s something unsuitable with that when there was so little to complain about within the first sport. I had truly let my Apple Arcade subscription lapse, however I signed proper again up once more for Horizon Chase 2. It didn’t let me down. Now all we want is to get the web inhabitants a bit of extra lively. Hopefully that’s a difficulty that can clear up itself with time.
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