At first glance, Horizon Chase Turbo looks like a fake video game, the sort of thing you'd see a character play in a TV show for a few seconds. The extremely clean models, bright environments, and smooth animation just give it this uncanny quality that doesn't quite gel with what your expectation of a real playable video game product is. When you're sitting down to play it yourself, however, you'll realize that this art style wasn't just created to evoke a sense of nostalgia for the classic arcade racers Horizon emulates, but to help you enter a sorta of zen-like state, making it easier to anticipate curves to swerve around rivals. I put a ridiculous amount of time into this one, and almost all of it was spent in a sort of trance.

Horizon Chase Turbo is broken up into several modes, but the main attraction is the World Tour, which is features 12 countries with three circuits each, plus an "upgrade race" which you can complete to increase the stats of your cars. Tracks are littered with medals, and collecting them all while placing first will earn you a "super trophy." Collecting all the super trophies in a circuit will unlock a bonus car, and each car you unlock gets its own little adventure mode consisting of five races. This is in addition to a tournament mode, which itself is divided into three tiers with multiple circuits each, and an endurance mode which I did not check out because there's already too much game and I was getting burnt the hell out. Seriously, I can't think of the last time I got this much game for like, five dollars. There's a reason I marked this as "played" and not "completed," because I just don't have it in me to spend another 20 hours with this thing trying to soak up the rest of its content. Doing so would only make me hate it.

I can, however, see myself coming back to this in spurts. The core gameplay is pretty solid as far as classic arcade racers go. Going back to something like this, my biggest hurdle was unlearning my compulsion to drift and instead lean in to curves. Overtaking opponents is all about developing a familiarity with the course and your vehicle and knowing when to hug a turn or apply a boost. Each car feels like it has its own strengths and weaknesses, which encouraged me to actually play with quite a few of the vehicles in my garage. A number of them are modeled after famous cars from movies, games, and other media. The car from Initial D is here, you can unlock the 1980s Batmobile, for a couple bucks you can get the convertible from OutRun. Of course we all know that's what they are, but due to international copyright laws... they aren't.

Unfortunately, a lot of the good will Horizon earns in its opening hours is burned by an extremely frustrating middle game. It seems that as the team stretched for content they lost sight of what made tracks fun to race on, opting to increase the difficulty with blind turns and weather effects designed to obstruct your visibility. There's a few tracks where it's almost impossible to tell where the road is, and of course they're riddled with hairpin turns. Each race has twenty cars (including yourself) and you always start at the back of the pack. You can get an initial boost if you rev up at the right time, but this will often just send you banging into someone's bumper, which causes you to then slow down and them to speed up. Naturally, the AI is also tweaked to become more difficult, but only in the sense that they start to swerve to cut you off more often, and they accomplish this through some very obvious rubber-banding. I can't count the amount of times I approached a rival only to see them snap across the track unnaturally to prevent me from overtaking them. It all ends up feeling incredibly cheap and irritating.

And yet, the difficulty pacing is so off that the hardest stretch of game is smack dab in the middle. Once you beat Dubai it's pretty smooth sailing until the last circuit in Hawaii. I have no idea how this game looked in 2018, but simply playing it in this state made me wonder if each country was released one by one as free updates. It would at least explain how inconsistent it feels.

Despite how uneven the game can be, I still had a good time with it. Again, I got this for like, five bucks. It's hard to be too mad about it at that price. Definitely pick this one up if you're a fan of old school racing games, but also wait to do so until it's on sale.

As a fan that grew up with the Outrun series I can't love this enough. If you're searching for shiny graphics or super realistic controls then obviously this won't be your thing. If you're looking for old fashioned white knuckled skill testing, then this is going to be your jam. The regular campaign is plenty long (roughly 6 hours of content) and the DLC is only $1.99 per pack on the eShop, each with it's own roughly 4 hours of content with the extra cars. I highly recommend this to fans of arcade racers.

I think the gameplay here really has the shine of the classic super-scalar arcade games, specifically in its rollercoaster-like tightness to the controls. it's also impressive how many different tracks they stuck in here, even if many of them do not stick out after a first playthrough. what I didn't appreciate was the constant crashing (pun unintended). I don't know if other versions of the game perform better, but I was forced to reset roughly every 10 minutes, making the marathon and tournament modes completely inaccessible to me thanks to between-race crashes. even in the normal world tour mode it was infuriating, as a crash would often reset my chosen options as well. really hard for me to get past that fact, even if I'm unsure of why it performed so poorly on my machine specifically.

I did at least try to get all of the trophies is most of the areas. I didn't really appreciate having to grab coins and items on the track... that's a feature that feels a bit too "mario kart" to me. the stress to get first was not overbearing at least, other than on a select few courses where the difficulty was ramped up. I would've really enjoyed sinking my teeth into this more if, again, it didn't crash every 10 minutes.

O que falar desse jogo de corrida que considero pacas? Bom...em primeiro lugar devo dizer que não é a primeira vez que jogo ele, já tinha tentando zerar antes mas SEMPRE acabava desistindo por conta da dificuldade e do nervoso que o jogo me passava, dessa vez resolvi ir até o fim e consegui terminar. Apesar dele ser um jogo que me irrita MUITO, é um jogo que mesmo assim, é na maior parte do tempo muito gostoso de jogar. Agora....por que ele me irrita?? Bom....em primeiro lugar a IA dele eu acho MUITO roubada, sério ela me tirava do sério! É carro fechando você o tempo todo, te jogando/empurrando pra fora da pista, usando turbo indiscriminadamente, etc...tem horas que esse jogo eu costumo dizer parece um simulador de carrinho de bate e bate porque olha....toda hora que eu tentava ultrapassar alguém, eles tentavam me bater ou jogar pra fora da pista, perdi as contas de quantas vezes perdi um primeiro, segundo ou até terceiro lugar por alguma coisinha boba como um carro me jogando pra fora da pista, por ter batido na traseira de um outro ou coisa do tipo. Por falar nisso, de bater na traseira de outro carro e ele ir pra frente/ser impulsionado é uma das coisas mais injustas que já vi num jogo! O carro adversário não perde velocidade NENHUMA, não perde a direção, etc... nem parece que eu bati nele. O foda é que enquanto eu jogava eu sentia que estava perdendo não por causa da minha falta de habilidade mas por causa da IA roubada que esse jogo tem. E é por isso, que ele me irrita tanto, mas se ele me irrita e tem sérios problemas de IA, por que continuar jogando, ou indicar pra alguém?? Aí é que está....apesar de tudo isso, é um jogo muito bem feito no resto, os cenários são bem simples mas bonitos (os carros inclusos), há inclusive, uma ótima quantidade e diversidade de pistas indo desde pistas nos EUA, passando por Brasil a Havaí, a jogabilidade/controle dos carros é gostosinha mas o melhor desse jogo é a sua trilha sonora! Sério, esse jogo tem uma das melhores trilhas sonoras que já ouvi em um jogo de corrida, cortesia do grande compositor Barry Leitch, o mesmo compositor de clássicos como Top Gear, Toyota Rally entre vários outros jogos de corrida, as músicas feita pro game grudam na sua cabeça, sempre cantarolava elas enquanto jogava e às vezes até me pegava cantarolando elas fora do jogo. Destaque para as trilhas ''Easter Egg(TG)'', Race 6: Jentay'', Race 8: Vyper'' e ''Race 12: the Last Hurrah of a Vídeo Game Composer''(a MELHOR na minha opinião), elas estão inclusive disponíveis pra serem ouvidas no Spotify. Enfim...um puta jogo, que tem seus problemas, mas nada que tirem o brilho dele.

Eu ainda vou continuar jogando por um tempo, já que terminei apenas a campanha principal dele, ainda me falta fazer as DLC's que tenho que são a Summer Vibes e principalmente, a Senna Sempre. Quando terminá-las pretendo começar o Horizon Chase 2. Vamos ver se eles arrumaram a IA roubada....eu sinceramente espero que sim.

Horizon Chase is one of the good Brazilian games within this industry that grows every year. The arcade racing style is very faithful to the fourth generation games, bringing with it the essence linked to improvements in gameplay, soundtrack, level editing and progression. With different countries around the world and many classic cars, replaying the levels to win all the trophies becomes a fun task. From this perspective, I recommend the game to anyone who wants to feel the experience of classic racing games again, breaking away from the current perspective that permeates this genre, which sometimes finds itself stuck in the same repetitive aspect.

Completed 100% Golden Globe
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: November 28, 2018
Genre: Racing » Arcade » Automobile
Finished in: 15-20 Hours

This is my second time finished HCT from PC to Nintendo Switch, so comfortable playing mobile. The addiction of completing all tracks with super trophies, it means collect all coins and get 1st place, is inevitable.

Maybe some of you never heard this indie title, a tribute classic to 80s and 90s arcade racers. Chase horizons and find the thrill of 16-bit classics. Soundtrack by the legendary racing games composer Barry Leitch.

✔ Reminiscence racing game at 80-90s arcade
✔ Holy moly soundtrack
✔ Advanced AI specially when blocking our way
✔ Loveable easter eggs cars
❌ Sometimes, fewer times, frame kinda drop
❌ Can't take any screenshot on Nintendo Switch
Verdict: 10/10 ❤❤❤❤

Cara um dia tava sem nada pra fazer e olhei minha biblioteca da epic games e vi que tinha resgatado esse jogo de graça, olhei, baixei e joguei sem compromisso e adorei o jogo!
Cara a sensação de velocidade é muito bem transmitida, as pistas são bem variadas e algumas são bem desafiadoras com curvas muito fechadas e ruas finas.
A trilha sonora é excelente, sempre te deixa motivado a chegar em primeiro e combina pra caramba com as corridas, além disso tem um remix do tema clássico de Top gear, pois o compositor desse jogo é o mesmo do Top gear.
A variedade de carros é incrível, sério tu pode jogar com um Fiat Uno com escada, carro da autoescola e até com uma Kombi, no qual utilizei para zerar, e é muito satisfatório desbloquear carros novos e as DLCs são muito boas e com preços justos, só não testei ainda a DLC do Senna.
De resto é um jogo ótimo e uma jóia para jogos independentes brasileiros. VAI BRASIL!
E além disso foi o primeiro jogo que zerei no launcher da Epic games.

The first 3 or so hours of Horizon Chase Turbo is a pretty awesome experience. A back to basics arcade racer in the vein of games like Outrun or SNES Top Gear with tight, fun handling, a decent soundtrack and beautiful stylised 3D graphics that evoke the style of the aforementioned retro racers with a modern sheen.

The problem is that Horizon Chase Turbo is just too basic for its own good, and it starts to lose its appeal towards the end of the roughly 10 hour long campaign. You can tell that the devs tried to mitigate this with a "quantity over quality" approach as there are hundreds of race tracks in the campaign, lots of cars to unlock throughout and other modes like tournaments and a roguelike-ish endurance race mode for Tens Of Hours Of Content™. The problem is that none of this icing really makes up for the lack of meaningful content in Horizon Chase Turbo.

The other issue is the difficulty balancing. Again, this game is mechanically simple to the point where driving by itself is a pretty brainless activity, so difficulty is injected into this gameplay style with some questionable decisions, such as a plethora of gimmicky, extremely narrow tracks and stupidly aggressive rubberbanding AI for your opponents. The even more questionable thing is just how much this difficulty is eradicated towards the end when you unlock the most OP cars like the AE86 and have all of the vehicle upgrades. Seriously, India (which is just past the halfway point of the campaign) is by FAR the hardest region but everything after that goes back to being pretty easy despite the attempts to be dramatic at the end.

I'd still recommend this game to anyone else who is a fan of arcade racers, but with a more tentative recommendation than what I started out with. I would say I have high hopes for the development team Aquiris in the future but they recently got acquired by Epic Games, so we'll just have to see what that future holds in store for us.

Horizon Chase Turbo is a love letter to early 90s racing games. Developed by Brazilian team Aquiris, it sets out to be a spiritual successor to the SNES Top Gear games, which were and still are extremely popular in the country — as someone who did grow up with Top Gear 3000 (the third game in the series), I can say with confidence it succeeded with flying colors.

The main campaign, World Tour, takes the player through 12 locations, each with about 12 tracks, plus an extra race that allows the player to choose an upgrade for their vehicles. As mentioned above, the main goal of this game is to replicate the Top Gear style of racing: you don’t really have much liberty in where you drive along the track; you accelerate, brake, and steer to overtake opponents and cut corners. Additionally, there are no shortcuts whatsoever. It’s very simple, but engaging.

Track design is simple. Tracks go left, right, up and down. It doesn’t have the ramps and warp pads introduced in Top Gear 3000, and obstacles in the tracks themselves are rare — you’ll lose more speed from bumping into another car 99% of the time. Most of the races are pretty short, although some (particularly in the India and Japan stages) can be decently long. Winning nets you points, which unlock more cars (as well as the final set of races, Kilauea). More points can be obtained by collecting coins during races; collecting all of them and then getting first place nets the player a Super Trophy.

Finally, unlike the first two Top Gear games which have pit stops, Horizon Chase Turbo has gas canisters you collect along the track — you can run out of fuel during a race. It also does away with the damage system all three SNES Top Gear games had; if you crash, you aren’t penalized aside from the speed loss.

The player progressively unlocks cars as they play the game. Each car has a unique stat lineup, so the player can choose whichever playstyle they prefer. Most of the cars are obviously modeled after real-life cars, although some are parodies of fictional vehicles, such as the AE86 from Initial D. Additionally, each car has a unique set of dialogue, which can be triggered during races; this is a feature present in the first two Top Gear games, and, while it doesn’t present any advantage whatsoever, helps give each car a bit more personality.

The AI can be pretty unforgiving. It was not uncommon for the first place CPU to randomly pull out a nitro when I finally manage to approach it, or move to block me when I manage to utilize my own nitro — while very frustrating initially, it did force me to use new strategies for each race, and after a while, I could consistently score Super Trophies with not that much difficulty. In other words, I developed my own racing style, and it felt absurdly satisfying to see it pay off.

It’s worth mentioning the soundtrack. It was composed by Barry Leitch, the composer for the Top Gear games, and, as far as I can tell, was his first soundtrack in over a decade. Personally, I think it excels at capturing the feel of the SNES games’ soundtracks, and helps make the fast-paced tracks more exillarating. There are also a few remixes of the main theme from the first Top Gear, which is a nice touch.

The game also boasts a few side modes; the Playground presents five races with unique conditions, and these races are split into “seasons,” as well as an Endurance mode, where the player must race through a random number of tracks; the number increases depending on difficulty.

There are also Tournaments, which, as the name suggests, has the player racing in four tracks, with their score tallied by the end — while a good mode, there are far too many tournaments to complete, and, unlike in Mario Kart, completing a tournament in a higher difficulty doesn’t mark it as completed for lower ones, meaning that for some tournaments (lower difficulties have less tournaments), they must be repeated at least three times. I’m of the opinion this game mode needed to have some fat cut.

Lastly, the game has received a few DLC campaigns, with more on the way. I have not played the Senna Forever campaign (a tribute to Brazilian F1 legend Ayrton Senna) yet, so I cannot comment on it (I will update this review with it once I play and finish it), but I have tried the other two DLC campaigns; the Rookie Series campaign is a shorter, easier version of the main campaign, with less tracks, opponents and with the fuel mechanic removed, while Summer Vibes includes the Breeze car (an homage to OutRun) and 12 reskinned tracks to add a tropical theme. It’s just okay — the car is decently overpowered, and the reskinned tracks add pretty much nothing, but at least it’s only 2 USD.

All in all, Horizon Chase Turbo is an excellent revival of the early 90s style of racing games. It’s vibrant, fast, boasts a good variety of vehicles and race tracks, and while very simplistic at its core, the arcade-like design makes it very engaging; I have frankly very little to complain about with this game, aside from some weird balancing in the latter half of the game. While I may be a bit blinded by nostalgia from growing up with one of the games it’s a tribute to, I ultimately believe Horizon Chase Turbo is an absolute must-play for fans of retro racers — it succeeds at everything it tries to do.

Eu amo Top Gear, joguei muito.

Horizon Chase Turbo trás o que há de melhor em Top Gear, com sua gameplay de corrida diferente, ambientações e direção de arte impecáveis, trilha sonora marcante e nos entrega essa deliciosa homenagem. Muitas e muitas variedades de carro. De algo que parece ser uma Lamborghini, ao Uno de Escada, Fusca e Kombi. O trabalho de balanceamento dos veículos é sensacional e muito bem humorado. Da um orgulho e mostra o grande potencial do mercado brasileiro nessa industria.

Jogo bastante e, pra mim, melhoraram o jogo clássico e Horizon é bem melhor.