In the days of my youth, I was the absolute king of Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Super Off Road. I had the game for my lightning-fast (at the time) i386 PC and mastered every inch of that game. If I went to the arcade (Pinball Pete’s in East Lansing, MI), I could make a token last for upward of an hour, and often simply walked away with the game in progress because my friends were bored of watching me run the same 8 tracks over and over and over.
While I’m most certainly bragging about my Super Offroad skills, the real reason I’m even mentioning it, is that I am a massive fan of top-down racers, and it’s been quite a few years since I’ve found a game that has quenched my desire for the old school top-down racer. Sure, there’s been quite a few rally-based games on the PC, but in the PlayStation universe the pickings have been slim – at least the good pickings. I think the last really good top-down racers I played on a Sony console was Motorstorm RC (PS3, 2012).
The decade-long drought is officially over with Circuit Superstars from Mexico’s Original Fire Games and Square Enix. This game is an absolute blast. Straight off the bat, Circuit Superstars offers up a ton of racing options, spanning twelve racing disciplines including compact “Piccino” cars, Muscle cars, Rallycross, Super Trucks (yeah!), open-wheel Formula cars, and more. Each racing style sports unique physics that take a bit of time to fully master, making every progression fresh and every finish rewarding – especially when crossing the checkered flag behind the wheel of a lumbering Euro Truck, which is like the slightly smaller brother of an 18-wheeler semi-tractor – believe me, that one takes some time to get used to.
And while Circuit Superstars may look like a cartoony arcade racer from the 90’s, it’s actually more of a sim than the appearance lets on – requiring management of the vehicle’s health, fuel, and tire wear via controlled acceleration and cornering in an effort to avoid sacrificing precious time in pit row or worse, DNF the race because one of the three is allowed to hit zero on its meter.
Circuit Superstars keeps the playing field leveled for all racers by offering only one vehicle per discipline – with no modifications offered other than changing the livery (color scheme). While this may seem a bit lackluster for gamers looking to build a stable of custom supercars, it really does put the emphasis on mastering one’s driving skills rather than simply grinding for upgrades.
Each course is uniquely different from the others in its discipline group, with increasing difficulty as the series progresses. The highlight for me were the rallycross courses for the Rally Cross and Super Trucks, complete with jumps and crossovers that can really do a number on your visual perspective.
Circuit Superstars game modes includes the standard Practice (time trial), Free Play (single race), and Grand Prix (season), as well as a couple ongoing challenges like the Weekly Time Trials where online gamers vie for the best times on select circuits, and the Top Gear Time Attack that takes place on the iconic Top Gear Test Track.
Circuit Superstars offers multiplayer racing for up to four racers locally, and up to twelve online. Online play is cross-platform. At this point Circuit Superstars online community seems a bit sparse, and in all the online races I competed in I was the only one sporting a PS logo. Most challengers seem to be from the PC world, even so there were absolutely no issues with lag or crashing – just quality PvP racing with a handful of friendly folks around the globe. Does it get any better than that?
If you are a fan of old-school top-down racers, there’s no doubt that Circuit Superstars is worth the $20 price tag. I am holding out hope that Original Fire Games and Square Enix continue to develop DLC for Circuit Superstars – not only some new racing circuits, but maybe eventually releasing a track editor. I know it’s a longshot, but damn that would be cool.
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