Would you believe me if I said Screamer is more cinema than racing?

Sure, it felt like I was actually playing out Tokyo Drift in real time between sweeping the streets, boosting at the start and zooming past stunning metropolis. But it also feels incredibly cinematic with a stunning anime art style that just immediately grabs attention.

This is a full remake of a classic 1995 franchise from Virgin and Graffiti that spawned several sequels and even spin-offs. In many ways, this is just a total reimagining of the game, in others it shares some of that vintage Ridge Racer style DNA that could be found from before.

But the intention is still there to attempt to disrupt the industry once more, and it’s often both a rocky and smooth ride that certainly goes some way to achieving that.

The core of the game is centered around the Tournament mode, a story focused, episodic adventure where there’s a combination of story-driven cut-scenes and high speed races.

There’s different requirements for each run between completing a race, coming in a certain position and using the boosts at key moments as well as utilising certain mechanics. There’s a nice flow to things, with a real sense of energy coming through at every turn, though the cutscenes and dialogue often run quite long.

And that does become a bit of an issue for the game whereby you’re often finding yourself tapping through dialogue like you’re in an RPG and itching to get back to the track. Fortunately, the story is interesting and compelling enough to keep you invested.

And there’s a great, interesting blend of characters, each with their motivations and aspirations in context of the wider tournament. They’re all presented beautifully through the stunning aesthetics that have been so painstakingly put together and each has their own distinct personality that always come to the fray.

It sort of reminds me of an old game called Road Avenger more than the original Screamer, actually. A stunning animated style that was filled with turns and choices. The story is clearly front and centre here. It’s also right in the wheelhouse of games such as Inertial Drift – which again was its own breed of success in a great arcade feeling racer.

But there’s also some really hardcore handling that will definitely take some getting used to. To the point where throughout the process of review there was a patch that adjusted difficulty, and I would not be surprised if another will be needed once the game launches in full.

It’s about timing, about being able to skirt edges as cleanly as possible and use your boosts in timely ways, but even on the lowest difficulty settings, cars are right up your ass and bearing down past you before you’ve even had a chance to get any momentum. You’ll probably need quite a few retries to get past certain sections, but others are just downright blood boiling.

As such, this isn’t going to be for everyone. You won’t cruise through Screamer – both due to its length and the brutality of the race – but those who loved Blur, Burnout, even Ridge Racer, are going to appreciate the arcade vibes that ooze out of the pores of this one and the principle of daring to do something different.

To be honest, for me personally, I came away from this one a little divided. While I appreciate the challenge, the arcade feel, the focus on narrative and the stunning aesthetic, it also left me a little cold and frustrated. Particularly in the Tournament.

But the Arcade definitely helps train you for that and get better used to the mechanics, cars and tracks, all of which take a good bit of time to get used to by using the right stick to steer around corners and pressing the shoulder buttons at the right time to activate boosts and shields.

Therein lies the game’s challenge because you’re often trying to balance out the usage of the different bumper buttons in order to blaze through your opposition, but it’s certainly easier said than done.

Fortunately, you also get the sense of unlocking something through each successful run, which at least adds a little something to the mindmapping of wanting to play again and again to achieve the highest score. The different mode types equally add that little bit more to the overall diversity of the game which takes it beyond the story which plays such an important part here.

And I think that’s why I can look past some of the rough edges of this one and accept the steep learning curve enough to push through it, because it at least is not trying to copy the formula of every other racer out there and wants to make something its own, that’s unique.

It’s trying to carve a new path for the Arcade Racer that still offers the same modes you’d expect like split screen and battle modes, but equally prove that a racer can not only tell a story – even if it isn’t the best out there – but it can genuinely add something new to make the race itself feel fun, challenging, and replayable. Yet, even at its peak, the game doesn’t still hit the highs of some others in the genre, which might make the asking price a bit of a tough sell.

Still, Screamer is one of the most interesting racers to come along in years, and it somewhat succeeds in its goal of disruption by giving the player something new to sink their teeth into. Yet it feels like it’s one or two updates away from hitting its peak strides and therefore relies on its players to have a bit more patience and willingness to stick with it until it can hit that top gear its aspiring for.

Verdict

Screamer is one of the most interesting additions to the racing genre in quite a few years. It blends that vintage racing charm of games like Blur and Burnout, it oozes style and visual presence with beautiful aesthetics like an Inertial Drift, and mechanically it dares to be different – and difficult – in the way it presents its base content. It’s not much like the original Screamer and there’s definitely some rough edges to get past with one of the steepest difficulty curves you can imagine, but give it a chance and you may just find a gem you’ll keep coming back to and want to tell your friends all about. Just don’t take it too hard if it’s not for everyone.

Pros

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Screamer is out March 26 on PC, PS, and Xbox,

Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Code Kindly Provided by Plaion for review purposes