NeoSprint mini-review

Who is NeoSprint‘s audience? Fans of the original probably won’t be interested in a mediocre reboot. And it’s hard to imagine anyone who grew up on polygonal racers appreciating single-screen racing.  

Tragically, history seems to have forgotten about the Sprint franchise- a succession of six racers published by Atari between 1976 and 1986. Each entry provided players with a replica steering wheel, gas pedal, and gearbox that was used to outrace rivals on a variety of tracks. Later, the format would fuel the imaginations of other developers, leading to the development of titles such as Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Super Off Road.

What was noteworthy about the Sprint series and its derivatives was how well the games modeled driving. Sure, the overhead perspective gave an odd, birds-eye view of the action. But cunningly, hairpin turns required players to accelerate their cars with caution rather than lead-foot their way through the entire race.

A Lackluster Campaign

Mostly, that’s preserved in developer Headless Chicken Games’ resurrection of the lapsed property. While I’m sure a dedicated player will get their Thrustmaster wheels working with the game, NeoSprint’s standard input schemes offer a respectable recreation of the original game, save for any requirement for shifting. After a five-minute acclimation period, I was careening around most curves like a digital Max Verstappen. The game’s one notable modernization is the inclusion of a handbrake, permitting players to hug a track’s turns. But in keeping with the source material, don’t expect any wild drifting in NeoSprint. You’ll be taking turns as if a DMV evaluator is in the passenger seat.

Venture into the game’s campaign mode and you’ll face a rather bland sequence of races. After competing in three matches against a trio of CPU drivers, the concluding contest pits you against a single opponent. The developers probably wanted this to be a heated duel that bookended each cup. But save for a couple of lines of dialog from each rival, the conclusion showdowns are more of the same. Another disappointment is the lack of difficulty. Save for the occasional loss by getting into an early jam against opponents or flipping from a ramp, every race is easily won.

Play, Anonymously Create, and Share

While the races themselves aren’t that exciting, unlocking track pieces and environmental objects for the game’s editor attempts to supply some incentive. Since tracks have to fit on a single screen, your designs can’t get too ambitious.  So, mostly you’ll be able to create variations on NeoSprint’s preexisting courses. The upside is that the course designer is moderately easy to use (especially if you avoid elevations), and you can share your designs. But oddly, there are no acknowledgments for the game’s custom courses.

NeoSprint offers multiplayer competitions that can accommodate up to eight local participants. It’s undoubtedly going to be a feat rounding up seven enthusiastic buddies, since there’s no online play. But the real challenge will be seeing what’s going on since the single-screen perspective means the cars are tiny. The developer’s solution is using a button to highlight your car, which feels like a makeshift solution. Mercifully, soloists can opt to use a Micro Machines-style camera that tracks your car. Essentially, this is the only way NeoSprint won’t give you eyestrain when playing on a portable PC like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally.

Rounding out the package are an Obstacle Course and Time Trial Modes. These feel like filler since the former only adds obstruction to campaign mode races, while the latter extends clocked challenges that recycle tracks from the game’s cups. Their inclusion feels like a way to inflate the game’s selling price rather than truly add enjoyment. Like much of NeoSprint, it’s all marginally entertaining. But the difficulty here is finding a justification to play this when there are plenty of better racers out there.

NeoSprint was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher