In a world where Nintendo have forgotten that they own the rights to any racing franchises asides from Mario Kart, Shin’en Multimedia stepped up to fill this void. I’ll give you one try to guess what this game is all about based on the title alone. Ready? Well, if you guessed speed well done! True to its name, Fast RMX is indeed fast.
The first couple of laps when you play a track for the first time is gonna be all about surviving. Hitting into a barrier too hard or misjudging a jump off a ramp will mean your car blowing up and having to wait a couple of seconds before you can move again, similar to when you fall down a pit in Mario Kart. The speed that you travel at means that this very likely to happen, at least until you memorise most of the course, although even then it can be a challenge not to crash and burn, particularly in the Hypersonic League. Personally, this aspect doesn’t bother me anyway. The races never take too long, each cup usually beatable within 10 minutes.
Speaking of cups, Fast RMX has 3 tracks per cup and 12 cups overall, meaning there are an impressive 36 tracks in total along with 3 different Leagues! Presentation-wise, you can feel the care that was put in. In fact, in my opinion, it could be an outsider shout for most visually stunning game on Switch. It strikes a perfect balance between realism and style and the weather effects, such as the courses where it rains, are beautiful.
The main gimmick of the game that sets it apart from others in its vein are the boost panels that are spread throughout the tracks. These panels are one of two colours, blue and orange, and you must match this colour with your car to get the boost or else they’ll just slow you down. Changing colours only requires the tap of a button but it adds a whole other dynamic to each race and ensures that you can’t just glide through half asleep. There are also orbs on each track that fill up your boost meter as you collect them and boosting through other cars will cause them to spin.
Alongside the standard ‘You vs 9 other computers’ mode, you can also have ago at Time Attack, where you race by yourself and try to achieve the best time that you possibly can, and Hero Mode, where you must come first and your boost meter doubles as a shield meter too. Of course, there’s multiplayer available too, from split screen on the same Switch to online (although I wasn’t able to find a match online unfortunately.)
This is so sad 😦
Everything I have mentioned, and more (such as perfectly suited music and a nice range of cars to choose from) combine to form a package that should satisfy the craving of any F-Zero fan. While perhaps not as much to it, it’s a fun time plain and simple. Oh, and did I mention that it’s available for €19.99? At a price like that, you’d be crazy not to buy it if you’re interested at all.
Occasional Video Game Reviews 