Absolute D(rift)

"gin-san - shitpost specialist" (gin-san-) 12/24/2015 at 14:12 • Filed to: Gaming, Drift

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I’d imagine there are at least a few Initial D fans on Oppo - for those of you into PC gaming, or even just casual gaming, get your hands on Absolute Drift (on Steam) since it’s less than $10 (CAD) right now. A lot of racing games these days can be pretty serious but this just goes back to an old-school isometric view and it’s all about drifting. I don’t find it very easy since you need to get used to the view and the car controls, but when you get it right, it’s very satisfying.

This game definitely leans toward casual gaming but the more time you put into it the more fun you’ll have pulling off sweet, continuous drifts. It’s a refreshing change from trying to do lap times, and it’s more like the Drift events you’d see in other games (like NFS or Forza) where the objective is accumulating points through sweet drifts and gaining point multipliers by length of drift.

I’ve only played it for 40 minutes and am starting to get the hang of it - it’s one of those games that’s tough at first but really feels rewarding when you do get it right.

There’s no multiplayer but there is a leaderboard and after each session it’ll tally up your points and show your ranking worldwide, which I think is very cool, and in which percentile you end up it. Over 40 minutes, I’ve yet to crack the top 50% (bottom 45% is where I am) but given that I started in the bottom 15%, I’ll take it.

The included soundtrack is very cool; I’m not sure what you’d call the genre, but it’s all kind of chillout electronic music. Since the controls are simple, there’s a dedicated button to change tracks. I love it, although once I’m really good at this game I think I’ll mute the built-in music and queue up my own eurobeat playlists (which I haven’t used since Forza 4).

One note is that you’ll definitely want a controller with those variable triggers (i.e. press it partway it for part throttle, all the way for full throttle) since the game relies heavily on throttle control. Using a keyboard or a controller where the buttons are on/off would probably end in frustration as you’d always be on full-throttle or off-throttle. An Xbox 360 controller works fine, and I’m sure these are ubiquitous given that there are new controllers fro the Xbox One.

Despite having only spent less than an hour with it, I know I love this game. The great style, soundtrack, and gameplay are refreshing for a person who mainly plays racing games like GRID, DIRT, Forza and the like; I highly recommend it to fellow Oppos, especially at its sale price.

On another note, both Project Cars and Assetto Corsa are on sale now; I’m thinking of buying it but I’m in the middle of a GRID: Autosport career as well as a DIRT 3 career. Which one do you oppos prefer?

EDIT: here’s a video, just to give you a taste of it.

whiskeybusiness NOW A DANGER TO CROWDS NEAR YOU > gin-san - shitpost specialist 12/24/2015 at 14:53

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A couple months ago, I purchased this game after playing the beta/demo obsessively and was hugely disappointed that the controls didn’t work at all for me. Like the car would always pull left unless told to go right and accelerate unless braking. I returned it to Steam.

Nauraushaun > whiskeybusiness NOW A DANGER TO CROWDS NEAR YOU 12/24/2015 at 17:15

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You may have had some assists on that you didn’t want

Nauraushaun > gin-san - shitpost specialist 12/24/2015 at 17:18

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I got this (a week ago for full price :\) and was disappointed. I got it to keep me occupied on the train on my laptop, and played it quite a lot, but using a keyboard was pretty frustrating. PC gamers rave about mouse and keyboard, but it’s a little known fact that keyboards are atrocious at everything except typing.

Anyway, I tried it just now on a PS4 controller on your advice...it’s so much better! I didn’t think it would feel this different, it’s a whole different game. I could play this for hours and hours. It’s got me toying with the idea of going full-nerd and bringing my controller on the train - not sure what sort of looks I’d get.

It is a solid game. I’ve tried to make a game like this before, just a simple top-down drifting game. Harder than it looks ;)

Wish this sort of thing was on PS Vita, that’s why I got one but it’s been a steady disappointment since then. Unless like you JRPGs (read: child porn).

Thanks for the tip :)