Drift City may
look like just another racing game but don’t be fooled, it’s much more
than that. Drift City has something no other racer does, a persistent
world for players to drive around in. The graphics give the game a
stylish cartoony feel, almost like a brighter version of Grand Theft
Auto. The basic appearance of the cities and even the mini map in the
corner of the screen look very much like GTA III. So if you’re looking
for a multiplayer racer with a ton of sandbox single player content,
this is the game for you.
Welcome To Mittron Island
Originally published by ijji, Drift City is now published in America by GamesCampus. Once launched, players will notice that there is a single server but it has separate channels, each controlled by different crews (clans.) New players are greeted by a short intro movie explaining the game’s backstory. Yes that’s right, this racing game has a back story! Here’s the gist of it; a powerful new fuel source called mitron was discovered on an island in the North Pacific which prompted heavy development of said island. Mittron City soon prospered but mysterious cars soon began terrorizing the streets. Labeled HUVs, these cars made pedestrian life impossible on the island and the government was forced to call in all willing drivers to help combat the HUV threat.
Pick Your Ride
New players have nine cars and four colors to chose from. Each car has a different distribution of four stats; Speed, Acceleration, Durability, and Booster. Leveling up doesn’t give you additional points to allocate but car parts can be purchased and equipped to increase your current car’s attributes. Don’t worry too much about stats early on, just pick the car which looks the best to you and start driving. There is no tutorial per say but players start out with a mission to complete. Luckily, a green arrow and a line on the minimap guide players along throughout the game, making things much easier. Drift City can be controlled completely with the keyboard, movement is done with W,A,S, and D, boost with ‘ctrl.’ Even the interface is easily accessible through the function keys (F1-F8), tab and space bar are used to accept and scroll through mission text.
Now You’re a Delivery Boy
After the first mission, players are lead to the first station of the first city. Each of the four cities has several stations which act as hubs for missions and gateways to the battledome where players shop and race one another. Players are free to simply drive around the city, drive over ramps, and accept the random side quests such as timed delivery missions, police patrol missions, and HUV hunting missions but the most fun and fastest way to level up is by completing the linear main missions. These involve very little thinking and most of the text can be skipped thanks to the friendly green path and arrow that lead you from one objective to the next. There is quite a bit of variation in the types of missions you’ll be called to do — simple ‘go here and come back’ missions are, sadly, the most common but many involve delivering goods with a truck, stealthily stalking a mob boss, hunting (by crashing into) HUVs, and many others. Most missions are timed but the time limit is more than ample during throughout the first city. Time limits and crash limits become more restrictive later which actually helps keep the game from being too easy.
The Battledome
After the first 10 or so missions players will have access to the battledome where they can race against other players. This part of the game is very similar to other racing games like Trackmania. There is a lobby from which players can if they want to race in a solo or team match. Up to 16 players can participate in a race and the races are broken into channels based on engine size. This keeps high level cars with V9 engines in separate rooms from smaller cars. High level players can still chose to drive lighter vehicles and race with lower level players though. Racing in Drift City is nowhere as realistic as in Project Torque. There are no ‘items’ per say but special gates located around the maps give players random boosts which adds a large element of luck to the game. Driving skill is still the most important aspect, unlike UpShift StrikeRacer there are no offensive items like missiles or guns. Players gain experience and mito (the currency) based on their performance in races so it is possible to play Drift City for months without playing through any of the single player content.
A Third Way
Most people will probably spend their time switching between the multiplayer and single player aspects of Drift City. This is the most productive way to spend your time since missions are much better for earning mito and many side missions give you additional rewards for completing races. This mix between solo RPG style gameplay and standard multiplayer racing isn’t for everyone, if you’re just looking to jump in and start racing, Drift City isn’t the game for you. But I personally enjoyed Drift City’s gameplay more than any other racing MMO. Knowing there was a persistent world out there where I could go and spend a few hours gave me a purpose to stick with the game. I felt more of a connection with my character in Drift City than I did in most fantasy MMORPGs.
Shops and Coupons
New cars are purchased at the Dealership but have different level requirements, many also have coupon requirements. Coupons can best be described as achievements; they are earned by reaching milestones such as jumping off a total of 100 ramps or completing 50 races. Some of these coupons are easy to acquire but others such as the 1,000,000 combo coupon will take ages. Cart parts are earned by completing quests, destroying HUVs and randomly during races. Special items such as paints, decals, stickers, bumpers, wings, and boosters are available for either mito or real money. Some have complained that premium items unbalance the game but I found them reasonable, sure there are potions that increase experience rates and boost speeds but nothing was over the top.
Final Verdict: Great
Drift City is a remarkable game, the only racing game to date with a persistent world. Hundreds of hours of single player content are available on top of the enjoyable lobby based multiplayer racing. Almost all of the missions are optional which makes Drift City ideal for both the casual and dedicated gamer.
Welcome To Mittron Island
Originally published by ijji, Drift City is now published in America by GamesCampus. Once launched, players will notice that there is a single server but it has separate channels, each controlled by different crews (clans.) New players are greeted by a short intro movie explaining the game’s backstory. Yes that’s right, this racing game has a back story! Here’s the gist of it; a powerful new fuel source called mitron was discovered on an island in the North Pacific which prompted heavy development of said island. Mittron City soon prospered but mysterious cars soon began terrorizing the streets. Labeled HUVs, these cars made pedestrian life impossible on the island and the government was forced to call in all willing drivers to help combat the HUV threat.
Pick Your Ride
New players have nine cars and four colors to chose from. Each car has a different distribution of four stats; Speed, Acceleration, Durability, and Booster. Leveling up doesn’t give you additional points to allocate but car parts can be purchased and equipped to increase your current car’s attributes. Don’t worry too much about stats early on, just pick the car which looks the best to you and start driving. There is no tutorial per say but players start out with a mission to complete. Luckily, a green arrow and a line on the minimap guide players along throughout the game, making things much easier. Drift City can be controlled completely with the keyboard, movement is done with W,A,S, and D, boost with ‘ctrl.’ Even the interface is easily accessible through the function keys (F1-F8), tab and space bar are used to accept and scroll through mission text.
Now You’re a Delivery Boy
After the first mission, players are lead to the first station of the first city. Each of the four cities has several stations which act as hubs for missions and gateways to the battledome where players shop and race one another. Players are free to simply drive around the city, drive over ramps, and accept the random side quests such as timed delivery missions, police patrol missions, and HUV hunting missions but the most fun and fastest way to level up is by completing the linear main missions. These involve very little thinking and most of the text can be skipped thanks to the friendly green path and arrow that lead you from one objective to the next. There is quite a bit of variation in the types of missions you’ll be called to do — simple ‘go here and come back’ missions are, sadly, the most common but many involve delivering goods with a truck, stealthily stalking a mob boss, hunting (by crashing into) HUVs, and many others. Most missions are timed but the time limit is more than ample during throughout the first city. Time limits and crash limits become more restrictive later which actually helps keep the game from being too easy.
The Battledome
After the first 10 or so missions players will have access to the battledome where they can race against other players. This part of the game is very similar to other racing games like Trackmania. There is a lobby from which players can if they want to race in a solo or team match. Up to 16 players can participate in a race and the races are broken into channels based on engine size. This keeps high level cars with V9 engines in separate rooms from smaller cars. High level players can still chose to drive lighter vehicles and race with lower level players though. Racing in Drift City is nowhere as realistic as in Project Torque. There are no ‘items’ per say but special gates located around the maps give players random boosts which adds a large element of luck to the game. Driving skill is still the most important aspect, unlike UpShift StrikeRacer there are no offensive items like missiles or guns. Players gain experience and mito (the currency) based on their performance in races so it is possible to play Drift City for months without playing through any of the single player content.
A Third Way
Most people will probably spend their time switching between the multiplayer and single player aspects of Drift City. This is the most productive way to spend your time since missions are much better for earning mito and many side missions give you additional rewards for completing races. This mix between solo RPG style gameplay and standard multiplayer racing isn’t for everyone, if you’re just looking to jump in and start racing, Drift City isn’t the game for you. But I personally enjoyed Drift City’s gameplay more than any other racing MMO. Knowing there was a persistent world out there where I could go and spend a few hours gave me a purpose to stick with the game. I felt more of a connection with my character in Drift City than I did in most fantasy MMORPGs.
Shops and Coupons
New cars are purchased at the Dealership but have different level requirements, many also have coupon requirements. Coupons can best be described as achievements; they are earned by reaching milestones such as jumping off a total of 100 ramps or completing 50 races. Some of these coupons are easy to acquire but others such as the 1,000,000 combo coupon will take ages. Cart parts are earned by completing quests, destroying HUVs and randomly during races. Special items such as paints, decals, stickers, bumpers, wings, and boosters are available for either mito or real money. Some have complained that premium items unbalance the game but I found them reasonable, sure there are potions that increase experience rates and boost speeds but nothing was over the top.
Final Verdict: Great
Drift City is a remarkable game, the only racing game to date with a persistent world. Hundreds of hours of single player content are available on top of the enjoyable lobby based multiplayer racing. Almost all of the missions are optional which makes Drift City ideal for both the casual and dedicated gamer.
