Team Racing League – Preview
In a futuristic time and place where vehicles hover over the ground and posses the ability to merge with others, this opens the playground to Team Racing League. While in most racing games the goal is to place first or score points with your team individually to win, many times the only thing you can do is drive skillfully or try to work your opponent out of the match. Now in Team Racing League the teamwork is quite literally since you take control of a special hover craft machine that has the ability to transform with allies and unlock cool new abilities to ensure victory.
In the world of TRL races are done in teams of three, this forms a special bond since no man is left behind. The story behind why this is done remains unclear, as the game lacks any content about the world where this all happens in. Racing events take place all around the globe, this is why we see such a variation in the different locations
These venues are set in a desert, mountain and forest (forest is currently still under construction) setting. Each track has been created with much attention to detail with destructible barriers and elevation differences for jumps. Even the shadows are carefully constructed to boast realism. A small let-down is that most maps feel pretty empty with not much going on next to the vehicular combat so some extra markings or decorations would have been nice. The hovercraft tends to leave tire tracks which is strange as these vehicles do not have any wheels. You can opt to change graphical quality as well but there is no real difference noticeable at this time.
Its music score’s decent, the main menu has a very calming and easy to listen to song playing. During races there are various tracks that are more on the background just to keep the silence away, hanging between calm and action filled the soundtrack is appreciated.
Team Racing League is a racing game that is viewed from a top-down view. This makes the game feel a bit two-dimensional but the visuals are nicely in 3D. Controlling the hovercraft feel direct and is tight like a simulator. As the name implies teamwork is key to gain the upper hand in races. The speeders are equipped with special linking abilities to merge two into one and unlock a wide range of abilities to use such as roadblock to keep others from passing, flamethrower to burn others to a crisp and turbo charging. When flying solo you can also use a few moves against your opponents such as anchoring into the ground to create an obstruction or let them taste your afterburners.
TRL’s main focus is online multiplayer, this is where teams of three players are placed against each other to battle for dominance and the group that crosses the finish line first wins. In order to become successful, working together with each other is essential. Now when you get paired with strangers it is advised to use the in-game chat when playing, or be sure to get teamed up with friends by hosting a team so you can get started.
Now because the game is still in an early alpha build this means that most of the time the servers are still a bit empty, but not to worry you can practice your skills or try to beat the top scores in time trail. This is the only single player content there is but we just hope that more people join in the mayhem for good times
Conclusion
It is sad that the game is solely multiplayer, the practice mode already had simple bots for training mode incorporated so it’s hard to see why not to go the extra mile for a bit more extensive single player experience. Since the multiplayer is still in its baby stage we hope to see a more beefy community once the game is released. The gameplay is strong and enjoyable with a variety of maps this game can become a great co-op title.
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