Review of Parking Garage Rally Circuit.

Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux

Initial release date: May 30, 2024

Developer: Walaber Entertainment LLC

Genres: Racing game, Indie game, Action game, Racing

Publisher: Walaber Entertainment LLC

Engine: Godot

Modern racing games are a Faustian bargain. Yes, they usually give detailed automotive models and advanced physics systems. However, with in-game advertisements for costly DLC, always-online requirements, and a predilection for cringe-worthy NPC dialogue, it’s easy to get nostalgic for past races. Classic titles like as Virtua Racing, SEGA Rally Championship, and Sega GT provided full-throttle satisfaction without all of the flaws.

Fortunately, single creators such as Walaber (aka Tim FitzRandolph, author of Jelly Car and Where’s My Water?) provide a welcome alternative to corporate bloat. Playing Parking Garage Rally Circuit feels a lot like discovering a long-lost Saturn game that a publisher abandoned at the last minute.

Drifts Toward Distinction

Undoubtedly, it resembles a Saturn game. If you select the “Original Hardware” mode, you’ll careen around the corners of eight wonderfully low-poly tracks, with the game attempting to replicate the experience of playing on a curved, 4:3 CRT. Alternatively, the “PC Port” option offers a 16:9 aspect ratio, a large draw distance, and an uncapped framerate. In any case, the game’s courses and cars have minimal texture mapping, and there’s a lot of dithered smoke and shadows, so expect some 90’s nostalgia.

Parking Garage Rally Circuit, like previous games, is easily accessible thanks to simple and intuitive controls. However, four races in, the title will demand skill as you strive for a third-place result to unlock new tracks. Unsurprisingly, success is dependent on more than simply navigating your vehicle through a series of blue gates. Instead, you’ll need to slide around the numerous corners on each circuit.

Similar to Mario Kart 8 and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, there are two levels of post-drift boost. You’ll get a tiny shove and a yellow spark for a quick slide. However, if you hold it for longer, the glimmer will turn green, delivering a slight boost in propulsion. Expectedly, it’s tempting to attempt to get a jade-colored jolt from every turn. But greed is punished by Walaber, making it all too easy to crash on the tight roads and ruining a promising run. Tim, thank you adding the’restart race’ option in the menu.

Eight courses, eight vehicles, three modes, and three classes.

Overall, level design is proficient. The labyrinthine venues are well-signposted, with allusions to each place and the occasional quirk. As a result, you’ll zoom through multi-story shopping lots outside Mt. Rushmore, encountering anything from tumbling boulders to rolling blackouts. Rally Circuit works best when you’re avoiding predetermined occurrences, like squeezing between a caravan of luggage carrier trucks at the airport. I wish there were more moving obstacles and fewer rows of parked cars. There are also some hilarious hazards. When my car landed sideways after falling over a ramp, I was reminded of vintage Hong Kong action movies.

While adhering to the 90s formula, Parking Garage Rally Circuit should include numerous AI difficulty settings. Instead, the developer wants you to play frequently and shave microseconds off your completion time, utilizing optional ghost vehicles to track your progress. However, I believe that when it comes to the game’s final three stages, some players may find themselves at a dead end. Skilled players, on the other hand, can use the game’s online multiplayer mode to show off their drifting abilities. After creating or entering a lobby, you’ll be pitted against a bunch of real-time phantom automobiles.

Lady Liberty leaped.

In addition to the usual Race Mode, Endurance requires you to complete circuits around each course until you run out of time. Rally Circuit’s cheat code component may provide some extra longevity, a fitting tribute to the era when games like this were popular. In an ideal world, we’d see more racers like this.

Parking Garage Rally Circuit was played on PC using the review code provided by the publisher.

Rating Overview:

Gameplay: 75%

Controls: 80%

Aesthetics: 70%

Content: 65%

Accessibility: 75%

Value: 70%

Overall Rating: 72%

GOOD

Summary: “Parking Garage Rally Circuit” takes a unique approach to racing games by putting the tracks in a multi-level parking garage. The gameplay is interesting, with players navigating tight corners and ramps that add an extra level of difficulty. The controls are snappy, allowing for seamless navigation and improving the entire racing experience.