Draw Rider Remake

Genre: 2D Stunt Racing

Players: 1, Online Content Sharing

.

Review:

Draw Rider is a 2D Stunt Racing game originally released on PC in 2016, with this Remake featuring enhanced visuals (that still look like they were drawn in MS Paint) and more content coming to Nintendo Switch in 2022, with a port to PC in 2023 and then a port to Xbox One in 2024.

As mentioned above, Draw Rider’s visuals are very deliberately awful, looking like simple MS Paint drawings that the creator spent just a few minutes creating. While about as low-quality as visuals can get, this look nevertheless manages to have its own sort of charm, and honestly it’s hard to picture this game not looking like this. Thankfully, the soundtrack isn’t as low-quality as the visuals though, featuring some really catchy synthesized tunes. Overall, I think this game’s presentation perfectly fits the game.

As for the game itself, Draw Rider is the sort of physics-based 2D Stunt Racing game that seems like it was designed specifically for challenge-seekers and streamers looking to entertain their viewers by crashing a lot – this game is extremely difficult. This is fine, though it does make the game a bit niche. The problem is that the difficulty spikes early and unexpectedly, and I’m not even talking about the post-tutorial difficulty bump. The game also doesn’t do the best job teaching players its unique physics, like how doing flips in the air can get you just a little more momentum.

As with the PC releases, this version of the game comes with a level creator, and it’s pretty comprehensive, letting players build pretty much any level they saw in the game’s main campaign and much, much more, even using the game’s touchscreen if they choose. Players really wanting to pour time into their creation can come up with some pretty impressive works, and these can be shared online, with tens of thousands of stages available for players to try out, though be warned that many of these are nearly impossible unless you’re an expert at the game and extremely persistent.

Beyond the high challenge level, there is one other complaint I have here, and that is that the online leaderboards don’t seem to be working properly. Even after I created an in-game profile and finished a level, my name still wouldn’t show (I even beat the second-place time on a particularly tough level, and it was really disappointing to not get credit for that). Evidently not everyone has this issue, because others’ names are posted in the leaderboards, but I can only write about my own experience with the game.

However, while Draw Rider Remake has some bugginess and its difficulty is not only super-tough but suffers from sudden spikes, it’s hard not to love it. The game’s wonky physics and score-chasing gameplay are really compelling, the extremely low-quality presentation actually works well for the game, and the soundtrack is great. This is not a game for everyone, and even those who enjoy it may be frustrated by its flaws, but overall this is a game that fans of this particular niche of the genre won’t want to miss.

tl;dr – Draw Rider Remake is a 2D Stunt Racing game that’s extremely tough and features low-quality visuals, but it is nevertheless surprisingly compelling. This is not a game for everyone, and even those who enjoy it will find it suffers from a few frustrating issues, but overall this is a must-play for anyone who enjoys this sort of game and doesn’t mind a challenge.

Grade: B

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}