Rating
Xenon Racer
It’s the year 2030. In an era of flying vehicles, a one-off championship for traditional wheel based vehicles has been organised, with cutting edge electric cars boosted by Xenon gas. Drift through cities like Tokyo and Dubai at breakneck speeds and claim your eternal victory!
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Xenon Racer Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
An old skool arcade racer wearing a brand new pair of breeches - get past the tough learning curve and get into the zone and you'll be a happy futuristic drifter.
Proof that sometimes having a strong visual identity can go a long way to pulling you into a game.
Drift-based racing games may not be as popular as they once were so Xenon Racer is here to hopefully revive the genre.
Xenon Racer is an electrifying arcade racer set in the year 2030.
Xenon Racer wants to become this generation’s Ridge Racer. Unfortunately it can’t quite get the formula right and thanks to some rather annoying niggles lacks the fun-factor that made Ridge Racer what it was.
After trying out its closed beta, I was hopeful that Xenon Racer would turn out to be solid Ridge Racer clone. Unfortunately, the finished product doesn’t quite live up to my expectations. While the racing does eventually become fun, it’s marred by poor design choices and presentation that’s just lacking. Had Xenon Racer been a game released at a budget price, many of its issues could have maybe been overlooked, but anyone playing full price for it is likely to be disappointed by its offerings.
Xenon Racer has some bold ideas. It wants to bring back the simplicity and fast pace from previous arcade racers released in the 90’s, all while wowing players with a rich and detailed futuristic setting. I just can’t say “no” to a proposal like that. Sadly, while there’s fun to be had here, there are lots of issues that hinder this game from fulfilling this vision.
There's a ton of potential in Xenon Racer, but while it looks and sounds the part, its difficulty level and overly weighty handling keep it firmly stuck in the slow lane.
Xenon Racer doesn’t have anything that makes it particularly unique, so even the best port would still be mediocre. The one way it truly manages to go above and beyond is by doing its best to hide its shoddy port right up to its pre-rendered gameplay footage in the intro that was clearly recorded on a different system. If you’re in a desperate fix for a new racing game there are worse options than Xenon Racer, but make sure you pick it up on another system, because even the added portability on Switch can’t make this version worth the cost of admission.
Update: We have been informed that a patch is on its way to address many issues we have found with the stability and quality of the game on Nintendo Switch. The patch is scheduled to arrive this month (April).