Race the Sun (Wii U) Review

Race the Sun may, at first, look like a flight simulation game set on some alien planet, but it's actually a simple test of moving left and right to avoid objects while piloting a futuristic, solar-powered spaceship. The graphics are on the minimalist side, with a fairly plain looking landscape, flat and desert-like in appearance, but full of heavy blocks and pyramid structures littered along as far as the eye can see. All make for easy objects to smack into, bringing an end to joyrides in the blink of an eye. Seriously, try not to blink or lose focus, as the speed can build up quickly, feeling close to F-Zero velocities at times.

The goal is to fly near the ground for as long as possible and build up score with only two real threats to worry about: losing power or crashing. The Sun, ever sinking closer to the horizon, is what powers the spaceship's solar cells, so some red and pink visible in the sky is a bad sign. It means time is almost up and the run is just about over. Collecting glowing yellow booster pickups, which pop up randomly during each run, will extend the duration of daylight, as well as increase speed. Slight collisions will not destroy the ship, but it will lose speed and the score multiplier will be lowered, as well. A direct hit head-on with anything will disintegrate the poor thing. While the controls are easy right from the start, there's a slight learning curve to gauging how hard to steer. Holding left or right for too long can be dangerous, so a good familiarity must be established, or else the ship won't last long.

Other pickups exist, such as a green pickup that, at first, looks similar to the daylight booster, but, instead, lets the ship jump up in elevation and then glide slowly back down. Jumping has a liberating feel to it, making it easier to not only avoid collisions for a short time, but also access more score pickups normally too high to reach. The jump ability isn't available right from the start, as Race the Sun uses an unlock system for new abilities, gradually allowing for tweaks to the gameplay via ship attachments, as well as better multiplier bonuses. There even exists a purple shield pickup, unlocked at a fairly early level, which will save the ship from destruction just one time, although these are not always easy to find. This level-up feature deserves a lot of praise for adding a lot more depth to the endless runner experience. As more races are attempted, challenges start to appear after a run, again pushing the player to try something a little different. These may prompt tasks like jumping 15 times or only turning right for an entire region. Completing these is what builds the ship's level, which opens the way to add more attachments.

In addition to the involved level up system, Race the Sun promises a new world to experience every day. A new world file is generated by the server and loaded every 24 hours, which also allows for daily scores to be set on the leaderboards. Other modes, like Apocalypse, eventually become available, which really increase the difficulty to the max. The amount of content is, overall, quite impressive for an endless runner, and building the ship's level carries many fun rewards. A way to add ship decals is also present, because who wouldn't want to pimp out their solar ride a little?

While the colour scheme is very limited and objects appear textureless, the graphics mostly showcasing some light and shadow effects, Race the Sun benefits from this minimalist style more than most might realise. The less fancy colour effects going on in the scene, the easier it is to concentrate on the run and avoid collisions. This is, after all, a game where good reflexes and focus is the key to a high score, so it only makes sense that generating a lot of fancy special effects to impress would just get in the way. Colour is, instead, used only to make score-building pickups and boosters easier to spot. More dangerous objects, like windmill blades, boulders, and tall pillars that like to fall down to block the way usually have a rusted look, again making them easier to spot. In other words, graphics that serve to distract do so for a proper reason, and that's good gameplay design.

The background music is also designed to fit well with the gameplay by keeping things fairly relaxed and comfortable feeling. The soundtrack does come up in excitement some when more intense level regions begin to appear, which helps build a feeling of urgency to accompany the struggle to avoid a head-on collision in these moments. At times, it even sounds close to the soundtrack from an episode of Doctor Who. There's little, if anything, to complain about when it comes to the sound of Race the Sun; it all fits perfectly with the mood of the game.

Some general issues to consider are that challenges must be listed on the screen in order for them to be counted. Scoring 100,000 points without attachments is likely a feat many would accomplish early on in the game, but without it first appearing in the challenge list, no credit is given. Also, although the unlock system does add depth and aids with keeping the player coming back for more, this means, for at least some portion of the early game, the player is competing with his or herself more than the leaderboards. Enhancements that come later make it a lot easier to build score, putting low level players at an obvious disadvantage. The fix here is to just keep playing, and that's not too hard thanks to a well-thought-out reward system.