Xbox - The Official Magazine - UK (2019-12 - Christmas)

you would any modern racer, the right

trigger is used for acceleration and

the left for braking, while you steer

with the left analogue stick. The twist

here is in using the right analogue

stick, which independently controls

the car’s drift.

It’s easy to describe, but when you

first get your hands on the controller,

those muscle-memory racing habits

kick in and you’re immediately on

the back foot, crashing into almost

every corner. Simply steering in the

right direction won’t cut it, so you’ll

need to drift around every bend in the

road by shifting the right stick in the

opposite direction of your turn. After

a few attempts, you can start to take

advantage of your brake, allowing you

to swerve into an even sharper drift.

Let it slide

There will be 16 cars which will all

handle completely different from one

another. The first vehicle we tried was

the easiest to control, with generous

turning and a mild drift. The last was,

of course, the hardest, with its stiff

steering only turning a few degrees,

and placing all the reliance on drifting.

There are 20 tracks to compete in,

some of which will be more demanding

than others and will be more suitable

to different cars, so choosing the right

vehicle and mastering the controls is

imperative to winning each race.

As well as a single-player career

mode, there will be a separate local

split-screen multiplayer offering,

letting you compete with other drifters

to see who has mastered the game’s

unique handling model the best.

The whole game oozes style. With

its cel-shaded comic book art style

and ’90s retrofuturistic aesthetic, this

is clearly a love letter to old-school

racers of that era. Combine this with

intuitive and unique controls and

Inertial Drift is breath of fresh air. It’s

also refreshing to see something new

in a genre that was thought to have

reached its full potential in terms of

creative innovation. We’re particularly

taken with this unique racing game

• it’s a blast to play and it’s been a
  long time since we’ve been excited
  about a driving game. Inertial Drift will
  be speeding its way over to Xbox One
  next year. Q

With over 40 years of innovation in

videogames, you’d be forgiven for

thinking that every type of racer has

already been made. But Level 91, a

studio that aims to create games

that focus on feel and style over

accuracy and realism, has come up

with an incredibly unique take on the

gearhead genre. Inertial Drift is unlike

anything you’ve played before, and

after spending just a few moments

playing it you’ll feel like a pro thanks

to its intuitive controls.

Described as a ‘twin-stick arcade

racer’, you control your car just like

One of the first speeding offences was documented in 1896, when a motorist was going 8mph in a 2mph zone

ABOVE The comic
book-like
aesthetic is
stylish and
suits the game
perfectly.

Inertial Drift

Prepare to throw out the

driving rulebook for this

rubber-burning racer

Adam Bryant

PUBLISHER PCUBE DEVELOPER LEVEL 91

ETA SPRING 2020

“Using the right

analogue stick

independently

controls drift”

PREVIEW

More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 029