Liftoff: Drone Racing PS4 Review. On the face of it, Liftoff: Drone Racing on PS4 ticks two boxes. On the one hand, it’s a fun enough simulation that it can ensnare newcomers to the hobby of drone racing, while on the other it possesses sufficient enough depth and sophistication that tenured fliers will be able to get a lot from the experience.
Liftoff: FPV Drone Racing PS4 Review
A Great Handling Model Is Dragged Down By Dated Visuals, Uninspiring Content
From the get go Liftoff: Drone Racing allows players to get grips quickly with the fundamentals of regular and FPV (First Person View) drone racing. Beginning with a handy tutorial that lets players get stuck into the drone racing experience in earnest, it’s fair to say that the game does everything it can to get newcomers settled in.
The tutorial can be overly forgiving however. So in ACRO mode for example, which is a mode of play where all the flying assists are removed, I was tasked with simply taking off and landing in a designated area using the ACRO control system which enables full pitch, yaw and roll capabilities. However, despite the fact that I merely stumbled into the area upside down and likely would have overshot it, the tutorial allowed me to proceed anyway. Thankfully, you can replay any of the tutorial missions as often as you like, so that’s nice.
And here’s the thing, you’ll want to practice, practice and practice as to be any good at Liftoff: Drone Racing quite literally takes hours and the sort of saintly patience which could get you statue somewhere. Though, in ACRO mode you need only concern yourself with just the two analogue sticks on the controller, having to master yaw, roll and pitch disciplines makes the whole flying thing a lot more challenging than it otherwise would be.
Of course this is no bad thing – Liftoff aims to be an accurate simulation that doesn’t submit to arcade style impulses and in this vein determined players with an affinity for accuracy will find much to love. For everyone else who finds Liftoff’s unapologetically steep learning curve overly formidable though, there’s no shame in bouncing off the game, at least initially, before you begin mastering the finer aspects of its deep handling model.
Once you get used to it too, Liftoff’s handling model can feel oddly empowered. Predicated around being able to effectively air-drift while continually switching up your altitude and speed to ensure that you don’t overshoot crucial checkpoints, Liftoff can prove quite satisfying when you’re pulling tight turns and skimming over obstacles en route to a first place victory. It just takes time, that’s all.
There is also something of a physical, real-life price that must be paid in regards to this handling model too. With an unlocked framerate and highly responsive controls, Liftoff can cause motion sickness when your cutting through the air, rolling at speed and flipping upside down. Now, as someone who is not normally susceptible to it, I was quite surprised to discover a queasiness rising in my stomach that seemed altogether foreign to me. After a few more hours of play, the feeling mostly abated, but occasionally I could fill the odd twitch during Liftoff’s most hectic races.
Once you’re out of the starting gates so to speak, Liftoff: Drone Racing wastes no time in initiating players into its larger offering. While quick race and up to six player online multiplayer modes all exist, there’s also a career mode to be had here too. The problem is, it’s extraordinarily barebones stuff – essentially a series of basic, interconnected ghost races which are linked only by text messages from other FPV racers and that’s pretty much it. Hardly riveting stuff.
Ultimately this speaks to one of the main, debilitating flaws that Liftoff: Drone Racing possesses. Despite the handling model being something of an acquired taste that can be both satisfying and rewarding when you begin to gain some competency at it, the actual game that surrounds it is uninspiring. Owing to a lack of additional interesting modes and a deeply uninspiring selection of quick race, multiplayer and career modes, Liftoff’s commendably addictive handling is sadly not equalled by the game which has been wrapped around it.
Annoyingly, there are some aspects of Liftoff which hint towards something a little more substantial. Progression for example is handled in a decent, if hardly original way. You gain experience and level up for completing races and are awarded loot crates which contain different cosmetic upgrades for your trusty drone. Beyond that, the creative latitude for micro-managing and tweaking the performance of your drone is simply immense and like the handling clearly showcases a developer who has a great love for the pursuit of drone racing.
Sadly another of Liftoff’s sizably stinging flaws is on the technical side of things. Simply put, Liftoff: Drone Racing has a whole heap of visual technical issues which detract from the lustre of its overall package quite considerably. Visuals boast a huge amount of tearing and pop in during faster races, as branches pop into existence on previously barren trees, while occasionally the frame rate plummets at points that become extremely noticeable.
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Such performance issues would be forgivable if Liftoff: Drone was a looker – but sadly it isn’t. Looking like an early gen PlayStation 3 title, Liftoff’s environments are low detailed, geometrically simple affairs with flat lighting and poor effects work.
As it is then it’s something of a pity that Liftoff: Drone Racing boasts such as well engineered and rewarding handling system, only to be summarily undone by the poor content and technical presentation which surrounds it. There’s fun to be had with the online racing and even just in the act of trying to master the handling, but beyond that little incentive exists to remain engaged for all but the most determined players.
Review code kindly provided by PR.
Liftoff: Drone Racing is out now on PS4.