The Kickstarter campaign of Radial-G arrives, a frenetic racing game that returns us the sensations of classics like Wipeout and F-Zero, with the difference that this time we will feel the vertigo and speed in first person from inside the ship and in virtual reality. If we have an Oculus Rift, it’s worth taking a look at the playable demo that is already available.
Radial-G is the cover letter of the British studio Tammeka Games, and in principle it proposes a relatively simple mechanic: we will have to speed through a cylindrical track, around which our ship slides as if stuck by a magnet, making it impossible to get out of it. The objective is to make a time as low as possible, and for this we will have to try to cross the green areas that will give us an extra boost, while avoiding the red energy barriers that will make our ship slow down its progress.
The feeling of speed is tremendous in the Oculus Rift, and the scenarios are full of details, such as luminous panels, buildings and gigantic pipes, although unfortunately we can’t waste much time enjoying the scenery or contemplating the detailed interior of the cabin, since we will be forced to put our five senses in the circuit that advances at full speed under our feet. The performance of the demo is very good, we have set the resolution to 1920×1200 (the DK1 scales it to 1280×800) and we have reached 60 FPS without problems, therefore there should be no problems to reach 75 FPS in the DK2, although we have only been able to test the individual time trial mode.
In this mode we will be able to compete to reach the top of the online leaderboards, but the final version of the game will include more modalities, including a multiplayer for up to 32 pilots, in addition to different types of ships and circuits, and we will also have the added incentive of being able to customize our pilot. Without a doubt, Radial-G is an experience for lovers of strong sensations, and you can try them already by downloading the demo from Oculus Share. You can also vote for the game on Steam Greenlight.
The Kickstarter campaign concludes on August 2 and is chasing a target of £50,000, although they will surely add some stretch goals over the next few days, especially if the campaign is progressing at a good pace. The prices for it are reasonable: £15 for being an early bird (limited to 500 units) and, once sold out, £20. These two modes will receive all future updates to the game. There is also another cheaper tier, it costs £10 and includes the full game when the Kickstarter campaign concludes, but without the right to future updates.
As we have commented before, the single-player demo can be downloaded already on Oculus Share, while the multiplayer demo will arrive in September (this version will already be compatible with the DK2, it is not clear if they will update the currently available single-player demo). The game will be finished in November.
