The lovechild of F-Zero and Wipeout.
Fast RMX is a blazingly-fast, slickly-presented anti-gravity racer that borrows heavily from the classic Wipeout and F-Zero games. It never reaches the heights achieved by either of those seminal series, but its central phase-swapping mechanic helps give it a point of difference.
Before we go any further, however, it’s important to point out that Fast RMX is essentially an expanded version (or, RMX) of the well-received Wii U racer Fast Racing Neo. Developer Shin’en Multimedia has included that game’s 16 base tracks and the eight added tracks from its DLC, and then introduced six more for a total of 30 courses. Elsewhere, it builds upon the same set of vehicles, the same three “leagues” – or speed classes – and the same set of modes. There’s one notable exception: time trial was not included at launch.
It may be an anti-gravity racer, but Fast RMX hits the ground running. It explains little out of the gate, its AI is competitive, and its starting speed class is quite fast – particularly next to its even earlier forebear, Fast Racing League (a 2011 WiiWare release). That said, there are no weapons, so the focus is entirely on racing and making the most of the two boost systems.
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The series’ signature mechanic is the ability to phase shift your vehicle between blue and orange states to hit the colour-coded boost zones on the courses themselves.
The series’ signature mechanic is the ability to phase shift your vehicle between blue and orange states to hit the colour-coded boost zones on the courses themselves. It’s a simple, clever idea that adds another wrinkle to racing and track knowledge, but stops well short of an Ikaruga-like implementation. Instead, you’ll hit boost strips, you’ll soar through alternating zones that require quick switching, and you’ll vault from coloured jump pads.
Mastering each course is all about finding the best racing line to both hit these boost zones and to pick up the many energy orbs. The latter top off your energy meter, letting you manually boost to maintain your top speed between boost zones, or quickly get back up to speed if you crash or get hit by another racer.
Fast RMX’s Championship mode isn’t ideally structured. Instead of steadily unlocking the complete set of 30 courses as you progress through the speed classes, you actually get to race on all of them from the first class – Subsonic. While freedom is usually a good thing, I found that I wanted more of an incentive to persist with the Championship beyond testing my skills and unlocking courses for Hero mode.
Moving from one speed class to another isn’t quite the jump you might expect, either. As I mentioned, Subsonic is actually quite fast, so moving to Supersonic is really an incremental step. That’s fine, but it’s in contrast to a series like Wipeout, where the jump is so significant that you basically need to learn new racing lines for each course. It also means the course design can’t scale. Having some courses that only exist in the top speed class allows for a different style of design, as they don’t need to remain fun at slower speeds.
To their credit, the 30 available courses are impressively varied in terms of settings. You’ll blast through deserts under the baking sun and whip through lush tropical jungles against the driving rain. You’ll visit futuristic metropolises and ancient civilisations. You’ll race on swooping structures suspended high in the sky and you’ll dodge asteroids in space. Each is distinct in terms of architecture and tone, and there are always incidental details to appreciate, whether that’s environmental effects like racing in and out of clouds or more overt inclusions like the course where a gigantic sandworm erupts from the side of the track and rumbles overhead. Sadly, the soundtrack – a vital component of any anti-grav racer – is largely indistinct.
On a technical level Fast RMX runs at 60 frames per second across single and splitscreen (with the odd hiccup that I’ve noticed), and the native resolution tops out at 1080p, as opposed to Fast Racing Neo’s 720p. The lighting and effects on the returning courses have also been improved noticeably over the Wii U’s version, too.
The actual course design is a mixed bag, however. Iceland, for instance, channels F-Zero X’s Big Blue, seeing you racing along the outside of a tubular track, able to move all the way around its surface. The coolness of the setting is soured somewhat by the stalking robots, pylons, and walls that litter the track and can be almost impossible to avoid at speed. These kinds of obstacles are present in many of the courses, and while some are fair - spinning turbines you can see from a distance, or pylons in fixed places, others are far more random, and thus, less fun. Fast RMX also has its fair share of jumps that’ll send you careening into scenery if taken at the wrong speed. The course design often feels clumsy, as opposed to skill testing.
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In Hero mode, your boost energy is also your shield energy… and you must come in first – there’s no prize for second place.
None of these points are deal breakers, they’re just a bit irritating given how competitive the AI is, and given you only have one shot at each course within each Championship cup. The lack of a time trial mode compounds this, as you can’t go in and practice a course that’s giving you problems. The developer has said the mode will come in an update, but as it stands, time trial functionality like ghost races is sorely missed.
Hard-edged design elements are even more of a problem in Hero mode, in which you race individual courses and have only one life, so a single mistake and you’re starting the whole race again. That said, this mode offers a pretty compelling alternative to Championship. In Hero mode, your boost energy is also your shield energy, so every course becomes a test of using enough boost to stay in contention, without y'know, blowing yourself up. Oh, and you must come in first – there’s no prize for second place.
Hero mode also has all 30 courses across all three speed classes, but you’re actually racing mirrored versions of the tracks. Given that this is supposed to test your expertise in each course, I’d have thought having the regular versions would make more sense, with mirrored unlocks at the end of both the Championship and Hero mode as a bonus.
Fast RMX also has a suite of multiplayer options, but as of this review’s publish date, this is its weakest component. Online multiplayer currently has no lobby system. Instead, you choose your vehicle then are thrown in with a random group of people. When a race ends everyone votes for the course they’d like to do next, and that’s it. No championships, no way to choose speed class, and no friend functionality. The latter is due to be patched in soon.
Splitscreen multiplayer, on the other hand, fares a lot better. It supports up to four players, but gives you plenty of options to work with. You can choose individual tracks or race through a cup, you can turn CPU drivers on and off, you can choose your speed class, and you can set lap count. Local online multiplayer is also available, but each player needs to own a copy of the game.
The Verdict
Fast RMX may not be the perfect anti-gravity racing package, but it certainly offers high-speed racing and a lot of tracks to challenge yourself on. It’s a shame that the online multiplayer offering is so barebones, and that the time trial mode is currently AWOL, but in lieu of an official Wipeout or F-Zero this is a solid option to get your arcade racing fix on the Nintendo Switch.
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