Fast RMX Review

Very few games can do high speed futuristic racing right, with F-Zero GX being perhaps the most notable game in the genre for its superb visuals, framerate, and gameplay. A handful of games have come along that have tried to mimic its success, including Fast Racing NEO which demonstrated what Shin’en could do with Wii U hardware.

Now, a year and a half later, the spiritual successor has come along as a Nintendo Switch launch title called Fast RMX, and it is just as solid as we hoped.

With Great Speed Comes Great Responsibility

The difficulty of Fast RMX is constantly fast and brutal. You can’t expect to be able to beat all your opponents easily as they will play better than you and learn how to get into first place. You must play smart, control and boost effectively to win the race. There were points where I was in first place and I was just getting absolutely destroyed by the other racers, ending up in 4th or 5th place.

Once you start beating championships, you’ll start unlocking more machines, each of them with their own speeds, acceleration, and boost. This becomes one of the best aspects of the game, as it provides a sense of progression after exciting races.

Hero Mode is akin to F-Zero’s gameplay, where your boost is also your shield and will only recharge with boost. This mode can be quite unfair due to the controls, as I kept hitting walls and dying a lot. For those that are veterans to F-Zero, you'll have a blast with this, though the only way you can unlock more tracks is by doing more championships.

There’s also no way to join your friends in Multiplayer at the moment, so if you want to play with them you’ll have to do it via split screen. The end result is a lack of general play value that renders Fast RMX a relatively short-lived experience.

A Dive into The Future

When you start the game up, you are immediately greeted with fast electronic music, and a very simple Main Menu to get in the game straight away. There aren’t any tutorials or story mode, just Championships, Multiplayer, and Hero Mode. Loading into the game was short, but when the announcer yells his ecstatic “go” for the first time, you’ll be left in the dust the first time you play.

There are 30 beautiful tracks to choose from, and while you’ll have to play through them in the Championship to unlock them separately for Hero Mode, it shouldn’t take you more than an hour and a half to two hours when you know how to play.

The gameplay is the star of the show here. Controls are tight, and feedback is highly responsive. Overtaking opponents is always a thrill.

The soundtrack also fits perfectly, with the pace of the races being fast-paced. The music complements the tempo of the gameplay well, and each track has its own audio track plus more, as there are a total number of 47 music tracks in the game. Each one that I’ve listened to has been bliss.

Beauty in The Destruction

The game looks stunning for a racing game on a handheld capable device. Backed up with a solid 60 frames per second, full 1080p, and great implementation of motion blur backing it all up, it’s pleasant on the eyes whether you’re playing on a TV or on the go.

Though, if you feel like you have trouble with the Chromatic Aberration, or camera exposure, these can thankfully be turned off, and the game will look just as good. I personally turned these off because Chromatic Aberration hurts my eyes and camera exposure helped me see the track better, so if you feel like these graphical effects are hindering your gameplay, disable them and it might be a world of difference on how you play.

Conclusion

Fast RMX is one of the best Switch titles out right now. Given how Shin’en is supporting the game with free updates, with the first adding time trials, it’s a great time to pick it up and play this $20 game.