NEO DRIFT OUT

Review Introduction:

This was the first racing game that I ever played on the Neo Geo. I played this one while I was waiting to see a film at the cinema (like many Neo Geo games!). At first I wasn't going to bother because I didn't think it looked all that good, but they didn't have anything else there that was worth playing, so I decided to give it a go. It actually turned out to be really good fun.

Gameplay: 🕹️

Neo Drift Out is a rally game and you get to pick from three real cars, which include a Mitsubishi Lancer, a Subaru Impreza and a Toyota Celica. As you can see from the screen shot above, they all have the usual differences between handling and speed etc. The first race you take part in is a very short practice stage and then you move onto some bigger stages, where the terrain varies between snow, dirt and, ummm... well, there is nothing in this game that you won't have already seen elsewhere. However, the thing that makes this game so playable is that it's just good, plain old-fashioned FUN, which is what games should be about.

It takes a while to get used to the handling, but when you do you will find yourself sliding around most of the tracks with ease. There are also plenty of shortcuts that you can take on each track too, so you need keep an eye out for them to achieve the best times. You occasionally meet up with CPU controlled cars, but if you do crash into them you just bounce off while they spin out of control. Your main enemy is the clock, as there is a strict time limit to adhere to, which can be very tight on later tracks — especially if you have the game set to a high difficulty level!

Graphics & Sound: 👾🔊

This game is decent graphically. The tracks and cars all look O.K. and it is very fast. It's just a little bland really, with nothing out of the ordinary going on. The sound is fairly good though. The music suits the game very well and none of it gets annoying either. In fact, there are a couple of pieces of music, which I think are very good. The spot effects are fairly average, especially the engine noise which sounds like a lawnmower, but the co-driver who gives you directions and says stuff like "OH NO!!!" whenever you crash is quite funny though.

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Overall: 📊

I did at first prefer this game to Overtop but after playing them both a bit more so I could do these reviews, I am not so sure, because they are both great fun. If top down racing games are your thing, then I definitely recommend you get both of them, although they can both get a little boring after a while, as replay value isn't their main strength.