Hotshot Racing (Beta) - Ski Paradise (Expert)

Channel:

MrThunderwing

Subscribers:

22,700

Published on July 5, 2020 9:21:44 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3pSYxfqEGA

Game:

Hotshot Racing (2020)

Duration: 4:47

738 views

23

This is a back-to-back playthrough of the Marina stage in the beta version of Hotshot Racing, first on the expert and then the slightly less taxing hard difficulty. Hard mode is faster than normal. Expert is considerably faster than Hard.

I was contacted earlier in the week by fellow YouTuber and all round legend Saturn Memories, to say that Lucky Mountain Games was providing him with an unspecified number of keys for a closed session beta of Hotshot Racing on Steam this weekend. Would I be interested in one...?

Hell yeah!

This is a purely gameplay video. I've already uploaded a video with my thoughts on the Beta. Check it out here:
https://youtu.be/IGuNTYE0Rnk

Overall, I am enjoying the beta a lot. One thing I've noticed though, is that there definitely is a big difference in speed between the Normal and Expert modes. In Expert mode the cars are going up to 210mph (up to 230 after a boost). In normal the cars seem to be topped out around 160mph and reaching 200mph briefly when boosting. Unfortunately though if you want to enjoy a faster paced game you have to contend with the Expert level AI. All the CPU cars suddenly become God-tier at this level and their rubber bandy tendency felt a bit egregious. They tend to bunch up together and will will suddenly drive into you from behind. More often than not, any contact from a CPU player will catastrophically affect your handling, sending you hurtling off the road or putting you into an unwanted drift that's hard to recover from. This definitely needs sorting out before the finished game gets released in my opinion. I'm not expecting a mode called 'Expert' to be easy, but I'm also not expecting to get run off the track by the AI in every race. Also, if I'm playing the game on Normal, just because I might not want a race where I'm playing against Expert level AI, it doesn't necessarily mean I want to play the game at a pace in the normal mode that feels like I'm out for a Sunday drive.

My suggestions for a fix:
1. Player vehicles need to be more robustly able to withstand a shunt from a CPU. The slightest glancing blow from a CPU guy coming up from behind me, shouldn't be enough to make me lose all control of my vehicle and suddenly go from 1st place to last in the space of a couple of seconds. That is just bogus.

2.The game needs an option to play at the higher speeds independent of AI difficulty. I might want a fast game but with normal level CPU opponents.

3. Higher difficulty shouldn't make it so that the AI are so aggressive they are constantly ramming you off the road, they need to win by driving better than you, not by driving like c**ts. The CPU aggression really needs toning down a smidge and the rubber banding made less egregious. Spread the racers out a bit more, don't make it so all 7 of them are constantly trying to climb up your arse at the same time.

4. I think the slip-streaming is problematic in this regard too, because if you're out in the lead the CPU guys behind you are constantly filling up their boost bar from your draft, ready to boost into you from behind, whilst your only way of generating more boost is drifting. I'm not really sure what the answer is here. Get rid of the boost generated from slip-streaming?

Having said all that though, the game definitely felt a lot more exhilarating playing at this speed and managing to successfully pull off perfectly executed drifts around the corners felt great. I've realised as well with the drifting that rather than trying to play it like Outrun 2, where you brake, turn and then get fully back on the gas, you need to be a little bit more mindful here of how much gas you're applying once you've initiated a drift - so once you're in that drift you're easing off on the gas a tad to avoid drifting too wide.

Check out Saturn Memories YouTube Channel at the link below

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uKl8S7wExFwXgh8KGgtCw

#HotshotRacing #RacingApex #SumoDigital

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