Inertial Drift Review (Just_Matt)
I normally don't write reviews before "finishing" a game or at least taking it all in, but the state of things for Inertial Drift's review section is particularly dire, so i'm wrapping up my holidays by writing this provisonal one in an attempt to clarify what this game *actually* is.
So, Inertial Drift is a fighting game.
It's not a sim racer, it's not a "simcade", it's not a traditional arcade racer and it sure isn't a "spiritual sequel to Drift Stage" - which is something i've seen said in this review section. What it is it's an *extremely* technical drift racing game, in which the drifting itself operates on slightly different rules than usual, and in which *every* car is functionally its own, drastically different character - like in a fighting game.
Basically, cars control normally up until the part where you drift: in which case you not only use brake and throttle, but also your controller's right stick. Because yes, this is a controller game - and i *heavily* advise against using any other control peripheral, sim steering wheels especially. In a sentence, you control the "front" of your car with the left stick (steering), and you control the rear with the right stick (drifting).
The tricky bit comes in the way you *enter* a drift, which is different car by car and gets progressively more technical the further you go down the roster. Because cars themselves are split in 3 classes: C, B and A - and the further you go, the faster and harder to control them is.
For example: a C-class car like the Katana will be able to enter a drift by simply moving the right analog stick in the desired direction, then lifting off the throttle to widen the drift angle or braking to reduce it. On the flipside, an A-class car like the Chrono will need you to gently lift the throttle and flick the right analogue stick with *extreme* precision, as to avoid drifting too harshly or spinning out. Your drift width and car balance are both indicated by a set of meters on the bottom of the screen - you know, like in a fighting game.
So yeah, now add a set of both circuits and point-to-point tracks and an *extreme* focus on racing lines to succeed in both time attack and races (which are exclusively 1v1) and you'd see where my comparison comes from. You *will* need to "lab" (i.e. practice) and focus on a particular car per class if you wish to "get good" in any way. You know, like in a fighting game.
To that end, the Story Mode helps by being a general "tutorial" on 4 particular cars, as well as giving you plenty of general tips on how to handle each particular track through character dialogue. Yes, you should actually listen what the folks you're racing with have to say, because their advice genuinely helps.
Last but not least, a couple of notes on the game's tone:
I, for one, find the tone of the story mode somewhat refreshing. I've heard people describe it as "PEGI-13" and "conflictless" sometimes, and while i do concede that car people usually swear a lot more, it does nail a particular feeling of "community" that is usually ditched in favor of Fast & Furious overdramatics whenever street racing comes up in any form of media. I also find the four playable characters (each gets its own story) to work as effective parallels for different kinds of racing games player, which is a nice touch.
On the matter of music, on the other hand, I can only say that everyone whining about the vanilla game* not having Muh Eurobeet is a tasteless, meme-addled philistine with no appreciation for electronic music past whatever plays in their Epic and Funny Edits of things going sideways to music by people they don't even know the names of. The game's soundtrack features a satisfying variety of fusion jazz, jungle and footwerk tracks inspired by classic street racing games like Ridge Racer Type 4 and Racing Lagoon - which kicks ass.
(*The "Twilight Rivals" DLC also features eurobeat remixes of every track by a japanese artist called Turbo)