Every couple of weeks I buy something cheap and fun on Steam. Transistor a few weeks ago, Mirror’s Edge the week before last, Injustice: Gods Among Us last week. This week’s game is Little Racers STREET.
I’ve loved top down racers since the first one I played back at the dawn of the arcade era. A monochrome race where blocky cars would go around a really simple track and sometimes oil would spin you out. At the height of the arcade era, top down racers had become faster, more colorful, with powerups and shortcuts and pounding music. I used to wait for takeout pizza playing this game (and if I could remember the name of it, I’d link it). (Oh, apparently it is called Super Sprint).
I’d forgotten entirely about this genre until I saw an ad for a top down arcade racer on Steam. Those wasted arcade hours came flooding back. The featured title, “Real World Racing”, didn’t look that hot according to the reviews, but it piqued my curiosity and nostalgia enough that I went looking for other top down arcade racers.
In the absence of a straight-up Super Sprint clone, Little Racers STREET seemed to have enough of the good stuff. A bunch of cars (unlicensed, so they look like real cars but have different names). Adjustable difficulty level. A speedometer that is either wildly inaccurate or in km/h. And still inaccurate. But makes you feel better! Quick play. A career mode. Car tuning!
It’s a fun little arcade racer. I have my Class E GTI clone. My Class D Supra clone — so both my cars are in game. And honestly, that’s all anyone ever really needs to do for me in a racing game. I have two sporty cars that I can’t race because “laws” and “insurance”.
Video shows just how much of an arcade experience this is. I played with a controller, but probably it works just fine with a keyboard. The career mode takes you from the 300th best racer in the world to the first. I think I’m still in the 280’s. But who cares? It’s cheap, it’s fun to play, and it doesn’t take quarters.
