Radial-G: Racing Revolved Review (PS4 / PSVR)

Radial-G: Racing Revolved is a PlayStation VR zero-grav racer that quite literally revolves around a track. Most of the tracks consist of tubes, with you clinging to the outside, able to freely rotate around, trying to reach that next boost or power-up. It makes for a lot of fun, even if you want to just simply spin around the tube a lot rather than actually try and race. And honestly, you’ll need to find other ways to entertain yourself, as the game itself is rather sparse. Function over form as they say. The game feels as if the bare minimum was done to make the presentation coherent and all other efforts went into the racing experience itself.

The fun in this racing game lies, naturally, in the actual act of racing. And when we say that, we mean the pure racing mode. There are several modes that include vehicle combat elements, but they honestly get in the way of the fun, as it largely does nothing but slow the races down and causes you to explode a few times. Most of the enjoyment stems from the speed you get to experience when whipping around corners or spinning around very quickly. But even then, it doesn’t quite feel fast enough – although to be fair, it is very comfortable to play.

Sadly, there aren’t all that many racers or tracks to work with either. The career is just 18 events, and we were a third of the way done in less than 20 minutes. Sure, the challenges get harder as you go, but it's still slim pickings. All of the usual culprits are, of course, also present, including time attack, regular races, elimination races, and a few others – but it still doesn't feel like there's quite enough meat on the title's bones. 

It isn't devoid of frustration either. We mentioned that spinning on the tubes is fun, but most of the tracks have areas where you can indeed fall off. These sectors are annoying, as the jump physics required to navigate them don't quite feel right, and we found them difficult to judge.

On the bright side, even with these irks, the tracks are cool to see in first person in VR. The enormity of the tangle of tube that is visible upon looking up and around you is cool, and being able to see obstacles early by doing that is marvellous. The enormity of the environments is definitely one of the highlights of the title, and VR in general for that matter. The sense of scale is unrivalled in this format.

But despite these high points, so much of the package is merely serviceable – including the art direction and music. The art does enough to convey all of the important features of the title without much explanation, but beyond that it doesn't really impress. The same can be said of the music, which is good during the races, but is clumsily incorporated into menu screens.