I was able to get my hands on a review code for Mantis Burn Racing from the folks at VooFoo Studios and I have to say, I was impressed with what I saw. Realistic racing games can be hit or miss and Mantis Burn Racing is indeed a hit. It brings things to the table that keeps the hardcore racing fan in games as well as players that are looking for a good time without studying the controls for hours before playing. Start those engines and let’s get started!
There are quite a few modes in the game such as Career mode, Time Trials, Multiplayer, and other high speed races that you can play solo or with your friends online or in the same room. The first couple of races take a little getting used to but after that, you’ll get the hang of it and driver’s education is over. You’ll be doing all kinds of moves and tricks to get around the competition.
Sometimes, I find that racing games go a little too fast for their own good but I never felt that with Mantis Burn Racing. What I mean by “too fast for it’s own good” is that when the action on the screen feels like it’s moving too fast for anything to happen or too fast for you to actually make turns or drive and stay on the course. The controls were very responsive and they needed to be because there were plenty of sharp turns to make and you needed to be on your game to stay on the course.
There are RPG elements because you’ll be able to level up your vehicles as well as purchase other vehicles and perform maintenance on them. You’ll have to achieve certain things in game to gain currency to be able to purchase said vehicles and upgrade your vehicles. During Career Mode, you’ll make your way through the campaign and collect items/upgrades for your vehicles such as better suspension or a better nitro boost. You’ll have the ability to purchase more upgrade slots for your car so make sure you get a lot of points and score high XP during the races but pretty much anything you do during the race gets you XP. There are weekly challenges as well that will put your skills to the test against everyone who plays the game.
For the review I needed to lap my opponent twice in the quickest time possible which doesn’t sound like a tough challenge but it was tough catching up to the other car and then lapping it twice. There are shortcuts that can be used on each track but if you aren’t familiar with the track then I don’t recommend using them and the only way to get familiar with the courses is practice. The Career Mode feels simple at deep at the same time, simple by the way it looks, deep by how many steps/branches it has for completion. You’ll be able to customize lots of vehicles with all the career features there are so play everything that you can.
The game also has online modes where you can race against people online from all over the world. Like most online games, make sure you have a grasp of the controls and know the courses because if you don’t, you will get destroyed out there! The overhead view is common in racing games but you are able to change it but you’ll want to see the whole track so I would advise against changing the view. There was only one time I found the camera to be a hindrance and that was on one of the snow stages where the mountaintop went over the screen and you needed to drive to the side of it and under. Vehicles would go underneath the mountain range and it would tough to see the road.
One of the only real issues I had with Mantis Burn Racing is that the map is too small in the corner of the screen. I would have preferred a much bigger map so I could glance at it throughout the races and not have to look at it out of the corner of my eye because of it being too small. The game walks you through the basics and lays out everything for you to do at the beginning but it never tells you how to perform a nitro boost, that’s something you have to figure out on your own.
Mantis Burn Racing is a real winner and Switch owners will want to pick it up. The Map and a very minor camera issue were the only setbacks I found with this racer. The music fits the street cred this game is earning and the custom vehicle features allow no two cars to be the same! It’s these reasons that I’m giving Mantis Burn Racing for the Nintendo Switch an 8.5/10. I would like to thank VooFoo Studios for the review code.