Sprint is Atari’s latest retro series to receive a modern coat of paint, and it’s arrived in the form of NeoSprint. This fresh spin on the publisher’s old school racing game comes out of the workshop with a pleasant look and feel and some neat new features, but there are still a few spots that needed a little more attention.
This is an isometric racer, by default giving you a view of the entire circuit as you race your tiny car around. A zoomed-in view that focuses on your vehicle is also an option, though we prefer the locked view of the whole track. Either way, the main thrust of the game sees you navigating these tight, sometimes very complex courses, whether in the campaign mode, free races, or time trials. The handling is very easy to understand but there’s definitely a skill to playing this well.
Part of that is accounting for the game’s sometimes frustrating physics. AI drivers have no qualms about ramming into you, and you’ll quite often end up on your side or snagged on the barriers. It’s surprisingly unforgiving at times. Not helping matters is that some of the circuits have awkward viewing angles that, in the midst of a race, can make it hard to parse what’s going on.
Fortunately, though, these issues aren’t constant, and generally the action is fun, simple, and engaging. While the racing itself can be a little on the easy side at times, the obstacle courses are much tougher, peppering stages with oil slicks and cones to dodge. Time trial challenges can be similarly difficult, so there’s plenty here to master. Unfortunately, outside of some leaderboards, online play is missing from the game, so competing with others is fairly limited — although the game does feature local 4-player racing.
Perhaps the biggest addition is the track builder, which offers a fairly intuitive way to create your own races using chunky grid pieces. These can be shared with other players, effectively giving you lots more tracks to master than the official ones.
NeoSprint is a decent refresh of an aged formula, with simple but fun racing and some neat new features. Unfortunately, the presentation is a little underwhelming, and one or two issues appear in the rear view mirror just a little too often.